Women in agriculture
It is estimated that women make up an average of 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries and as much as 50 per cent in eastern and south-eastern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Smallholders in agriculture include crop, forest and livestock farmers who manage areas ranging from less than one hectare to ten hectares. They tend to be subsistence producers who work for themselves and depend on family for labour. Subsistence producers use most of their produce to feed their families. Women are mainly subsistence producers.
The small-scale fishing industry contributes an estimated 46–54 per cent of fish catches. Small-scale fisheries employ over 90 per cent of the fishers and approximately 85 million people are employed in fish processing, distribution and marketing. About half of the people employed in small-scale fisheries are women. As with land-based agriculture, small-scale fisheries not only generate income for families but also supply them with nutritious food (see FAO, 2012, for more information).
Women are involved in all aspects of agricultural production, although heavy, manual work tends to be performed by men, who are the main decision makers. The women’s farm work is intertwined with housework, and the food they grow or animals they rear are transformed into food for the household.
Women work on farms as unpaid family labourers, as paid wage workers — full-time, part-time or seasonal — or as farm managers. The types of work they do depends on geography, culture and what is happening in the household. For examples, wives take on the role of managers when their husbands migrate in search of other work.
Generally, women are responsible for propagation, post-harvest agro-processing, livestock rearing and selling produce in community markets. Although there are no precise data on women’s work in different farming activities such as seed selection, selling produce and food preparation, it is estimated that women devote more time than men to many household activities in addition to their work on the farm. Even women who are employed full-time off-farm undertake most of the daily work related to healthcare for themselves and their family and to maintaining links between the home, school and church and organising community-based activities.
Reading
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2012). Smallholders and family farmers [Factsheet]. https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/nr/sustainability_pathways/docs/Factsheet_SMALLHOLDERS.pdf
Activity
In your journal, reflect on what agricultural activities the women in your community are usually involved in. Are these activities the same as the activities the men participate in? The facilitator may ask you what activities you are usually involved in, both on the farm and in the community, and lead a discussion about the different activities of each sex to identify gender norms.
