13 Facts About Ester Boserup

Ester Boserup studied economic and agricultural development, worked at the United Nations as well as other international organizations, and wrote seminal books on agrarian change and the role of women in development.

Ester Boserup's position countered the Malthusian theory that agricultural methods determine population via limits on food supply.

Ester Boserup influenced the debate on women in the workforce and human development, and the possibility of better opportunities of work and education for women.

Ester Boserup's work earned her three honorary doctorate degrees: one from Wageningen University; one from Brown University; and one from the University of Copenhagen.

Ester Boserup was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences as a Foreign Associate in 1989.

Ester Boserup's father was a Danish engineer, who died when she was 2 years old.

Ester Boserup made almost no reference to conflicts between family and work during her lifetime.

Ester Boserup was based in Copenhagen until her husband died in 1980, after which she settled near Geneva.

However, Ester Boserup argued that in those times of pressure, people will find ways to increase the production of food by increasing workforce, machinery, fertilizers, etc.

Ester Boserup argued that when population density is low enough to allow it, land tends to be used intermittently, with heavy reliance on fire to clear fields, and fallowing to restore fertility.

Ester Boserup contributed to the discourse surrounding gender and development practices with her 1970 work Woman's Role in Economic Development.

Ester Boserup's work is widely credited as a motivation behind the United Nations Decade for Women.

Ester Boserup's text evaluated how work was divided between men and women, the types of jobs that constituted productive work, and the type of education women needed to enhance development.