CHAPTER TWO: Gender in Rural Development
2.1. The Need to Work with both Men & Women Farmers
• Both men and women undertaken agricultural production and
participated in the process of development of the rural areas.
• But women’s contributions do not get recognition compared to
men, in fact they are seen as simple assistants to men.
• Moreover, women contributes more than 50% labor force for
food production.
• However, their access to resources and opportunities and their
productivity is low compared to their potential.
• One problem here is reaching at a common
understanding as to how female farmers are perceived
in the Ethiopian society.
• the extension system in Ethiopia is unable to address
the cultural taboo against the participation of female
farmers in plowing and sowing.
• Making female farmers targets in extension, therefore,
makes sense for agricultural and rural development at different
levels because:
It improves productivity, income and status of rural women in turn
enhancing the well- being of rural households.
Helps nations to achieve their goals pertaining to food self-
sufficiency & export through developing both genders human
resource base and
Maximizes the utilization of scarce extension resources.
2.2. Barriers to Women’s Involvement in Extension
• Evidence from many countries shows that women usually do not
benefit automatically from agricultural projects.
• Gender- neutral programs can sometimes bypass or be
detrimental to women.
• Predominantly extension services are geared primarily to male
farmers. This is evidenced in:
Delivery systems staffed by males;
Extension methods that often exclude women
e.g. Contact farmer method, requiring
requiring resources with women have limited access.
Segregated pattern of training topics
e.g. agricultural information for men & home economics for women
Taking the case of Ethiopia it is true that the ratio of women
clients in extension and female extension personnel is very
small.
This shows that, whether by design or by default, the result is
male-to-male delivery.
The barriers are categorized in to four headings:
1. Resource based barrier
• Lack of technology, lack of access to credit, low literacy,
small size of land (smallholders) are some constraints
related to resource.
• Due to local customs formal land titles are given to men only.
Women have the right to use but have no control (ownership).
2. Education based barrier
Women’s literacy is low which affects women farmers’
adoption of new technology.
It is true that better educated farmers are more likely to
adopt new technologies and to have access to extension
services.
3. Time related barrier
• Frequency of tasks and gender related responsibilities determine
the amount of time men &women will have available each day.
• It is clear that women are more involved than men in routine,
time-consuming activities; therefore, time availability is more
of a constraint for them.
• They have loss total time available than men to participate in
extension activities.
• Also their free time may not coincide with that of the men.
4. Mobility related barrier
• Women’s freedom to move inside and outside the community is
restricted in some society due to other reproductive roles, social or
religious reasons, less cash to pay for transport, fewer means of
transportation available.
• This also has a noticeable impact on women’s involvement in
extension activities.
2.3. Difficulties Faced by Rural Development Workers in Reaching Women Farmers
The following issues represent some of the drawbacks of extension packages .
1. Most packages introducing technological improvement require credit. However, credit is
less accessibly from adopting the package
2. Improved technologies may focus on maximum productivity. Ignoring other aspects that
might be important to women,
3. Lack of flexibility in adoption of technologies. The “ all or nothing” approach e.g.
packages of inputs & technologies delivered in a full bases, prevents women from
adopting technologies on a step by step basis
4. New technologies usually show little effort into promoting labor-saving technologies for
the time consuming tasks in which women are engaged.
5. Sometimes, the technology being promoted can be unsuitable for women because it could
be heavy or difficult to understand.
• There are also other reasons related to the extension methodology,
gender related and socio-cultural barriers.
Most extension resources are absorbed by programs for commercial and
Commodity producers. Yet, most female farmers do not qualify as members
of such target groups because they mostly produce for home consumption.
The “Progressive farmer” strategy excludes them.” contact farmer” because
of women’s poor access to resources.
Multiple restriction is placed between female farmers and male extension
workers.
Women farmers are neglected by virtue of their gender. They remain
unrecognized by extension services.
• On basis of a study finding by FAO, reaching women farmers might depend on at
least four key factors
i. Whether or not the extension service reaches farmers with small land holdings
(resource base)
ii. Whether or not the program explicitly targets women as well as men farmers,
appropriate to their agriculture role
iii. Whether or not there is congruence between the socio-cultural norms regarding
women's roles, mobility and male- female interactions and the types of extension
activities.
iv. Whether or not there is congruence between women’s agricultural activities and
access to resources and the types of extension activities.
2.4. Developing Appropriate Extension Packages for Women
Why may extension packages fail to adequately address rural
women’s needs?
• Extension packages have traditionally been developed considering men
farmers as the main target.
• The growing recognition of the women’s role in agriculture and rural
development has recently led to include women in existing extension
activities, without proper consideration of how the packages may do; that
needs revision.
• Here it is highlighted that the principle that “appropriate to men” does not
What can be done to improve the problems regarding extension packages?
Ensure flexibility based on women’s access to resources
and ability to take risks.
Promoting simple, low cost, and labour-saving
technologies.
Improving women’s training and education.
Changing perceptions that undervalue women’s work
How does lack of access to credit limit women’s participation in extension work?
• One reason why women don’t make use of extension packages
is that they face problem in getting access to credit.
• Access to credit could actually be problem for women & men
farmers, particularly the poor. Yet, women’s case is particular.
