MEAS Symposium 2015

June 3-5Washington, D.C.

“Strengthening Extension and Advisory Services for

Lasting Impacts”

Leading Issues in Extension Advisory Services – Gender Integration

Kathleen Earl Colverson, Ph.D.University of Florida

Gainesville, Floridakcolverson@ufl.edu

Why is Gender Integration Important?

• 78% of the world’s poor live in rural areas – the majority of poor and extreme poor are women and children

• Many of the world’s poor engage in agriculture as their primary livelihood – women are involved in 25-55% of ag production, processing and marketing- men are not always the “lead farmer”

• Women have less access to land, ag inputs and extension services than men- reducing their overall yield and the family’s nutritional status

• Women often have less ability to make decisions and control resources- limiting productivity

• Female headed households are increasing, males are still seen as “head of household”

• Extension agents often lack the skills or knowledge of addressing women farmers’ needs and interests

Why is Gender Integration Important?

Closing the “Gender Gap”

Could increase yields on farms by 20 – 30 percent which…

Could raise total agricultural output in developing countries 2.5

– 4 percent which…

Could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12

– 17 percent

State of Food and Agriculture FAO 2011

What can be done to increase gender integration in EAS?

• Train additional female extension workers

• Consider meeting times and locations - childcare provision should also be considered to encourage attendance

• Consider cultural context - may be necessary to build women’s confidence in single sex groups first before engaging them in mixed sex groups to ensure their participation later

• Ensure that gendered division of labor will not adversely affect women with project introduction

• Explore innovative ways to engage male extension workers

• Expand the use of Gender Transformative Approaches (GTA’s)

Gender Transformative Approaches

• Work explicitly to change “gender norms” and promote more gender equitable relations between men and women

• Examples: Changing farmer association bylaws to increase women’s leadership

• Increase men’s involvement in household activities, ie. Nutrition

• Working with “whole household” methods and approaches

THANKS!

Questions???

Comments?

More info: www.meas.orghttp://ingenaes.illinois.edu/http://tinyurl.com/paheerb

Disclaimer

This presentation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. The

contents are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.