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Africa: Agriculture Gender Gap
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Mar 11, 2011 (110311)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"Just giving women the same access as men to agricultural resources
could increase production on women's farms in developing countries
by 20 to 30 percent. This could raise total agricultural production
in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent, which could in turn
reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12 to 17
percent, or 100 to 150 million people. An estimated 925 million
people in the world were undernourished in 2010, of which 906
million live in developing countries." - The State of Food and
Agriculture, FAO, March 2011
The message is neither new nor surprising, as the potential for
development in addressing the gender gap is recognized more and
more widely. Nevertheless, implementation is another matter, as
gender bias is deeply entrenched in both institutions and cultural
norms. By stressing what it calls "the business case" for gender
equity, and providing additional evidence for the benefits to be
gained, the FAO's annual report on the State of Food and
Agriculture hopes to give a boost towards higher priority for
women's rights in national and international agricultural reforms.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a press release and excerpts
from the FAO report. The full report is available at
http://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/en/
Another AfricaFocus Bulletin released today, sent out by e-mail and
available on the web at http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/rtf1103.php, addresses a more
controversial issue, i.e., the need to give priority to
agroecological perspectives in new investment in agriculture. The
needs for emphasis on smallholder agriculture, on the role of
women, and for more attention to agriculture in development
planning more generally are widely recognized. But views on the
priorities for investment are sharply divided, between those
stressing technology most suited to profits for large-scale
agriculture service companies and those stressing the need for
agroecological approaches, which are more sustainable but less
favored by leading multi-national corporations and large donors
such as USAID and the Gates Foundation.
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on agriculture and related
issues, visit http://www.africafocus.org/agexp.php
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++
Closing the gender gap in agriculture
FAO report makes strong business case for investing in women
http://www.fao.org
7 March 2011, Rome - If women in rural areas had the same access to
land, technology, financial services, education and markets as men,
agricultural production could be increased and the number of hungry
people reduced by 100-150 million, FAO said today in its 2010-11
edition of The State of Food and Agriculture report.
Yields on plots managed by women are lower than those managed by
men, the report said. But this is not because women are worse
farmers than men. They simply do not have the same access to
inputs. If they did, their yields would go up, they would produce
more and overall agricultural production would increase, the report
said.
"The report makes a powerful business case for promoting gender
equality in agriculture," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.
"Gender equality is not just a lofty ideal, it is also crucial for
agricultural development and food security. We must promote gender
equality and empower women in agriculture to win, sustainably, the
fight against hunger and extreme poverty," he added.
Closing yield gaps reaps gains for all
Just giving women the same access as men to agricultural resources
could increase production on women's farms in developing countries
by 20 to 30 percent. This could raise total agricultural production
in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent, which could in turn
reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12 to 17
percent, or 100 to 150 million people. An estimated 925 million
people in the world were undernourished in 2010, of which 906
million live in developing countries.
"We must eliminate all forms of discrimination against women,
ensure that access to resources is more equal and that agricultural
policies and programmes are gender-aware, and make women's voices
heard in decision-making at all levels. Women must be seen as equal
partners in sustainable development," Diouf said.
Women's work
Women make up on average 43 percent of the agricultural labour
force in developing countries, ranging from 20% in Latin America to
almost 50% in East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The
share is higher in some countries and varies greatly within
countries.
Where rural women are employed, they tend to be segregated into
lower paid occupations and are more likely to be in less secure
forms of employment, such as seasonal, part-time or low-wage jobs.
New jobs in high-value export-oriented agro-industries offer better
opportunities for women than traditional agriculture, the report
says.
Mind the gap
The report documents gender gaps in the access to a wide range of
agricultural resources, including land, livestock, farm labour,
education, extension services, credit, fertilizers and mechanical
equipment.
Women in all regions generally have less access to land than men.
For those developing countries for which data are available,
between 3 and 20 percent of all landholders are women. The share of
women in the agricultural labour force is much higher and ranges
from 20 to 50 percent in developing country regions.
"Women farmers typically achieve lower yields than men, not because
they are less skilled, but because they operate smaller farms and
use fewer inputs like fertilizers, improved seeds and tools," said
Terri Raney, editor of the SOFA report.
Leveling the ploughing field
"Evidence from many countries shows that policies can promote
gender equality and empower women in agriculture and rural
employment. The first priority is to eliminate discrimination under
the law," Raney said. "In many countries women do not have the same
rights as men to buy, sell or inherit land, to open a savings
account or borrow money, to sign a contract or sell their produce.
