Download - At the cutting edge: current knowledge on closing the gender gap in farming under climate change
At the cu(ng edge: current knowledge on closing the gender
gap in farming under climate change
Jennifer Twyman Jacqueline Ashby
Gender Inequali?es in Agriculture
• Farming under climate change? – Current Climate Variability & Future Climate Changes
– Increased Risk & Uncertainty • What does gender have to do with this? – Exis?ng gender inequali?es in agriculture, – Affect women’s and men’s ability to adapt.
Policy built on myths
…. Perpetuates gender–differen?ated low produc?vity traps Lower
resources and rights
Lower access to CSA inputs, services and markets
Lower produc?vity, and degrada?on of the natural resource base
Drudgery and labor constraints
Loss of control over products, sales and income
Lower Incen?ves to invest in CSA
Danger of Relying on Myths
• Unreliable evidence is not ques?oned: zombie sta?s?cs
• Vague concep?ons of gender lead to imprecise targe?ng: zombie stereotypes
• Root causes of major problems are disguised Myths are a bad basis for policy decision-‐making but there is oYen a par?al truth behind the myth.
Gender, Agriculture and Climate Change Myths
§ Women produce 60 – 80% of our food. § Women are the most vulnerable to climate change because they are among the poorest.
§ Women make be>er stewards of natural resources than men.
§ New CSA technology can close the gender gap. § The feminiza?on of agriculture means women are increasingly responsible for CSA.
§ Women own less than 1% of the land. § Inclusion means increasing women’s par?cipa?on in poli?cal processes for CSA.
Objec?ves
• Reconsider some myths related to gender, agriculture and climate change.
• Examine related data and iden?fy the truths behind the myths.
• Explore their relevance for policy.
Source: FAOSTAT in Doss, 2011
Report agriculture as their primary ac?vity 79%
Report a different occupa?on as their primary ac?vity 21%
Report agriculture as their primary ac?vity 48%
Report different occupa?on as their primary ac?vity 52%
Ra?onale: Economically Ac?ve Women
Developing Countries Worldwide
Source: FAOSTAT in Doss, 2011
male 58%
female 42%
% of men versus women reporPng agriculture as their primary acPvity in developing countries
male female
Economically ac?ve men and women in agriculture
Women’s contribu?on to farm output
• There is a large range in contribu?ons of women to agricultural produc?on.
3.1
25
33
38
2.1
13.2 12
17 13
16 15 17.6
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
China BosniaHerzogovenia Ghana Nicaragua
% of households headed by women % of total value of food produced by FHHs
% of total value of food produced plots owned or managed by omen
Source: Doss, 2011
Can we measure women’s contribu?on to farm output?
• Women and men produce crops together; it’s impossible to alribute produc?on to women or men.
Contribu?on to farm labor
• Women contribute a significant amount of ?me to agricultural produc?on. – Time use studies from across Africa and Asia show that in some cases women’s share is 60% of the total ?me spent in agricultural ac?vi?es (Doss 2011, review of 8 studies).
• Importance of gender division of labor: – Case Study from Mexico (Bee 2014); – Gender division of labor: women do the weeding. – Collect edible plants for household consump?on.
Contribu?on to farm labor
• Women contribute a significant amount of ?me to agricultural produc?on. – Time use studies from across Africa and Asia show that in some cases women’s share is 60% of the total ?me spent in agricultural ac?vi?es (Doss 2011, review of 8 studies).
• Importance of gender division of labor: – Case Study from Mexico (Bee 2014); – Gender division of labor: women do the weeding. – Collect edible plants for household consump?on.
Photocredit: Caitlin Corner-‐Dollhoff (CIAT)
Implica?ons • Policy and interven?ons must recognize & engage women as farmers. – Example from Ambo District, Ethiopia: Unequal access to services
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10
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40
50
60
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90
100
Irriga?on Extension Land redistribu?on
Microfinance Group associa?ons
Female (%)
Male (%)
Source: Ogato, Boon & Subramani 2009)
MYTH: THE POOR ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND SINCE WOMEN MAKE UP 70% OF THE POOR, THEY ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE.
Photocredit: Manon Koningstein (CIAT)
Ra?onale
• The poor have fewer resources to draw on for coping with climate change.
• Rural households oYen rely on natural resources (e.g. water & firewood). – OYen related to women’s household work.
• But, it draws on a zombie sta?s?c and a zombie stereotype...
Are women the poorest and most vulnerable?
• Several studies have interrogated the claim that women are the poorest (Chant, Jackson, Arora-‐Jonsson, etc.).
• Portrays women as vic?ms. • Arora-‐Jonsson: dichotomy women as vic?ms or saviors.
