main streaming gender in extension- issues and perspectives

1. Main streaming gender in Extension –
Issues and Perspectives
L. MURALI KRISHNAN,
Scientist,
Division of Agricultural
Extension,
ICAR-IARI
L. MURALI KRISHNAN,
Scientist,
Division of Agricultural
Extension,
ICAR-IARI

2.  Earn only 10% of the worlds income
Own only 1% of the world property
60-80% of the food in developing countries is produced by women
 Women produce 44% of world food today
 Women carry out about 50-90% of all agricultural activities
(Sensitization for Empowerment of Women in Agriculture: Manual)
WORLD WIDE SCENARIO

3. • Indian population is 48.1% women and 51.9% men
• Women contribute considerably more in household income
• There are high degrees of inter-state and intra-state variations in
gender roles in agriculture, environment and rural production
• 53% of the men and 85% rural women are dependent on agriculture
( source : National Commission on Women,2006)
STATUS OF WOMEN IN INDIA

4. WOMENS’ ROLE
IN
INDIA
1.BIOLOGICAL ROLE 2.SOCIAL ROLE 3.ECONOMIC ROLE
Traditional rural women Modern rural women
As a mother As a house wife As a Convener
(www.ncw.nic.in)

5. 1. Poverty elimination
2. Food security
3. Promotion of well being
4. Economic contribution
IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTUREIMPORTANCE OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE
(National commission on women,2006)

6. Activity Involvement (%)
Land preparation 32
Seed cleaning and sowing 80
Inter-cultivation activities 86
Post-harvest activities 84
SHARE OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURAL
OPERATIONS
SHARE OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURAL
OPERATIONS
(Source: Bala,2003)

7. Activity SEX Occupation( %)
Ploughing Male 56.10
Female 43.56
Sowing Male 41.58
Female 57.92
Weeding Male 43.26
Female 51.23
Transplanting Male 47.03
Female 58.28
Harvesting Male 45.77
Female 55.67
Winnowing Male 44.08
Female 51.94
Threshing Male 44.22
Female 52.64
AVERAGE PARTICIPATION OF MEN AND WOMEN IN AGRICULTURAL
ACTIVITIES
(K.P.Wasnik,2005 )

8. PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE
DEPENDS ON
Land holding
Size of families
Caste
Class

9.  Poor access to resources (Land, Labor, Capital and seed/plant
material)
 Poor access to information
 Poor access to market
 Gender bias in wages
 Deprival in decision making
 Risk factors
(Letha Devi ,2007)
CONSTRAINTS FACED BY WOMEN FARMERS TO FOLLOW
AGRICULTURE AS AN OPTION

10. Current Economic trend
 Changes in the livelihood pattern of rural women
 Need for paradigm shift from subsistence to commercial
farming
• Changes in occupation and income of rural women
Decline in employment by agricultural sector especially in
younger group of women
• 10% reduction on Peri- urban areas
• 11% reduction in rural areas

11.  Women farmers receive only 2-10% of all the agricultural extension
services
 Hardly benefit from trainings, credit facilities, extension services,
technology transfer and field demos
 But contributes to 80% of world food production.
(FAO,2005)

12. So, On an average a women spends…
14 hours a day working in and out side the home
16 hours a day during the harvesting season
On one hectare farm :
Pair of bullocks works 1064 hours
Men works 2120 hours
Women works 3485 hours
But the concern is
Her contribution is not being recognized ……?

13. Why Mainstreaming ?
• To achieve gender equality and improve the relevance of
development agendas.
• Building inherent strength of women and men to mutually
learn and share.
• Overcoming gender distorted prejudices.
• Articulating gender perspectives in development
activities.
• Involving action from women to men and from men to
women for gender sensitization.