Where legal rights exist on paper, they often are not honored in
practice."
Government officials must be held accountable for upholding the law
and women must be aware of their rights and empowered to claim
them.
Women face multiple constraints in agriculture arising from the
complex nature of agricultural production and from competing
demands on their time. To be effective, interventions must be
"bundled" so they treat these constraints together, the report
says.
Policies and institutions often have different impacts on men and
women - even when no explicit discrimination is intended. "Men and
women have different roles in society and face different
opportunities and constraints," said Raney. "We can't make good
agricultural policy unless we consider gender differences."
Building human capital
In addition to increasing overall agricultural production, closing
the gender gap in agriculture would also put more income in the
hands of women - a proven strategy for improving health, nutrition
and education outcomes for children.
"One of the best investments we can make is in building the human
capital of women and girls - basic education, market information
and agricultural extension services are essential building blocks
for agricultural productivity and economic growth," Raney said.
In sub-Saharan Africa cultural norms have long encouraged women to
be economically self-reliant and traditionally give women
substantial responsibility for agricultural production. HIV/AIDS,
conflict and migration have led to a rise in the female share of
the agricultural labour force in some countries. The share of women
in the agricultural labour force ranges from 36% in Cote d'Ivoire
and Niger to over 60% in Lesotho.
The regional average for East and Southeast Asia is dominated by
China where about 48% of the agricultural labour force is female.
In South Asia India dominates, with a female share in the
agricultural labour force of 30 percent. In Pakistan the female
share in the labour force has almost tripled since 1980, and in
Bangladesh women now exceed 50% of the agricultural labour force.
In the Near East and North Africa the female share of the
agricultural labour force has risen from 30% in 1980 to almost 45%.
In Latin America, overall female labour-force participation is
high, but women's share of the agricultural workforce is lower than
in other developing country regions, reflecting relatively high
female education levels, economic growth and diversification and
cultural norms that support female migration to service jobs in
urban areas. Just over 20% of the agricultural labour force was
female in 2010, slightly higher than in 1980.
Contact
Teresa Buerkle Media Relations (Washington, DC) (+1) 202 653 0011
(+1) 202 294 6665 teresamarie.buerkle@fao.org
Erwin Northoff Media Relations (Rome) (+39) 06 570 53105 (+39) 348
25 23 616 erwin.northoff@fao.org
The State of Food and Agriculture
Women in Agriculture
Closing the gender gap for development
...
This report documents the different roles played by women in rural
areas of developing countries and provides solid empirical evidence
on the gender gaps they face in agriculture and rural employment.
Compared with their male counterparts, women:
- operate smaller farms, on average only half to two-thirds as
large;
- keep fewer livestock, typically of smaller breeds, and earn less
from the livestock they do own;
- have a greater overall workload that includes a heavy burden of
low-productivity activities like fetching water and firewood;
- have less education and less access to agricultural information
and extension services;
- use less credit and other financial services;
- are much less likely to purchase inputs such as fertilizers,
improved seeds and mechanical equipment;
- if employed, are more likely to be in part-time, seasonal and
low-paying jobs; and
- receive lower wages for the same work, even when they have the
same experience and qualifications.
The State of Food and Agriculture 2010-11 presents empirical
estimates of the potential gains that could be achieved by closing
the gender gap in agriculture and rural employment. The report
critically evaluates experiences from many countries with gender
and development policies. It offers proven measures to promote
gender equality and empower women. It shows how agricultural
policies and programmes aimed at closing the gender gap can also
generate significant gains for the agriculture sector, food
security and society as a whole.
Key messages of the report
- Women comprise, on average, 43 percent of the agricultural labour
force in developing countries. This average share ranges from 20
percent in Latin America to 50 percent in Eastern Asia and
sub-Saharan Africa. Their contribution to agricultural work varies
even more widely depending on the specific crop and activity.
- Women in agriculture and rural areas have less access than men to
productive resources and opportunities. The gender gap is found for
many assets, inputs and services and it imposes costs on the
agriculture sector, the broader economy and society as well as on
women themselves.
- Female farmers produce less than male farmers, but not because
they are less-efficient farmers - extensive empirical evidence
shows that the productivity gap between male and female farmers is
caused by differences in input use.
