Centering gender in sustainable palm oil of Indonesia: A systematic literature review

Muh Fardan Ngoyo; Shadry  Andriani; Dirmansyah  Darwin; Putu Ananda Devi  Nugraha; Adi  Zulkarnaen

doi:10.55942/pssj.v6i2.1558

Authors

Muh Fardan Ngoyo UNM Makassar
Shadry Andriani UNM Makassar https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2754-1751
Dirmansyah Darwin UNM Makassar https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1153-365X
Putu Ananda Devi Nugraha UNM Makassar https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6325-6154
Adi Zulkarnaen UNM Makassar https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4141-7471

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55942/pssj.v6i2.1558

Keywords:

Gender equality, women, sustainable palm oil, Indonesia, systematic literature review

Abstract

As a major agricultural commodity in Indonesia, palm oil plays a significant role in economic development, especially in rural livelihood and poverty reduction. However, the current dynamics of palm oil expansion have attracted global attention toward social responsibility and environmental degradation, including gendered impacts that remain underexplored in sustainability narratives. This systematic review examines the incorporation of gender analysis in studies on sustainable palm oil in Indonesia, focusing on conceptual frameworks, methodological approaches, and policy implications. Bibliometric data were retrieved through Publish or Perish (PoP), collecting relevant literature from Scopus and Google Scholar from 2010-2025, complemented by keyword search strings in English and Bahasa Indonesia. For clustering and data visualization, this study employed VoSviewer to visualize and analyze keyword associations, trends, and thematic clusters. Preliminary findings indicate that while the sustainability literature on palm oil is extensive, gender-related studies are limited and often fragmented, with conceptualizations of gender varying from labor to land rights and participation. This study finds a cluster of publications focusing on the solid grounding of a feminist lens, while others pay more attention to gender roles, lived experience, and policy and practices at the regulation level. This review highlights critical gaps in integrating gender perspectives into sustainability initiatives and calls for more nuanced, intersectional approaches to ensure equitable outcomes in the palm oil sector. By synthesizing existing evidence, this study provides insights into strengthening gender-responsive sustainability strategies in Indonesia’s palm oil sector.

Author Biographies

Muh Fardan Ngoyo, UNM Makassar

Muh Fardan Ngoyo is currently a lecturer in the Development Economics Study Program at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Makassar State University. His main interests focuses on political economy of sustainable development contributions which embraces multi-disciplinary paradigm are seen from multiple perspectives of social responsibility, economic viability, and environmental sustainability.

Shadry Andriani, UNM Makassar

Shadry Andriani is a lecturer in the Development Economics Study Program at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Makassar State University. Her expertise in labour economics has been invaluable to this research, particularly in analysing labour market dynamics, wage structures, and policies.

Dirmansyah Darwin, UNM Makassar

Dirmansyah Darwin is currently a lecturer in the Development Economics Study Program at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Makassar State University. His contributions to the human development paradigm are seen from multiple perspectives, not just from a single theory, but also through social phenomena, capital relations, the role of government, and technological development—factors that all play a significant role in shaping human progress.

Putu Ananda Devi Nugraha, UNM Makassar

Putu Ananda Devi Nugraha is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Business, State University of Makassar. Her academic interests cover development studies, political economy, international economics, and cultural economics. Her research examines how governance, policy, and cultural dynamics intersect to shape sustainable and inclusive development.

Adi Zulkarnaen, UNM Makassar

Adi Zulkarnaen, S.Kel., M.,Si., is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Business, State University of Makassar. His academic interests cover marine economics, fisheries and coastal development. His research examines how governance, policy, and local dynamics intersect to shape sustainable development of marine ecosystem and coastal livelihood.

References

Andrianto, A., Komarudin, H., & Pacheco, P. (2019). Expansion of Oil Palm Plantations in Indonesia’s Frontier: Problems of Externalities and the Future of Local and Indigenous Communities. Land, 8(4), 56. https://doi.org/10.3390/land8040056

Azahari, D. H., Ratri, S., & Amalia, R. (2024). Mainstreaming gender role in oil palm villages in achieving SDGs. IOP Conference Series: Earth …. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1308/1/012064

Basnett, B. S., Gnych, S., & Anandi, C. A. M. (2017). Transforming the roundtable on sustainable palm oil for greater gender equality and women’s empowerment. cabidigitallibrary.org. https://doi.org/10.5555/20173278652

Bauhardt, C., & Harcourt, W. (2018). Feminist political ecology and the economics of care. Routledge London.

