Gender Mainstreaming In Agricultural Extension

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has continuously demonstrated within its work that gender equality is not simply a matter of human rights, but is key to eliminating poverty and hunger. It is only by closing the gender gap that sustainable agriculture and rural development can reach their full potential (FAO, 2011). Consequently, FAO is committed to promoting gender equality in all of its interventions, as well as by building knowledge, identifying promising practices and widely disseminating these among member states and national partners. In view of the commitments made by national governments, renewed with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the interest among development practitioners, policy-makers and planners concerning gender mainstreaming practices and experiences as a way of improving the effectiveness and sustainability of development interventions is growing. Specifically, FAO has custodianship over two indicators (5.a.1 and 5.a.2) in relation to achieving gender equality. These indicators focus on realising gender parity in land ownership and securing rights over agricultural land, and also assist in the revision of legal agendas to ensure women’s legal ability to own land and / or control land. Additionally, various international conventions, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), have been ratified by nearly all countries and have raised the necessity of achieving gender equality within national legal frameworks. Therefore, documenting and disseminating case studies that are region-specific may help to close the knowledge gap which exists in the area of gender mainstreaming in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and rural development.

What Is Gender Mainstreaming?

Gender mainstreaming is a process to identify development issues, needs and impacts from gender perspectives at every stage of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development policies, programs, and projects. Gender mainstreaming is recognized as an indispensable means to achieve gender equality and female empowerment. Gender equality does not mean that men and women become the same but aims to realize a society where equal opportunities and life chances are provided to both men and women, so that everyone can achieve self-fulfillment regardless of gender. Then, what is the gender (equality) perspective? Gender perspective is a perspective that pays attention to the fact that apparently rigid division of labor or power relations existing between men and women are something socially constructed. Becoming aware of differences in roles, comments, and scope of decision-making power between men and women as shown in the cases in Introduction is to review, from the gender perspective, your preconception that you have never thought that difference in the scope of decision-making power may have an influence on project results or farm management activities.

What is Gender Equality?

[Gender equality] refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs and priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration, recognizing the diversity of different groups of women and men. Gender equality is not a women’s issue but should concern and fully engage men as well as women. Equality between women and men is seen both as a human rights issue and a precondition for, and an indicator of, sustainable people-centered development.

Gender equality is a founding and fundamental value of the European Union (EU), and as such it is a central EU policy objective. The fundamental principle of gender equality was first declared in the 1957 Treaty of Rome. This treaty, which established the European Economic Community, introduced the principle of equal payment for women and men (European Commission, 2016a). Since the 1970s, a series of directives have shaped the work towards gender equality in various fields, with particular attention to equal access to education, employment, economic opportunities, decision-making and social security, among others. In 1997, the Treaty of Amsterdam established that the promotion of equality between women and men was one of the fundamental tasks of the EU and introduced the principle of gender mainstreaming for the first time (European Union, 1997). Today, equality of treatment and equality of opportunities between women and men are established in articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty on European Union (2007) and articles 8, 153 and 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2007), giving a new impulse to gender mainstreaming both in internal politics and in the EU’s external relations. .

The EU approach to gender equality stands on three pillars (European Commission, 2016a):

1. Equal treatment legislation

2. Gender mainstreaming

3. Specific measures for the advancement of women.

Despite the need for utilization of untapped potential of men and women, failure to address gender based differences brings about disparities in development outcomes in general and agricultural extension as well. Gender issues must be addressed in development because first, gender dimension is crucial for economic reasons and from the efficiency point of view. This is true in the agriculture sector, where gender inequalities in access to and control over resources are persistent, undermining a sustainable and inclusive development of the sector. Second, equity or distributional issues are related to gender differences in outcomes. Gender differences, arising from the socially constructed relationship between men and women, affect the distribution of resources between them and cause many disparities in development outcomes. Third, gender roles and relations affect food security and household welfare and critical indicators of human development. Last, but not least, gender equality is a basic human right, one that has value in and of itself in man (World Bank, 2009).

Four decades of research demonstrates the varied and crucial responsibilities that women hold in agriculture and the value of their contributions, both economic and social. Rural women produce half of the world’s food and in developing countries, between 60% and 80% of food crops. Women also are more likely than men to spend their income on the well being of their families, including more nutritious food, school fees for children and health care. A failing of past efforts to reduce hunger and increase rural incomes has been the lack of attention paid to women as farmers,

Gender Mainstreaming Through Extension: Problems and Prospects

Producers and farm workers – both wage and non-wage. Women receive only 5% of extension services worldwide, and women in Africa access only 1% of available credit in the agricultural sector (Rekha et al, 2008). Gender inequalities limit agricultural productivity and efficiency and in so doing, undermine development agenda. Failure to recognize the different roles of men and women is costly because it results in misguided projects and programs, forgone agricultural output and incomes and food and nutrition insecurity. It is time to take into account the role of women in agricultural production and to increase concerted efforts to enable women to move beyond production for subsistence and into higher-value, market oriented production (World Bank, 2009).

Gender perspectives in human resource development and capacity building:

To facilitate gender mainstreaming at the target organization, you should examine measures to set the gender ratio of staff members who participate in training and encourage women to participate in technical and leadership training so that women can demonstrate leadership. Additionally, you should also promote collection and maintenance of gender-segregated statistics at the target organization when necessary.

