GFEI World Food Day Webinar: Women's everyday experiences in Malawi agriculture and social relations

Join us for this World Food Day webinar that will explore how women balance agriculture, household responsibilities and social networks in rural Malawi.

The Global Food and Environment Institute (GFEI) invites you to join our World Food Day webinar: 'Negotiating Empowerment: Women's everyday experiences in Malawi agriculture, livelihoods and social relations'.

Speaker: Dr Mapenzie Tauzie (School of Earth and Environment)

The session will start with welcomes and introductions from the host, followed by a 20-minute presentation by Dr Mapenzie Tauzie. Afterwards, there will be 10 minutes for questions and answers managed by the Chair of this event Prof Stephen Whitfield.

Drawing on participatory, multi-stage research conducted in rural Malawi, Dr Tauzie explores how women navigate the intersections of women’s empowerment, agricultural livelihoods, household nutrition and everyday negotiations over resources, while sustaining social networks and family wellbeing. The findings reveal a nuanced picture of empowerment as a dynamic, non-linear relational process. Women balance household expectations, negotiate gender norms, and creatively strategize to meet both immediate needs and long-term aspirations. A typology of empowerment experiences; transformative, transactional, and constrained, illustrates the diverse ways women exercise agency under social and structural constraints. This perspective moves beyond conventional metrics of empowerment, emphasizing the subtle, everyday decisions that shape access to productive resources, household nutrition, crop diversity and intergenerational aspirations. It provides insights for understanding women’s strategies and priorities in rural agricultural life, highlighting the central role of social relations in shaping empowerment.

Uncovering the hidden strategies behind women’s daily decisions in rural Malawi. “Empowerment is not just what women have, it’s what they do every day.”

Dr Mapenzie Tauzie is a Research Fellow in Climate Change and Food Systems at the University of Leeds, working within the FoSTA-Health programme. Her research sits at the intersection of agrarian livelihoods, food systems transformation, climate change and social justice in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Tauzie brings a compelling and critical lens to the political economy of agricultural development, with a particular emphasis on inclusivity, equity and the socio-technical implications of digitalisation in agriculture. She coordinates the Social and Political Dimensions of Food Systems Research Group and leads an international Zero Hunger research network connecting scholars across Africa and Europe. Her work is grounded in critical development policy, with a focus on inclusive agricultural innovation, the socio-technical dimensions of digitalisation, and the governance of sustainable food systems.

Our webinars are free and open to all.