Bhattacharya, T. (2017). Introduction: In Social Reproduction Theory (pp. 1–20). Pluto Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1vz494j.5

Chiriacò, M. V., Bellotta, M., Jusić, J., & Perugini, L. (2022). Palm oil’s contribution to the United Nations sustainable development goals: outcomes of a review of socio-economic aspects. Environmental Research Letters, 17(6), 063007. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6e77

De Vos, R. E., Suwarno, A., Slingerland, M., van der Meer, P. J., & Lucey, J. M. (2023). Pre-certification conditions of independent oil palm smallholders in Indonesia. Assessing prospects for RSPO certification. Land Use Policy, 130, 106660. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106660

Denyer, D., & Tranfield, D. (2009). Producing a systematic review. In D. Buchanan & A. Alan Bryman (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Organisational Research Methods (pp. 671–689). Sage Publications Ltd.

Elmhirst, R. (2015). Feminist political ecology . In T. Perrault, G. Bridge, & J. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of political ecology (pp. 519–530). Routledge .

Elmhirst, R., Siscawati, M., Basnett, B. S., & ... (2019). Gender and generation in engagements with oil palm in East Kalimantan, Indonesia: insights from feminist political ecology. Gender and Generation https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351037181-3

Elmhirst, R., Siscawati, M., Basnett, B. S., & Ekowati, D. (2017). Gender and generation in engagements with oil palm in East Kalimantan, Indonesia: insights from feminist political ecology. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 44(6), 1135–1157. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2017.1337002

FAO. (2021). Evaluation of FAO’s contribution to the Republic of Indonesia 2016–2020. https://www.fao.org/3/cb4979en/cb4979en.pdf

Fatimah, D., Santoso, H., & Sudaryanti, D. A. (2022). GENDER REVIEWFROM INDONESIAN SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL (ISPO). In sposindonesia.org. https://sposindonesia.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Review-Gender-ISPO-SPOS-INDONESIA_ENG.pdf

Federici, S. (2021). Patriarchy of the wage: Notes on Marx, gender, and feminism. PM Press.

Glasbergen, P., & Schouten, G. (2015). Transformative Capacities of Global Private Sustainability Standards: A Reflection on Scenarios in the Field of Agricultural Commodities. Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 2015(58), 85–101. https://doi.org/10.9774/GLEAF.4700.2015.ju.00010

Hackfort, S., Saave, A., & Wichterich, C. (2025). Nature, care, and (re)productivity: feminist perspectives on sustainability and the bioeconomy. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2025.2532218

Hanifa, R., & Pramudya, E. P. (2018). PERSPEKTIF GENDER DALAM KEBERLANJUTAN SAWIT. Masyarakat Indonesia, 43(1), 33–45. https://doi.org/10.14203/jmi.v43i1.715

Julia, & White, B. (2012). Gendered experiences of dispossession: oil palm expansion in a Dayak Hibun community in West Kalimantan. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 39(3–4), 995–1016. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2012.676544

Li, T. M. (2015). Social impacts of oil palm in Indonesia: A gendered perspective from West Kalimantan. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/005579

McCarthy, J. F. (2010). Processes of inclusion and adverse incorporation: oil palm and agrarian change in Sumatra, Indonesia. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 37(4), 821–850. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2010.512460

McCarthy, J. F., & Sitorus, H. (2025). In the kitchen of Indonesia’s oil palm complex: life making, climate precarity and nutritional insecurity in plantation landscapes. Globalizations. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2025.2553934

Mezzadri, A. (2019). On the value of social reproduction. Radical Philosophy, 2(4), 33–41.

