Food
Chapter 1 GLOBAL GENDER AND ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK Chapter 4: Water Energy
home gardens in Southeast Asia and the Pacific are regarded as among the most self-sustaining agricultural systems in the world (UNESCAP 2009).
Chapter 2
Women’s roles also include processing and preparing food, which are not necessarily identified as agricultural labour but are an essential part of food production and security (UN Women 2014). While gendered roles in agriculture vary within and between countries, women everywhere spend more time on food preparation than do men (FAO 2011).
Pesticides: Pesticides are widely used in agriculture, particularly on industrial farms and plantations but also on many smallholder farms. Pesticide poisoning is a significant global public health problem; according to WHO data, an estimated 3 million cases occur every year, resulting in over 250,000 deaths worldwide (Zhang 2013). There are gender differences in pesticide use, exposures, health outcomes and environmental impacts. For example, women may be at greater risk of adverse effects from pesticides partly because of lower literacy rates, as well as limited access to training and to personal protective equipment (Jors et al. 2013; Naidoo et al. 2010).
Data on pesticide use by women and men in food production are incomplete and inconsistent. In a number of production systems in selected countries it is predominantly men who apply pesticides and are at great risk; in other countries, and on other crops, mainly women apply them (Box 2.1.5). The reasons for these differences include cultural and social norms, educational levels and awareness (Gupta et al. 2012).
A recent small pilot study carried out by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) UK, FAO and local NGOs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia found wide variations in the percentage of women directly handling pesticides (Figure 2.1.2 and 2.1.3). However, this study identified gender variants in pathways to pesticide
Box 2.1.5: Application of pesticides 38
In a survey of 911 South African women farmers, 45.6% (52.5% in the drylands and 35.6% in an irrigated area) indicated they were usually responsible for spraying on their farms, some as often as twice a week during the crop cycle (Naidoo et al. 2008). In Indonesia women carry out the bulk of spraying on oil palm plantations in Kalimantan, using highly hazardous pesticides under unsafe conditions (e.g. leaking backpack sprayers and lack of personal protective equipment) for very low wages. These women became plantation labourers following the shifting of land ownership from the community to an oil palm company (White and White 2011). A study on pesticide use in smallholder rice production in northern Ghana found that male farmers were much more likely to use pesticides than were female farmers (82.6% compared with 17.4%) (Anang and Amikuzuno 2015).
Figure 2.1.2: Percentage of women interviewed who reported handling pesticides directly
100 86%
20 40 60 80
0 56% 37% 15% 4% 99%
Source: FAO and PAN UK (2015)
Figure 2.1.3: Percentage of women who did not directly handle pesticides but washed pesticide- contaminated clothes by hand
100
90 80 70 60 50
40 30 20 10 0
39% 25% 36% 31%
Source: FAO and PAN UK (2015)
Armenia Belarus Georgia Kyrgyzstan Moldova Ukraine
Armenia Belarus Georgia Kyrgyzstan
Percentage
Percentage
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