Rethinking gendered poverty and work

This article argues for an approach to labour in gender and poverty analyse s which attends to the content and character of work as fundamental to the experience of well-being by gendered persons, and to the formulation of dev elopment policies and research for poverty reduction and gender equity. A f ramework of ideas is proposed for consideration of working bodies in ways w hich recognize the integration of bodies and subjectivities, the significan ce of real bodies, the dynamic nature of embodiment as a process within a l ife course, and the importance of agency in the making and managing of bodi ly well-being. We use an analysis of physical work to show that the embodim ent of women and men, as a result of biological differences, socio-cultural inscriptions, and personal projects, suggests gender differences in relati on to the experience of heavy manual labour. We argue that arduousness of l abour (which derives from physical work intensity and other characteristics of work) is connected to ill- and well-being through nutrition-health-prod uctivity linkages, through intrahousehold allocations of resources and cons umption, and through local social relations, valuations, and discourses aro und work. Taken together, these may generate new forms of gendered energy t raps. We explore policy and research implications of this aspect of gender and poverty analysis.