- Closing the gender gap in agriculture would generate significant
gains for the agriculture sector and for society. If women had the
same access to productive resources as men, they could increase
yields on their farms by 20-30 percent. This could raise total
agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5-4 percent.
- Production gains of this magnitude could reduce the number of
hungry people in the world by 12-17 percent. The potential gains
would vary by region depending on how many women are currently
engaged in agriculture, how much production or land they control,
and how wide a gender gap they face.
- These potential productivity gains are just the first round of
social benefits that would come from closing the gender gap. When
women control additional income, they spend more of it than men do
on food, health, clothing and education for their children. This
has positive implications for immediate well-being as well as
long-run human capital formation and economic growth.
- Policy interventions can help close the gender gap in agriculture
and rural labour markets.
Priority areas for reform include:
- eliminating discrimination against women in access to
agricultural resources, education, extension and financial
services, and labour markets;
- investing in labour-saving and productivityenhancing technologies
and infrastructure to free women's time for more productive
activities; and
- facilitating the participation of women in flexible, efficient
and fair rural labour markets.
Part I
1. The gender gap in agriculture
Agriculture is underperforming in many developing countries for a
number of reasons. Among these is the fact that women lack the
resources and opportunities they need to make the most productive
use of their time. Women are farmers, workers and entrepreneurs,
but almost everywhere they face more severe constraints than men in
accessing productive resources, markets and services. This "gender
gap" hinders their productivity and reduces their contributions to
the agriculture sector and to the achievement of broader economic
and social development goals. Closing the gender gap in agriculture
would produce significant gains for society by increasing
agricultural productivity, reducing poverty and hunger and
promoting economic growth.
Governments, donors and development practitioners now recognize
that agriculture is central to economic growth and food security -
particularly in countries where a significant share of the
population depends on the sector - but their commitment to gender
equality in agriculture is less robust. Gender issues are now
mentioned in most national and regional agricultural and
food-security policy plans, but they are usually relegated to
separate chapters on women rather than treated as an integral part
of policy and programming. Many agricultural policy and project
documents still fail to consider basic questions about the
differences in the resources available to men and women, their
roles and the constraints they face - and how these differences
might be relevant to the proposed intervention.
As a result, it is often assumed that interventions in areas such
as technology, infrastructure and market access have the same
impacts on men and women, when in fact they may not.
...
While it seems obvious that closing the gender gap would be
beneficial, evidence to substantiate this potential has been
lacking. This edition of The State of Food and Agriculture has
several goals: to bring the best available empirical evidence to
bear on the contributions women make and the constraints they face
in agricultural and rural enterprises in different regions of the
world; to demonstrate how the gender gap limits agricultural
productivity, economic development and human well-being; to
evaluate critically interventions aimed at reducing the gender gap
and to recommend practical steps that national governments and the
international community can take to promote agricultural
development by empowering women.
...
4. Gains from Closing the Gender Gap
Many studies show that yields on plots managed by women are lower
than those managed by men. This is not because women are worse
farmers than men. Indeed, extensive evidence shows that women are
just as efficient as men. They simply do not have access to the
same inputs. If they did, their yields would be the same as men's,
they would produce more and overall agricultural production would
increase.
The relationship between gender equality and agricultural
productivity can be explored using OECD's index of Social
Institutions and Gender Inequality (SIGI) (OECD, 2010). The SIGI
index reflects social and legal norms such as property rights,
marital practices and civil liberties that affect women's economic
development. A lower SIGI indicates lower levels of genderbased
discrimination. Countries with lower levels of gender inequality
tend to achieve higher average cereal yields than countries with
higher levels of inequality. Of course, the relationship shows only
correlation, not causation, and the direction of causality could
run in either direction (or in both directions). In other words,
more equal societies tend to have more productive agriculture, but
more productive agriculture can help reduce gender inequality.
Research surveyed below confirms that closing the gender gap in
agriculture can improve agricultural productivity, with important
additional benefits through raising the incomes of female farmers,
increasing the availability of food and reducing food prices, and
raising women's employment and real wages.