• Reality: men and women have different vulnerabili?es to climate change, dependent on gender norms that prescribe – Gender division of labor – Access to and control over resources – Decision-‐making power
Examples: Hurricanes & Flooding
Bangladesh • More women than men
died. – Women do not generally
learn to swim, they have limited mobility, felt shelters were unsafe, care for elderly who could not move to shelter.
Nicaragua • More men than women
died. – Men more likely to
par?cipate in risky ac?vi?es such as search and rescue.
Sources: CCC 2013; Delaney and Shrader 2000
Example: Agriculture
• Mahajan (2014): Blame it on the rain? • Overall, changes in rain palerns did not impact the wage gap.
• However, it did in rain-‐fed rice producing regions. – Women play greater role in crops, such as rice, that depend heavily on rainfall.
– Low rainfall years widen the gender wage gap; women suffered a greater loss.
Implica?ons
• Need beler, less-‐fragmented data to understand the palerns behind the inconsistencies.
• Vulnerability not related to sex but rather gender norms, which are an expression of power differen?als.
Ra?onale
• Women rely more than men on natural resources for food, firewood and water and so seek more ac?vely to conserve these.
• Women are more disposed to collaborate in collec?ve ac?on required for mi?ga?on or adapta?on more likely to succeed.
Photocredit: Manon Koningstein (CIAT)
Conflic?ng evidence
• “ Women are less likely to adopt CSA technologies: of 13 empirical studies, 8 found men were more likely to adopt the improved prac?ce .”
• “ In East Africa, women… were more likely than or just as likely as men to adopt CSA prac?ces”
Why? “Women” don’t have a single, unified interest. Because social class intervenes: -‐-‐poor women may have more in common with poor men than with other women from wealthier social strata
• Source: Peters et al, 2010;
Does women’s par?cipa?on improve stewardship?
• Par?cipa?on in groups can be beneficial for poor women and men as well
• But there’s no consistent evidence that women’s par?cipa?on in groups for NRM or CSA purposes improves resource management outcomes
Photocredit: Gian Betancourt (CIAT)
Photocredit: Manon Koningstein
Photocredit: Manon Koningstein
Implica?ons
• More precise socioeconomic targe?ng based on gender and social class is required
• Inclusion and par?cipa?on is desirable but not sufficient if underlying gender and class inequali?es are not addressed
MYTH: TECHNOLOGIES CAN CLOSE THE GENDER GAP
Photocredit: Manon Koningstein (CIAT) Photocredit: Gian Betancourt (CIAT)
Ra?onale
• Gender-‐equal access to technology, training, extension and credit will enable women to benefit equally
• ‘Women friendly” technologies (e.g. solar ovens, home gardens, small irriga?on pumps etc.) will overcome the gender gap
Unequal decision-‐making power
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10
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30
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100
When husband owns plot When wife owns plot Female household head
Data for Zambia
Zambia: Woman (%)
makes decisions on income from sales (N=439
individuals) – for different types of plot ownership
Control malers: irriga?on pumps Tanzania
• New technology: few women (10%) owned or controlled
small irriga?on pump • Women’s labor input increased under irriga?on • Men moved into high-‐value, high-‐volume irrigated
vegetables (women cul?vate minor vegetables) • Men exclusively made the sales and spent the cash
autonomously • Control over crop choice determined the how benefits of
the irriga?on technology were distributed: more work for women to generate income they didn’t control
Source:Njuki et al 2014
Implica?ons
• Gender differences in adop?on of technology are a symptom of other, deeper rooted problems
• Policy should seek equal access to assets, inputs and services when promo?ng CSA technology
• AND complement improved access with ensuring women get control over a share of resources, product and income
WHAT DOES SUCCESSFUL GENDER RESPONSIVE FARMING UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE LOOK LIKE?
Photocredit: Manon Koningstein (CIAT)
What does success look like?
Addressing gender gaps in farming under climate change means policy must: • Recognize women as farmers. • Target more precisely -‐ dis?nct socioeconomic types or classes of women with quite different constraints and interests
• Accept the limits of new technology • Target men (not uniquely women) to address issues of control over resources and benefits
Break out of gender-‐differen?ated low produc?vity traps
Equal access to inputs, services and markets
Equal produc?vity, and conserva?on of the natural resource base Secure
control over a share of products, sales and income
Gendered Incen?ves to invest in CSA
Reduced Drudgery
More equal resources and rights
What next?
• Elevate the game in terms of the scope and scale of research investment. – Research and evidence in this field are fragmented and piecemeal, making cumula?ve learning difficult.
• Gender norms are dynamic, flexible and can change—we’re not stuck…
• Large scale policy experiments are needed to test approaches and generate clear guidelines.