Participatory systems modeling to identify and support gender-responsive agri-food system strategies

This paper argues that gender remains poorly captured in agri-food systems research and climate resilience policy. Data are especially scarce for supply chains, where much of women’s employment in low- and middle-income countries is concentrated and largely informal. The authors propose Participatory Systems Modeling (PSM), which combines group model building with system dynamics modeling, as a way to fill these gaps. A Scopus review of 76 PSM studies finds that only 11 address gender, and only 4 cover the full intersection of gender, supply chains and climate. The paper sets out recommendations for making PSM more gender-responsive. 

Recommendations for gender-responsive PSM are: 

• in study design, make gender explicit in the research question or target outcome. Where gender is not the central focus, still examine how women’s and men’s experiences differ at each node of the supply chain, for example in access to inputs, agricultural labour and markets. 
• in participant recruitment, take gender into account when defining stakeholder groups, and recruit with an intersectional lens (age, ethnicity, class, caste). Decide deliberately whether women and men should be convened together or separately. A diversity analysis before engagement can support balanced recruitment. 
• in group model building, design facilitation scripts that capture gendered knowledge across the supply chain. Account for power dynamics among participants, and ensure diverse forms of knowledge are valued without reinforcing existing hierarchies. 
• in system dynamics modelling, consider including gender as an explicit variable in the model. Where women’s and men’s system structures or causal relationships differ, consider building separate model versions.