Tackling gender inequality and sustainability in agribusiness
Flowers are among us and accompany us in every moment of life. With this interdisciplinary project, where science and art come together, we aim to highlight the benefits and costs of the cut-flower sector.
Cut flowers are one of the top export products of Colombia and the Netherlands. It is also an industry that struggles with sustainability and health issues for the low-skilled, mainly female, labour workers. This depicts the complex interaction between gender, labour, social and environmental issues.
It is an example of the intricacies of global value chains that the research team of this 2024 Signature project focusses on.
Goal
The aim is to shed light on the complexity of the business, raise awareness from consumers to producers and revise the international sustainability labels used in this business. The team has expertise in different areas, such as water quality, international rights, sustainability and philosophy. By combining those, different questions are raised and different views on the matter taken into account.
Furthermore, the connection with Dutch stakeholders in the flower industry will be made. How can their experience help create better understanding of the complexity of sustainability in the agribusiness?
Choreography
The challenges will be outlined in a review paper and depicted in a choreography that endeavours to catalyse dialogue, empower stakeholders, and envision a more sustainable agribusiness landscape. Dance can be used to create space for the different views and the reflection on it. This will potentially lead to a new way of thinking about the challenges of sustainability and visualize imaginative futures for the global production of cut flowers and other agribusinesses.
Incubator phase
The team used the Incubator phase to explore collaborations and understanding different perspectives and methodologies. Dr. Julia Swart shares her experience in an interview with Pathways.
Team
- Geosciences - Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development - Environmental Sciences - Water Quality Management
- Law, Economics and Governance - Sustainable Development, Economic Development, International Trade
- Humanities - Institute for Cultural Inquiry - Modern and Contemporary Literature
- Humanities - Institute for Cultural Inquiry - Gender Studies
- Law, Economics and Governance - Utrecht University School of Law - International and European Law
- Law, Economics and Governance - Utrecht University School of Governance - Managing Social Issues
- Geosciences - Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development - Environmental Governance - Environmental Governance
- Veterinary Medicine - Department Population Health Sciences - Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) - One Health Epidemiology Chemical Agents
Non-UU partners
- Prof. dr. Diego Leon Sepulveda Meija, Politécnico Colombiano Jaime Isaza Cadavid
- Prof. dr. Jonathan Osorio, Politécnico Colombiano Jaime Isaza Cadavid
- dr. John Alexander Benavides Piracón, Universidad del Rosario
- Dwayne Toemere. Researcher ATD Lectorate at the Academy of Theatre and Dance, Amsterdam.