• If rural women do not have cash or a way of getting credit,
they will not be able to afford to buy improved seeds, fertilizers
or other inputs.
• Lack of credit, therefore, prevents women farmers
from purchasing capital equipment &
technologies.
• When women know they can’t afford it, they are
less interested in participating in extension
packages.
Women face several obstacles to obtain credit. This could be due to
A. Lack of collateral: women lack title to land or other assets.
• These are usually in a man's name. Yet, most banks and credit
institutions require some sort of material collateral like land or oxen
to deliver credit.
B. Exclusion from Peasant Associations as or co-operatives
C. Transaction costs are often too high for small and poor farmers and
rural women are among the smaller and poorer farmer
• Distance from sources of credit & lack of affordable public transportation
• It is therefore, often difficult for women to travel the distance required to obtain
credit due to transport problem, time constraint.
D. Limited education and information on bank and financial
procedures and on where and how to get credit.
E. Credit is frequently tied(hard credit to purchase only certain
commodity) and is not soft. Because of the gender division of
labour, the credit might happen to be tied to commodities for
which men are responsible
What can be done to improve access of rural women to credit?
Providing women with information on where and how to get credit,
it any are available.
Help women farmers develop the necessary skills and provide them
with assistance in filling out forms and following procedures for
obtaining loans.
Assist women farmers to find ways to overcome the difficulties in
traveling to financial institutions.
Encourage financial institutions to provide credit for women.
Help develop and promote special credit schemes for women or
strengthen existing group saving schemes.
How can we develop gender sensitive extension packages for rural women ?
Conduct gender analysis study and design the extension package
according to local context.
Revise the existing technologies based on the gender analysis result
2.5. Contacting Rural Women: Working with Rural Women in Practice
A. Who should contact women?
• Female agents: where strong cultural taboos exist female
extension workers can effectively work with women.
• Male agents: Even in situations where cultural taboos exist,
male extension agents can still succeed in working with rural
women.
• Contact farmers: Some female farmers could be selected as
contact farmers and act as an effective link with other women
farmers.
B. What communication methods should we use?
The choice of communication methods depends on
Technologies and materials available, the cultural situation of the
rural people, rural peoples ability to read and write, and farmers
need.
The communication methods could be
Using visual aids and traditional media
Using demonstrations, field days, and tours
Using Speeches and talks
Using group discussions
Using audiovisuals like TV and videos
2.6 Mobilizing women groups for self- help development
• One of the most successful ways of working with rural women is
through groups.
Steps in forming a women’s group
• There are about three steps to make poor rural women empower.
• Step-one: know the community and go through
community/traditional leaders and authorities, requesting
permission.
• Some important points under this step are: gathering information
about the community, its leaders and government officers.
• Step-two: Get support of local leaders in identifying potential
groups of women which may be interested to work together.
• It is important to remember, at this stage, that common
economic and social interests are what bind the group together.
• Step- three: Once local support from the authorities is ensured,
and potential groups of women are identified, initial meeting(s)
should be carried with the group.
• The following issues should be discussed at the initial
stage:
– Future meeting days, time and location
– Clear objectives for what the group wants to achieve
– Structure and leadership of the group
– Members contribution in either cash or kind
– Group rules to minimize conflict and improve efficiency of
group decision making
– Name for the group.
Four basic principles in group formation:
i. Depending on the kind of activity, the group should be small and
manageable and all members should have a chance to speak and
contribute ideas.
Ideal number of members is between 10 and 15.
ii. The group should be homogeneous, where members should have
similar economic conditions and similar background.
iii. Groups should be formed around income generating activities.
iv. Groups should be voluntary and democratic, where members should
decide the leaders, rules and regulations and decisions are taken by
consensus or majority vote.
• Four important blocks for establishment of a self reliant, cohesive &
sustainable groups are:
a) Leadership: Well led groups are more successful and sustainable. Leaders &
committee members must be chosen carefully.
b) Contribution: Contribution in kind or cash enhances group ownership and
solidarity. Regular group savings are essential.
c) Group constitution: A written record of rules, purposes and responsibilities. This
helps to avoid internal conflicts and makes the responsibilities of each member clear.
d) Record keeping: Very important in monitoring and evaluation. Records help the
group to remember what has been decided at meetings.
[Link] Related Issues for Rural Women
• Many policies in relation to rural women have been developed
internationally and nationally.
• E.g. Ethiopian National Policy of women, adopted in 1993, gives
special attention to rural women. However it lacks practical
implementation
Women access to land and other rural resources
• For direct involvement of women in agricultural activities, demand
for additional external inputs like credit, fertilizer, farm tools, etc, is
highly dependent on access to and control over the basic means of
production.
• In almost all cases, women are disadvantaged of their ownership
rights to land.
• In Ethiopia, the process of the 1975 land reform involved transfer
of all land to state ownership, to be controlled by the household
head.
• This did not change (improve) the life of the lot of rural women.
• Moreover, the matter of land tenure in relation to rural women can
be explained in terms of their marital status.
• Married women have access to land through their husband, who is,
in most cases, the head of the family.
• Single (unmarried) and divorced women have access to land
through their natal father.
• For widowed women, it might be different.
• They will keep on having access to the family land for their
survival.
END OF CHAPTER TWO