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JUN 30 -
A photograph published in the Post of June 16 of Dhan Maya Kulung of Makalu, Sankhuwasabha ploughing a field has urged me to pen down a few thoughts on gender division of labour in agriculture. The first question that came to my mind was: How has the trend of gender division of labour in rural Nepal been changing?
There has been a distinct demarcation of gender division of labour in farming in rural Nepal. A majority of the literature on women and agriculture explicitly delineate that women are often involved in farming related activities like weeding, planting, transplanting, collecting and sorting seeds and so on. These activities are considered to be relatively lighter compared to ploughing, irrigating and spraying fertilisers, which according to stereotypical gender norms, are often regarded as a man’s domain.
No wonder gender division of labour in the agriculture sector across the globe has been gradually changing in recent times, and Nepal is no exception. An intensifying food crisis triggered by climate change, decade-long conflict and male out-migration has contributed to a dramatic feminisation of agriculture. While this may offer some opportunities, an extra yet crucial responsibility of producing enough food has been put on women who already spend 14-16 hours a day on a host of household related activities. Male out-migration for both seasonal and long-term earnings has fuelled the practice of leaving their female counterparts back home to shoulder the burden of taking care not only of the elderly, the children and household chores, but also of the farm, livestock, technology and markets. If the feminisation trend intensifies, Nepal may end up setting a precedent of an even more strenuous female daily routine diagram compared to other underdeveloped nations.
The challenge is even more compelling considering the current scenario of low agricultural productivity due to drastic climatic variations and growing natural disasters. The challenge to secure food for
the poor families is growing
bigger, and even bigger for female-headed rural and landless households. And, that is where special support is required to build the resilience of these families. The irony, as usual, is not recognising women as independent farmers by both the social system and statuary procedures despite making up almost 60 percent of the farm labour force.
Policies and programmes, hence, are yet to address the challenges brought by increasing feminisation in agriculture. An Oxfam International report entitled “Working with vulnerable farmers towards climate change adaptation and food security” explains that for long-term security, there is a need to invest in marginal communities by building people-centred resilience mechanisms based on five principles — sustainability of natural resources, responsive institutions, sustainable livelihood options, farmer-driven decisions and gender dynamics and equality.
It is obvious that even in the smallest social setting like a household, neither the interests nor the power and status
of all members are similar and
equal. These differences definitely affect an individual family member’s absolute and relative access to income, consumption and workload.
Given the present rural context and women’s predominant engagement
in farming activities as primary producers of food crops and as family caretakers, they are the most affected section
of the community by the impact
of climate change. They will be able
to improve their livelihoods with
access to year-round food grain only if their concerns are taken into account while developing policies and programmes and support systems.
The notion of women farmers not physically participating in arduous jobs like ploughing and irrigating has already been challenged by single and female headed households in many pockets of the hills and the Tarai. For instance, women irrigating small patches of vegetable and paddy fields in the Tarai by using a treadle pump is an example of women farmers taking up the task
of irrigation which otherwise was regarded as a man’s job. Likewise, there are some examples of resource poor women from the hills engaging in ploughing in the absence of their male counterparts. These facts illustrate how even age-old practices could change due to situational desperation concerning people’s livelihoods, particularly in physical labour dominated communities. This trend eventually affects the intra-household gender power dynamics prevailing in various social strata of these communities.
Women’s rights activists and researchers have been vouching for the empowerment of women farmers as the key to achieving sustained food security. This points to the urgent need of adopting and implementing gender-balanced policies that could go a long way in resolving the food crisis. Together with introducing women-friendly modern agricultural tools and technologies, ensuring timely availability of key inputs such as seeds, fertilisers and pesticides at subsidised rates is compulsory to boost local production.
The opportunities created by
the aggressive expansion of bank branches in recent times could be invaluable particularly for women in terms of enhancing their access to credit. The banks need to go further by offering collateral-free loans to deserving women borrowers, perhaps by aligning the intervention with their mandatory contribution towards rural financing. Rather than being penalised for not meeting the rural finance requirement set by the central bank, why don’t commercial banks try this worthy option? Numerous researches, particularly on microfinance globally, has demonstrated women’s excellent repayment behaviour. In addition, provisions such as crop and livestock insurance make it even more secure for banks to invest under group guarantee conditions. Only with such women-friendly interventions can smiles be brought back to the photos of many more Dhan Mayas!
(Upadhyay’s research on farming women and irrigation technology is included in upcoming book “Engendering Integrated Water Management in South Asia”, SAGE Publication)
Bhawana Upadhyay
upadhyay_b@yahoo.com
Posted on: 2010-07-01 08:07
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