Fairness and gender in benefit sharing : learning from the Kani, San, Nigerian, Kenyan and Icelandic cases for moving forward / Fatima Alvarez-Castillo, Julie Cook Lucas

This report examines the key of areas of concern for women in benefit sharing in research raised by the five cases that have been studied in the GenBenefit project. Based on its findings, it puts forward recommendations for policy guidelines and strategies for protecting women's rights in benefit sharing in research. In recognition of the importance of context in gender issues, this report looks at gender inequality concerns within the larger context of the societies where the cases are located using a comparative analysis of the five cases. It looks into the barriers to and opportunities for fair benefit sharing that arise from gender in particular societal contexts and how socio-economic, political, and cultural changes impact gender-based vulnerabilities in each of the five cases. A feminist framework that explains the occurence of gender inequality is utilized to make sense of the persistence of inequality, subordination and oppression of women in indigenous and non-indigenous societies in different stages of societal transformation which are the social settings of the five cases. A key finding of the analysis is that gender inequalities exist in all the five societies where the cases are located. However, there are variations in degree and manifestations of gendered inequalities which are linked to differences in the socio-economic, cultural and political situation of each society. These variations in turn differentiate the gender concerns in benefit sharing in each of the cases. It is clear that in all the cases, the most significant and common barrier to women getting fair treatment in benefit sharing is their marginalization in decision-making. In societies characterized by very low female political participation, high poverty incidence and lack of control of economic assets among women, their direct participation in negotiations and decisions-making regarding benefit sharing is minimal. By contrast, in a society like iceland, although the political gender gap exists there was a greater degree of women's direct involvement compared to the other cases. To ensure women's active and meaningful participation in the decision-making process for benefit sharing, this report proposes that existing research ethics guidelines should be tapped and mobilized, as well as international and national policies to protect the equal rights of women. Ethics committees and researchers have a responsibility in this regard. In addition, strategies should be tried to ensure that women are able to meaningfully participate in decision-making with sensitivity to their real life situations and subjectivities, without the imposition of (even well-meaning) perspectives from outside. The idea is to help women build their agentic capacities for meaningful participation in decision-making.

General Education.