Mezzadri, A., Newman, S., & Stevano, S. (2022). Feminist global political economies of work and social reproduction. Review of International Political Economy, 29(6), 1783–1803. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2021.1957977

Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., & Altman, D. G. (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. BMJ, 339(jul21 1), b2535–b2535. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b2535

Morgan, M. (2019). Women, gender and protest: contesting oil palm plantation expansion in Indonesia. Gender and Generation in Southeast Asian Agrarian https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351037181-5

Obidzinski, K., Andriani, R., Komarudin, H., & Andrianto, A. (2012). Environmental and Social Impacts of Oil Palm Plantations and their Implications for Biofuel Production in Indonesia. Ecology and Society, 17(1). http://www.jstor.org/stable/26269006

Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., Chou, R., Glanville, J., Grimshaw, J. M., Hróbjartsson, A., Lalu, M. M., Li, T., Loder, E. W., Mayo-Wilson, E., McDonald, S., Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, n71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71

PG, E. G., Muksalmina, M., Tasyukur, T., Yustisi, N., & Chyntia, E. (2025). Model Perlindungan Hukum terhadap Hak Tenaga Kerja Wanita dalam Kontrak Kerja Perkebunan Sawit Aceh Utara. JURNAL HUKUM PELITA, 6(2), 870-883.

Pye, O. (2019). Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry. World Development, 121, 218–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.014

Qaim, M., Sibhatu, K. T., Siregar, H., & Grass, I. (2020). Environmental, Economic, and Social Consequences of the Oil Palm Boom. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 12(1), 321–344. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-110119-024922

Retnaningsih, U. O., Asriwandari, H., Ningsih, R. B., Purwanti, I. T., Sidiq, Rd. S. S., Artina, D., & Rosaliza, M. (2022). The persistence of patriarchy in the palm oil sector: Evidence from the Riau Province of Indonesia. Cogent Social Sciences, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2022.2112825

Sharma, S. K., Baral, H., Laumonier, Y., Okarda, B., Komarudin, H., Purnomo, H., & Pacheco, P. (2019). Ecosystem services under future oil palm expansion scenarios in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Ecosystem Services, 39, 100978. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2019.100978

Sisilia, T., Kansrini, Y., & Mulyani, P. W. (2025). Implementasi Kebijakan Responsif Gender Dalam Mendukung Perkebunan Kelapa Sawit Berkelanjutan Di PT Umada Kebun Pernantian Kabupaten Labuhanbatu Utara. Sinergi: Jurnal Ilmiah Multidisiplin, 1(2), 1541-1554. https://publikasi.ahlalkamal.com/index.php/sinergi/article/view/142

Sinaga, H. (2021). Buruh Siluman: The Making and Maintaining of Cheap and Disciplined Labour on Oil Palm Plantations in Indonesia. In Bioeconomy and Global Inequalities (pp. 175–193). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68944-5_9

Sinaga, H. (2024). Intersectional perspectives on land relations of oil palm plantations: A decolonial feminist approach on Indonesia’s bioeconomy. Forest Policy and Economics. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934123002198

Sinaga, H. (2025). “To cleanse our bodies of poison with poison”: the ecological and reproductive paradox of monoculture oil palm plantations. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2025.2532213

Sukiyono, K., Romdhon, M. M., Mulyasari, G., Yuliarso, M. Z., Nabiu, M., Trisusilo, A., Reflis, Napitupulu, D. M. T., Nugroho, Y., Puspitasari, M. S., Sugiardi, S., Arifudin, & Masliani. (2022). The Contribution of Oil Palm Smallholders Farms to the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals-Measurement Attempt. Sustainability, 14(11), 6843. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116843

Sundarakani, B., & Ghouse, A. (2024). A Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis of Blockchain Technology for Food Security. Foods, 13(22), 3607. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13223607

Toumbourou, T. D., & Dressler, W. H. (2021). Sustaining livelihoods in a palm oil enclave: Differentiated gendered responses in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 62(1), 40–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/apv.12265

Tranfield, D., Denyer, D., & Smart, P. (2003). Towards a Methodology for Developing Evidence‐Informed Management Knowledge by Means of Systematic Review. British Journal of Management, 14(3), 207–222. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.00375

United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development .

Van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 84(2), 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3

Vijay, V., Pimm, S. L., Jenkins, C. N., & Smith, S. J. (2016). The Impacts of Oil Palm on Recent Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss. PLOS ONE, 11(7), e0159668. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159668

Villamor, G. B., Akiefnawati, R., & ... (2015). Land use change and shifts in gender roles in central Sumatra, Indonesia. International Forestry https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cfa/ifr/2015/00000017/a00404s4/art00006

Vos, R. De, & Delabre, I. (2018). Spaces for participation and resistance: gendered experiences of oil palm plantation development. Geoforum. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718518302434