Gender analysis:

Gender analysis is a systematic tool used in examining the social and economic differences between women and men. It looks at their specific activities, conditions, needs, access to and control over resources, as well as their access to development benefits and decision making. It studies these linkages and other factors in the larger social, economic, political and environmental contexts. The findings of the gender analysis are used to inform strategic planning of any interventions. Gender analysis and planning are also required for the development and implementation of specific measures to promote equality of opportunity and treatment between male and female workers. All policies and programs, whether at the macro, sectorial or micro levels, need to engage in gender analysis and planning as a means not only for achieving gender equality but as a contribution to realizing their overall goals. Gender analysis entails first and foremost, collecting sex‐disaggregated data (i.e., data broken down by sex) and gender sensitive information about the concerned population. Gender analysis is the first step in gender sensitive planning for promotion of gender equality. Gender analysis is not confined to identifying differences. More importantly, it recognizes the politics of gender relations and the adjustments needed to be undertaken by institutions to attain gender equality.

Case for gender equality in agriculture extension:

The case for gender equality in extension services can be made both from the ‘business’ and ‘development’ points of view. The ‘business’ viewpoint focuses on improved efficiency and results whereas the ‘development’ perspective focuses on the need to eliminate inequality.

The business case for increased gender equality in extension says that gender equality will:

Facilitate a larger impact on agriculture skills and productivity. Applying gender equality in agriculture projects ensures that the proper technologies and knowledge reach the woman or man who performs specific agricultural tasks in a household.

Ensure a sustainable flow of quality products. Women working in the agricultural sector ought to see the economic benefits of their labor. Incentives for women to participate in the value chain will help ensure the supply of quality goods to the market.

Lead to new business opportunities. Extension programs should encourage women to be involved in market value chains as both suppliers of key inputs and developers of new products. This will insure women continue to participate in value chains as those chains become formalized. Otherwise women may feel hesitant to take part in value chains controlled by men.

The development case for increased gender equality in extension says that gender equality will:

Lead to adopting improved agricultural practices and inputs. Such adoption strengthens food security and poverty reduction when the whole family (men and women) receives access, through extension, to the skills and information they require.

Allow humans to live free from discrimination. Increased gender equality gives both men and women access to education, skills, and employment opportunities.

Increase household nutrition through women’s involvement in household food production. Studies have also shown a strong relationship between women’s access to income and larger investments in children’s health and education.

Whether taking the business or development approach, addressing gender inequalities in extension services produces more broad-based and sustainable outcomes.

Gender-related barriers:

To develop extension programs that address gender inequality, agriculture development workers must be aware of gender-related barriers in their projects. This section addresses possible barriers in agriculture extension programs and how these obstacles can be overcome.

Identifying the farmer:

In developing an extension program, the people who benefit from the services must be identified. In many extension and development programs, the beneficiaries are often either the head of household, land owners, or farm income earners. As explained below, selecting potential recipients of services by using any of these categories can reinforce gender inequality.

Head of household:

The head of household is often defined as the primary famer, considered by many institutions as the man of the household. This leads to information being passed on to the man with hopes that information relevant to working women will be relayed by him.

Land ownership:

The majority of land in developing countries is owned by men. This is often because of various social, legal, and customary norms. If agriculture extension programs only target land owners, then most women will not have direct access to services or new agriculture knowledge.

Farm income earners:

Some services are supplied to farmers based on the destination of their crops (i.e., market or household). Often crops destined for markets are viewed as men’s crops whereas those produced for the household are considered women’s crops Extension efforts can reinforce these gender stereotypes if they label crops as men’s or women’s. In reality, there is often variability in the extent to which men, in comparison to women, control the income from crop sales. Similarly, the level of collaboration between men and women in producing food can also vary depending on the crop being grown and how it is processed and marketed. Agriculture development workers would do well to simply provide services to people who consider themselves farmers and meet the farmers’ needs based on their activities and preferences. One effective way to do this is to deliver cross-sectorial programing targeted towards more than one segment of the population. For example, programs that link agricultural extension with nutrition education can be very effective in benefitting both men and women. This would encourage collaboration between men and women at the household level.

Making extension methods gender appropriate:

Advising and teaching farmers requires various means of delivery. When considering different methods of instruction, agriculture development workers should consider gender-appropriate approaches and techniques to reach many types of farmers who have different needs in an array of settings.

Using farmer groups:

The use of community meetings, community-based organizations, producer associations and cooperatives has long been used as a way to increase the reach of extension programs. Generally these approaches target one person per household, with the result being that participants are typically limited to land owners or people of a higher education or social status. In such groups, men often participate more than women, and resource-poor farmers may be excluded.

Conclusion:

Gender mainstreaming in agricultural extension aims at achieving gender equity by ensuring men and women's equal access to agricultural inputs, training and information. Officially listing women as farmers is the first step towards mainstreaming gender in agricultural extension. It not only formally recognizes women's contribution to agriculture but also opens up opportunities for women to systematically access agricultural extension services. The process to enlist women has begun recently in many developing countries as part of fulfilling the gender mainstreaming mandate of the agricultural programs. However, not much information exists regarding the factors that facilitate or impede women's official participation agricultural extension and how the target clients feel about this initiative. Given this background, we present a case study from the south-center coast of Bangladesh where 216 male and female farmers' were interviewed about women's active engagement in agricultural extension. A legit regression model was estimated to identify the factors that influence the official participation of women in farming.