Beyond participation. Gendered constraints and agency in agroforestry: a systematic review

This study reviews 49 empirical articles on gender and agroforestry, examining both the gender-specific constraints and the agency that shape women’s participation, decision-making authority, and benefit capture in agroforestry systems. For this purpose, we have developed a six-dimension framework: land/tree rights, governance, labour, finance, ecological knowledge, and food security. Across regions and agroforestry configurations, the evidence consistently documents women’s substantial contributions to labour, day-to-day resource management, food provisioning, and ecological knowledge. However, these contributions rarely translate into equivalent authority over land, trees, production choices, income, or programme benefits. Moreover, the review shows that access to agroforestry activities and participation in interventions do not automatically confer control over strategic decisions or benefit streams, and in some cases may intensify unpaid workloads where care responsibilities and institutional barriers persist. Overall, this study shows that gender-responsive agroforestry requires moving beyond simple participation metrics towards analyses of authority, recognition, and material conditions. Policy priorities imply reforming institutional arrangements to strengthen women’s land and tree rights, to address unpaid care and time constraints, and to ensure women’s effective control over market and financial benefits.