Productivity of male and female farmers
Many studies have attempted to assess whether female farmers are as
productive as male farmers. These studies measure productivity in
a variety of ways, but the most common method is based on output
per hectare of land, or yield. Simply comparing yields on men's and
women's farms can reveal differences between the two groups - women
typically achieve lower yields than men do - but it does not
explain why. The most thorough studies also attempt to assess
whether these differences are caused by difference in input use,
such as improved seeds, fertilizers and tools, or other factors
such as access to extension services and education. The vast
majority of this literature confirms that women are just as
efficient as men and would achieve the same yields if they had
equal access to productive resources and services.
A thorough literature search identified 27 studies that compare the
productivity of male and female farmers. These studies covered a
wide range of countries (primarily, but not only, in Africa),
crops, time periods and farming systems, and used various measures
of productivity and efficiency. Despite this variety, most found
that male farmers achieved higher yields than female farmers. The
estimated yield gaps ranged widely but many clustered around 20-30
percent, with an average of 25 percent.
Most of the studies found that differences in yields were
attributable to differences in input levels, suggesting that
reallocating inputs from male to female plots can increase overall
household output. Several studies showed this explicitly. Because
this literature is complex and somewhat contentious, it is
summarized below.
[see full text available at
http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i2050e/i2050e00.htm
...
Production gains from closing the gender gap
If gender-specific differences in input use could be overcome and
female farmers could achieve the same yields as male farmers, the
evidence suggests that the production gains could be substantial.
The potential gains cannot be calculated precisely because the
necessary data are not available; however, a reasonable range can
be estimated based on the yield gaps identified in the studies
discussed above and the amount of farm land that women manage.
As noted above, studies of the yield gap between male and female
farmers provide estimates averaging 20-30 percent, and most
attribute the difference to lower levels of input use. ...
Closing the input gap on the agricultural land held by women could
increase yields on their land to the levels achieved by men. This
would imply an increase in production of 20-30 percent on their
land, and increases at the national level proportionate to the
amount of land controlled by women. This would increase
agricultural output in the developing countries for which data are
available by an average of 2.5-4 percent. Assuming that the input
and yield gaps are representative of other developing countries,
this would imply global gains of a similar magnitude.
Of course, the potential production gains calculated by this method
are based on the existing distribution of land and a stylized yield
gap of 20-30 percent. This implies that countries where women
control proportionately more land could achieve the greatest
potential gains. It may be the case, however, that the overall
gender gap in access to agricultural resources is, in fact, wider
where women control less land. The actual gains from closing the
gender gap in access to resources would be greater in countries
where the gender gap is wider. Increasing women's access to land as
well as complementary inputs in that case would generate broader
socio-economic benefits than those captured by this analysis.
...
Other social and economic benefits of closing the gender gap
In addition to increases in production and income, closing the
gender gap in agriculture would generate broader social and
economic benefits by strengthening women's direct access to, and
control over, resources and incomes. Evidence from Africa, Asia and
Latin America consistently shows that families benefit when women
have greater status and power within the household. Increased
control over income gives women a stronger bargaining position over
economic decisions regarding consumption, investment and
production. When women have more influence over economic decisions,
their families allocate more income to food, health, education,
children's clothing and children's nutrition. Social safety-net
programmes in many countries now target women specifically for
these reasons (Box 8).
A large number of studies have linked women's income and greater
bargaining power within the family to improved child nutritional
status, which in turn influences health outcomes and educational
attainment (Smith et al., 2003).
...
Improved gender equality in access to opportunities and returns to
assets not only improve nutrition, health and education outcomes,
but can also have a long-lasting impact on economic growth by
raising the level of human capital in society.
Closing the gender gap spurs economic development, largely through
the impact of female education on fertility, child mortality and
the creation of human capital in the next generation.
...
Key messages
- Female farmers are just as efficient as male farmers but they
produce less because they control less land, use fewer inputs and
have less access to important services such as extension advice.
- Closing the gender gap in access and use of productive resources
and services would unlock the productivity potential of women and
could increase output substantially. Closing the gap could increase
agricultural output in the developing world by 2.5-4 percent, on
average, with higher gains in countries where women are more
involved in agriculture and the gender gap is wider.
- Increasing agricultural production by this magnitude could reduce
the number of undernourished people by 12-17 percent, and would
imply significant progress towards achieving MDG 1C. This
highlights the synergies that exist between promoting gender
equality and reducing extreme poverty and hunger.
- When women control additional income, they spend more of it than
men do on food, health, clothing and education for their children.
This has positive implications for immediate well-being as well as
long-run human capital formation and economic growth through
improved health, nutrition and education outcomes.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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