Food


Chapter 1 GLOBAL GENDER AND ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK Chapter 4: Water


Energy


access to agricultural inputs and machinery explains a considerable gap in agricultural production between women and men in Malawi (18%), Uganda (9%) and Tanzania (8%) (UN Women, UNDP-UNEP PEI and World Bank 2015). In nearly all countries for which data exist, male-headed households are more likely to use commercial fertilizers than female-headed ones. They are also much more likely to use insecticides, improved seeds and mechanized agriculture (Peterman et al. 2010). Lower use of agricultural inputs by women reflects not only credit constraints, but also lack of access to extension services and markets (Dolan 2004).


Chapter 2


In addition, these differences reflect women’s interest in sustaining their traditional role as seed collectors and savers, a role that gives them a special status (IRDP 2014). The widespread shift to hybrid seed varieties in recent decades prevents women collecting seeds, undermining their status as well as food security, especially in developing countries (Bhutani ed. 2013). In many cultures, women have traditionally been the keepers of deep knowledge of the plants, animals and ecological processes around them. The erosion of biodiversity driven forward by industrial agriculture has therefore had specific impacts for women as food producers and caregivers, including a loss of knowledge related to seeds, food processing and cooking (IPES- Food 2016).


In recent years, community seed banks that preserve local seeds have been re-established in some areas and are frequently managed by women. This activity gives women a measure of autonomy while contributing to agrobiodiversity and climate change resilience. Participatory plant-breeding schemes to improve seeds


further enhance women’s status in farming (Fitzpatrick 2015).


Access to appropriate tools and information: Even where access to mechanized farm equipment such as tractors, tillers, mechanical weeders and seeders is relatively gender-equitable, women are disadvantaged since such equipment is often designed for use by an “average” male. Women’s average lower weight and height, and lesser muscular power, mean tools and equipment may not be well suited to most of them or indeed to small men. Yet women perform much of the physical work required in agriculture, such as weeding. Redesigning or making available better farming tools and equipment (and introducing or increasing the use of personal protective equipment) would improve efficiency, reduce the number of accidents in which women, men and children are harmed, and contribute to gender equity (Molineri et al. 2015; FAO 2011).


Access to extension services: Extension and other rural advisory services help farmers learn about new crop varieties, livestock breeds and agricultural best practices, among other types of practical information. They may learn about environment-friendly techniques of seedling production, soil conservation, pest management and post-harvest processing (Petrics et al. 2015; Ragasa 2014; Jafry and Sulaiman 2013; GFRAS 2012). However, according to a 2011 FAO report on 97 countries, only 5% of extension services were directed to women; further, only 15% of extension personnel were women so that in some cultures women engaged in agriculture were effectively barred from participating.


In Ethiopia, where traditional gender divisions of Box 2.1.4: Using mobile phones to share information useful to farmer 36


Globally, the use of mobile phone technology to share agricultural information (e.g. on markets, weather conditions and farming best practices) has greatly increased in the last decade or so. However, women and men do not always have equal access to information or to technology such as mobile phones, internet connections and computers. In several countries, micro-insurance drought protection schemes are operated almost entirely through deploying mobile phone technology to provide information about growing conditions and to pay out insurance settlements (Burness Communications 2010). In Ethiopia the government piloted a programme in 2014 to provide agricultural extension services via mobile phones (Ethiopia ATA 2014). Programmes for disseminating advice and best-practices knowledge also exist in other countries. Nevertheless, using mobile technology may exacerbate gender differences in access to information. A global survey of mobile phone use found that women were significantly less likely than men to own a mobile phone: in Africa, 23% less likely; in the Middle East, 24%; and in South Asia, 37%. “Household” ownership of a mobile phone did not mean women and men had equal access to it: 82% of married women reported that using these phones made their husbands suspicious and, in many cases, husbands would not allow their wives to use the phone at all (GSMA Development Fund 2012).


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