Women’s Roles in Agriculture

Women’s participation in agriculture

Produce 60-80% of food supply in most developing countries

54% of those economically active in agriculture are women

Women produce half of the world’s food overall

In Southeast Asia, women provide up to 90% of labor for rice cultivation

In sub-Saharan Africa, women produce up to 80% of basic foodstuffs for consumption and sale

Women perform 25-45% of agricultural work in Colombia and Peru

Women make up 53% of agricultural workers in Egypt

FAO official in 1998

“Despite the fact that women are the world’s principal food producers and providers, they remain ‘invisible’ partners in development. A lack of available gender disaggregated data means that women’s contribution to agriculture is poorly understood and their specific needs ignored in development planning.”

Harvesting grain in India

Harvesting rice in Myanmar

Planting potatoes in Bolivia

Harvesting rice in Tanzania

Processing cassava in Ghana

Yemeni agricultural workers

Maize in Malawi

India, wet rice

Women participate in agriculture as….

Unpaid family workers

“Own-account” workers or entrepreneurs

Wage workers

While families sometimes work together, there is usually a gender division of labor in agriculture

Male farming systems tend to be based on plow technology

Female farming systems tend to be based on hoe technology

Men and women often produce different crops

Women often grow “home gardens”

Home gardens:

Are exclusively for household consumption

Contain complex combinations of crops

Provide variety for dietAre easily accessible for work and

harvesting

Garden plots in Sri Lanka

Home gardens in Mauritania

How do women’s agricultural activities differ from men’s?

Women produce a larger proportion of staple crops (wheat, corn, millet) than non-staples (like tobacco, coffee, sugar)

More of the crops that women produce are consumed by the family and not marketed

Therefore, women’s agricultural production has a more direct effect on family nutrition

How does women’s agricultural production affect child well-being?

Studies have shown that women are more likely to use scarce resources to feed children than men are (Haddad, Hoddinott and Alderman 1997, Smith and Chavas 1997).

Women as conservators of agricultural knowledge and biodiversity

Because women grow more “traditional” crops, they may have specialized knowledge of local plant varieties (rather than using imported seeds)

Because women grow a greater variety of crops, they become managers of seed stocks and agricultural bio-diversity

In home gardens, women grow and experiment with specialized plants for medicinal purposes, spices, etc.

Sorting cabbage seed in Bangladesh

Rwandan beans

How would you expect modernization and technological change to affect women’s roles in agriculture?

Researchers of the 1970s and 80s argued that as agriculture modernized, women’s role would decrease

Because introducing plows in order to increase production would shift responsibility to men

Because gender rules in many societies would make new technologies, credit, and inputs more easily available to men

Because Western development agencies tend to target male farmers

Problems women face in upgrading their

agricultural practices

Difficulties obtaining land titles or secure tenure

A study of five African countries found that women receive less than 10% of available agricultural credit

Only 15% of the world’s agricultural extension agents are women, and most extension services are focused on cash crops

FAO has found that most new farm tools are designed for men

Feminization of Agriculture, FAO document

FAO document

Some factors leading to “feminization of agriculture”

Male out-migration from rural areas

Warfare

Male mortality from HIV/AIDS

Some effects of feminization of agriculture

Women are taking over crops and chores formerly done by men as well as their own tasks, leading to vastly increased workload

Increased workload may make it necessary to adjust cropping patterns and farming systems

Increases in workload may make it difficult to maintain farming infrastructure

One woman’s day in Sierra Leone

What kinds of support do women farmers need?Secure access to land and titling

Labor saving technologies, new and appropriate tools

Access to credit and inputs

Rural organizations that can help them obtain resources and represent their interests

Receiving credit in Bangladesh

Agricultural extension work in Indonesia

Rural Organization in India

Women’s farming organization in India

In the fruit-picking sector, 75% of women work more than 60 hours a week in season, on temporary contracts.

São Francisco Valley, Brazil

Women Agricultural Worker’s Activism

Food Sovereignty Movements

Anti-Pesticide Movements

Fair Trade and Labor Rights Groups