Rural women

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Rural women in a community meeting related to microfinace in India. Rural women play an important part of rural development the world over -- when given economic access and opportunities, they transform their communities investing in infrastructure and community well-being. India - Faces - Rural women driving their own change 1 (2229752965).jpg
Rural women in a community meeting related to microfinace in India. Rural women play an important part of rural development the world over -- when given economic access and opportunities, they transform their communities investing in infrastructure and community well-being.

Rural women play a fundamental role in rural communities around the world providing care and being involved in number of economic pursuits such as subsistence farming, petty trading and off-farm work. In most parts of the world, rural women work very hard but earn very little. [1]

Contents

Women often suffer discrimination because they are not allowed to have the same ownership of land as men. Most of what they earn does not directly stay in their control, because of unequal gender roles or discrimination.

Empowering rural women can help not only with alleviating the poverty of individual women and families, but also with empowering the entire community—changing access to education, employment and other benefits of rural development. To recognize this, the international community often sets international development goals that track investment and impact on lives of rural women, and the United Nations sponsors the International Day of Rural Women. [2]

Poverty

Rural women are particularly disadvantaged, both as poor and as women. [3] Women in both rural and urban areas face a higher risk of poverty and more limited economic opportunities than their male counterparts. [4] The number of rural women living in extreme poverty rose by about 50 percent over the past twenty years. [3] Women in rural poverty live under the same harsh conditions as their male counterparts, but experience additional cultural and policy biases which undervalue their work in both the informal, and if accessible, formal labor markets. [5] The 2009 World Survey states that "women play an active role in agriculture and rural livelihoods as unpaid family labour, independent farmers and wage labour, often without access to land, credit and other productive assets." [5]

Women's contribution to the rural economy is generally underestimated, as women perform a disproportionate amount of care work that often goes unrecognized because it is not seen as economically productive. [6] Though in some nations cultural and societal norms prevent women from working outside the home, in other countries, especially in rural communities in Africa, women work as major food producers, improving household food and income security. [5] [6] Families in extreme poverty are even more dependent on women's work both inside and outside the home, resulting in longer days and harder work for women [6] The feminization of poverty is a concept that is applicable in both urban and rural settings.

Role in agricultural communities

This section is an excerpt from Gender roles in agriculture.[ edit ]
Historically, women have faced a number of challenges when participating in agriculture, with patriarchal societies frequently limiting how much agency and control women in agricultural communities have over their own labor. However, with the Feminization of agriculture, the process where men leave rural areas for urban jobs, leaving behind more women tending the land, more women operate as smallholders (like these women in Kenya), playing a vital role in food security and rural economies. Women smallholder farmers in Kenya.jpg
Historically, women have faced a number of challenges when participating in agriculture, with patriarchal societies frequently limiting how much agency and control women in agricultural communities have over their own labor. However, with the Feminization of agriculture, the process where men leave rural areas for urban jobs, leaving behind more women tending the land, more women operate as smallholders (like these women in Kenya), playing a vital role in food security and rural economies.

Gender roles in agriculture are a frequent subject of study by sociologists and farm economists. Historians also study them, as they are important in understanding the social structure of agrarian, and even industrial, societies. Agriculture provides many job opportunities and livelihoods around the world. It can also reflect gender inequality and uneven distribution of resources and privileges among gender. [7]

In particular, pastoralist, ethnic minority, indigenous and rural women continue to face numerous obstacles when trying to access and control natural resources, technological devices and agricultural services; also, they are not involved in processes of decision-making. Most of the time, such obstacles have their roots in practices of discrimination, which highly influence women's independence. [8] [9]

According to the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, women usually have a harder time obtaining land, tools and knowledge than men, especially in developing countries.[ citation needed ] Several organizations such as Food and Agriculture Organization and independent research have indicated that increasing gender corporation can bring more profits and food security for the community. [10] [11] [12]

In general, women account for a greater share of agricultural employment at lower levels of economic development, as inadequate education, limited access to basic infrastructure and markets, high-unpaid work burden and poor rural employment opportunities outside agriculture severely limit women’s opportunities for off-farm work. [13]

Women make up well over 50 percent of the agricultural labour force in many sub- Saharan African countries. About half of the labour force in agriculture is female in several countries in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Viet Nam. [13]

