Women smallholder farmers embody different dimensions of social identity and face related discrimination and hardship that creates barriers to full, fruitful and meaningful engagement in agrifood systems. This has been acknowledged in different ways since the 1970s with Esther Boserup’s examination of African women’s invisible contributions to the agricultural economy (Boserup, 1970). Global thinking on gender dynamics in development has evolved over the past 50+ years in a non-linear, overlapping, and uneven manner. Analysis from the first wave of women in development (WID) to a later iteration of gender and development (GAD) exposed and focused on different critical aspects of gender inequality. WID focused on ‘integrating’ women into prevailing development processes, highlighting their invisible roles and disadvantaged positions. A next wave – women and development (WAD) shifted focus from women’s relationship to development to the relationship between patriarchy and capitalism (Rathgeber, 1990) and on identifying structural impediments to women’s equal and equitable participation.1