Kick-off meeting "Tackling gender inequality and sustainability in agribusiness" - a retrospect

On September 18, our Signature Project “Tackling gender inequality and sustainability in agribusiness” had its kick-off meeting. It was the first time that some of us were meeting face to face, so to break the ice we all took a flower and a quote with us. We heard stories about how to take care of the lavender in our gardens, and the uses of daylilies. These narratives bridged the conversation to exploring ideas and objectives for our work as a team.

Coming from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds e.g., humanities, law, economics, and environmental sciences, it was inspiring to see how we could find common ground in different aspects of our project, such as the sustainability lens, gender inequality, and culture. We all share the notion that the value of agribusiness to society at large must not be counterbalanced by the overexploitation of natural resources, people’s health, and the rights of future generations to biodiversity and soils that can regenerate. That requires a new and more inclusive look to the many connections between this type of business and individuals living or working close to big mega agricultural projects all over the world.

We also discussed our wishes with our Signature Project, and we found many commonalities, which made us confident that we were ready to kick-off our Signature Project. Our core wish is to create a forum for reflection, discussion, and a platform for knowledge sharing. Our next steps include i. developing a digital content hub containing research findings, stories, interviews,…; ii. monthly meetings, to discuss our research and their connectedness to the topic of our Signature Project. This will get us started in our work on an unconventional review paper and a theatre play about gender inequality and sustainability in agribusiness.