Women who work in agricultural production tend to do so under highly unfavourable conditions. They tend to be concentrated in the poorest countries, where alternative livelihoods are not available, and they maintain the intensity of their work in conditions of climate-induced weather shocks and in situations of conflict. [13]

Women are less likely to participate as entrepreneurs and independent farmers and are engaged in the production of less lucrative crops. Often, women are unpaid family workers or casual workers in agriculture. Social norms may also constrain women from producing crops and participating in activities dominated by men. [13]

The gender gap in land productivity between female- and male managed farms of the same size is 24 percent. On average, women earn 18.4 percent less than men in wage employment in agriculture; this means that women receive 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. [13]

Feminization of agriculture

This section is an excerpt from Feminization of agriculture.[ edit ]

In feminist economics, the feminization of agriculture refers to the measurable increase of women's participation in the agricultural sector, particularly in the developing world. [14] [15] The phenomenon started during the 1960s with increasing shares over time. In the 1990s, during liberalization, the phenomenon became more pronounced and negative effects appeared in the rural female population. [15] Afterwards, agricultural markets became gendered institutions, affecting men and women differently. In 2009 World Bank, FAO & IFAD found that over 80 per cent of rural smallholder farmers worldwide were women, this was caused by men migrating to find work in other sectors. [16] [17] Out of all the women in the labor sector, the UN found 45-80% of them to be working in agriculture [18]

The term has also been applied to other phenomena, including increasing shares of women in the agricultural workforce, male outmigration from rural areas, decreasing women's opportunities in agricultural productivity, and lower rural pay due to skill exclusions. [19] Activists have argued that the trend is dangerous and leads to food insecurity. [20]

Impact on food security

This section is an excerpt from Gender and food security.[ edit ]
Female farmers in Kenya A mothers support group in Lodwar, northern Kenya, September 2011 (6219651215).jpg
Female farmers in Kenya
Gender inequality both leads to and is a result of food insecurity. According to estimates, women and girls make up 60% of the world's chronically hungry and little progress has been made in ensuring the equal right to food for women enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. [21] [22] Women face discrimination both in education and employment opportunities and within the household, where their bargaining power is lower. On the other hand, gender equality is described as instrumental to ending malnutrition and hunger. [23] Women tend to be responsible for food preparation and childcare within the family and are more likely to be spent their income on food and their children's needs. [24] The gendered aspects of food security are visible along the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization and stability, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization. [25]

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Feminization of poverty refers to a trend of increasing inequality in living standards between men and women due to the widening gender gap in poverty. This phenomenon largely links to how women and children are disproportionately represented within the lower socioeconomic status community in comparison to men within the same socioeconomic status. Causes of the feminization of poverty include the structure of family and household, employment, sexual violence, education, climate change, "femonomics" and health. The traditional stereotypes of women remain embedded in many cultures restricting income opportunities and community involvement for many women. Matched with a low foundation income, this can manifest to a cycle of poverty and thus an inter-generational issue.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gender roles in agriculture</span>


Gender roles in agriculture are a frequent subject of study by sociologists and farm economists. Historians also study them, as they are important in understanding the social structure of agrarian, and even industrial, societies. Agriculture provides many job opportunities and livelihoods around the world. It can also reflect gender inequality and uneven distribution of resources and privileges among gender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rural poverty</span> Poverty in rural areas, which are often less developed than urban areas worldwide

Rural poverty refers to situations where people living in non-urban regions are in a state or condition of lacking the financial resources and essentials for living. It takes account of factors of rural society, rural economy, and political systems that give rise to the marginalization and economic disadvantage found there. Rural areas, because of their small, spread-out populations, typically have less well maintained infrastructure and a harder time accessing markets, which tend to be concentrated in population centers.

