Gender issues in small-scale family poultry production: experiences with Newcastle Disease and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza control

The following paper analyses gender issues to be taken into consideration in Newcastle disease (ND) and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) control. Gender issues tend to be sidelined from discussions and gender disparities in economic and decision making matters are often neglected. The integration of the analysis of gender relations in the study of agro-economic characteristics is of major importance because the paradigms of access, control and benefits of the resources, and consequently of exclusion, are based on social relations between men and women. The understanding of gender relations and its implications to livestock rearing is therefore an imperative in the effective promotion of appropriate interventions in order to improve biosecurity.