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In feminist economics, the feminization of agriculture refers to the measurable increase of women's participation in the agricultural sector, particularly in the developing world. The phenomenon started during the 1960s with increasing shares over time. In the 1990s, during liberalization, the phenomenon became more pronounced and negative effects appeared in the rural female population. Afterwards, agricultural markets became gendered institutions, affecting men and women differently. In 2009 World Bank, FAO & IFAD found that over 80 per cent of rural smallholder farmers worldwide were women, this was caused by men migrating to find work in other sectors. Out of all the women in the labor sector, the UN found 45-80% of them to be working in agriculture

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gender and food security</span>

Gender inequality both leads to and is a result of food insecurity. According to estimates, women and girls make up 60% of the world's chronically hungry and little progress has been made in ensuring the equal right to food for women enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Women face discrimination both in education and employment opportunities and within the household, where their bargaining power is lower. On the other hand, gender equality is described as instrumental to ending malnutrition and hunger. Women tend to be responsible for food preparation and childcare within the family and are more likely to be spent their income on food and their children's needs. The gendered aspects of food security are visible along the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization and stability, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization.

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References

  1. ↑ Kak, Shakti (1994). "Rural Women and Labour Force Participation". Social Scientist. 22 (3/4): 35–59. doi:10.2307/3517622. ISSN   0970-0293. JSTOR   3517622.
  2. ↑ "International Day of Rural Women 15 October". United Nations. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  3. 1 2 Jazaïry, Idriss; Alamgir, Mohiuddin; Panuccio, Theresa (1992). The State of World Rural Poverty: An Inquiry into Its Causes and Consequences. New York: University Press. ISBN   9789290720034.
  4. ↑ Haynie, Dana L. and Gorman, Bridget K. 1999. “A Gendered Context of Opportunity: Determinants of Poverty across Urban and Rural Labor Markets” The Sociological Quarterly , Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 177-197.
  5. 1 2 3 World Survey. 2009. “Access to Land, Housing and Other Productive Resources.” Chapter 3, pp. 27–40, and Chapter 4, pp. 41-46
  6. 1 2 3 UNICEF. 2007. "Equality in Employment," in The State of the World's Children. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund. Chapter 3, pp. 37–49.
  7. ↑ Khachaturyan, Marianna; Peterson, E. Wesley F. (2018-02-07). "Does Gender Really Matter in Agriculture?" (PDF). Cornhusker Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
  8. ↑ Resurrección et al., 2019
  9. ↑ Women's leadership and gender equality in climate action and disaster risk reduction in Africa − A call for action. Accra: FAO & The African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group. 2021. doi:10.4060/cb7431en. ISBN   978-92-5-135234-2. S2CID   243488592.
  10. ↑ Garcia, Alicea Skye; Wanner, Thomas (2017). "Gender inequality and food security: Lessons from the gender-responsive work of the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation". Food Security. 9 (5): 1091–1103. doi:10.1007/s12571-017-0718-7. S2CID   255605665.
  11. ↑ "Shared labour, shared rewards: men and women farming together in Sri Lanka | Gender | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations". www.fao.org. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  12. ↑ "Document card | FAO | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations". www.fao.org. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 The status of women in agrifood systems - Overview. Rome: FAO. 2023. doi:10.4060/cc5060en. S2CID   258145984.
  14. ↑ "Gender | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations". www.fao.org.
  15. 1 2 Deere, 2009 p. 99
  16. ↑ Robinson-Pant, Anna (2016). Learning knowledge and skills for agriculture to improve rural livelihoods (PDF). UNESCO. p. 30. ISBN   978-92-3-100169-7.
  17. ↑ World Bank, FAO & IFAD. 2009. Gender in agriculture sourcebook. Washington, DC. World Bank.
  18. ↑ "WomenWatch: Women, Gender Equality and Climate Change". www.un.org.
  19. ↑ Whitehead, 2009 p.45
  20. ↑ ActionAid 2010
  21. ↑ , World Food Programme Gender Policy Report. Rome, 2009.
  22. ↑ Spieldoch, Alexandra (2011). "The Right to Food, Gender Equality and Economic Policy". Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL).
  23. ↑ FAO, ADB (2013). Gender Equality and Food Security - Women's Empowerment as a Tool against Hunger (PDF). Mandaluyong, Philippines: Asian Development Bank. ISBN   978-92-9254-172-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-01-28. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  24. ↑ Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook, World Food Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, and International Fund for Agricultural Development (2009)
  25. ↑ FAO (2006). "Food Security" (PDF). Policy Brief. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-18.

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