14. EVOLUTION OF POLICYEVOLUTION OF POLICY
• Gender mainstreaming started from the VI Five Year Plan when
`opportunities for independent employment and income’ for
women was recognized as a necessary condition for raising social
status of women.
Plan Focus
6th
Five Year Plan Shift from Welfare to Developmental Issues
7th
Five Year Plan Raising Economic and Social Status of Women
8th
Five Year Plan Increased Emphasis on Economic Activities
9th
Five Year Plan From Development to Empowerment
10th
Five Year Plan From Women Alone to Gender Mainstreaming
11th
Five Year plan Propose to Move Towards a Holistic Approach

15. WOMEN WELFARE INITIATIVESWOMEN WELFARE INITIATIVES
During 1950s : Welfare oriented
During 1960s : Women education, maternal and child health received priority
During 1970s : Shift was from welfare to development
During 1980s : Multidisciplinary approach was adopted with special focus on
Health, education, employment
During 1990s : Efforts were made to increase women participation in
economic activity
During 2000s : Mainstreaming gender concerns in agriculture , capacity
building increased access to technology, inputs and resources
GOI declared 2001 as women empowerment year
NATIONAL POLICY FOR EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN ,2001
NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR WOMEN JANUARY, 1992

16. Strategies for Mainstreaming Gender
1. Organizing Women Groups
2. Technologies to reduce energy and time spent
3. Increasing the bio mass production to meet fuel needs
4. Innovative credit programmes
5. Identifying the right training and extension needs
6. Giving women farmers more access to meetings,
trainings, exposure visits
7. Collective farming should be encouraged by women.

17. Contd…
8. Farmer led extension be encouraged
9. Active women can be selected for training
10. Recruiting more women extension workers
11. Female para-extension workers
12. Appointing female supervisors and SMS.
13. Making better use of male extension agents
14. Using women as contact workers.
15. Proper health care support for girls and women.
16. Co operative marketing for their products

18. Women in Technology Development and
Transfer:
 Extension and farm Women
Training of farm women
• Information and training services are often
directed to women play important roles.
• Training on ‘feminine’ occupations such as
sewing, knitting etc. rather than new methods of
farming and self-employment activities related to
farming and allied areas.
• emphasis should on quality products and value
addition,

19. Cont..
Increased access to
credit and capital:
• Men receive credit from
formal source, while
women obtain loan from
informal sources and get
exploited by paying higher
rate of interests.
• Women lack assets like
land title, which can be
used as collateral
security.

20. Cont..
 Group Approach:
• It has been realized that the global competition is
putting lot of pressure on quality improvement of
our agricultural produce.
• In Indian conditions where farmers own small land
holdings and practice substantial agriculture, the
only way out to maintain quality is group
approach, which can be either in the form of
contract farming or cooperative farming.
• Organization of women's Self Help Group can
work and go a long way towards this aim.
• Women can be made aware of the benefits of
group action.

21. SOME AREAS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP OF TEN
SUGGESTED FOR WOMEN
SOME AREAS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP OF TEN
SUGGESTED FOR WOMEN
 Vermiculture
 Sericulture
 Floriculture
 Bio-gas
 Herbal & health care
 Food, fruits & vegetable processing
 Diary
 IT enabled enterprises
 Agro Tourism
 Telecommunication
(Source: Madhuri Talluri,2011)

22. WHY WOMEN ARE BETTER ENTREPRENEURS ?WHY WOMEN ARE BETTER ENTREPRENEURS ?
 They have in-built qualities of a good entrepreneur
 Common Sense
 Ambitious
 Nurturing nature
 Cost conscious
 Team work – cooperative
 Hard working
 Commitment
(Madhuri Talluri,2011)

23. Because
 Honest and hard working
 Purpose oriented and dedicated
 Cost oriented and savers
 Repay better
 Better managers
GOVERNMENT AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ARE MORE
OPEN TO ENCOURAGE WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
GOVERNMENT AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ARE MORE
OPEN TO ENCOURAGE WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

24. Correct the statistical invisibility of women’s work
Policies and funds allocation should address women’s needs
Adequate attention is to be given to the educational process
 Need for paradigm shift from subsistence to commercial farming
 Shift from agriculture to non-agriculture (economic development)
Agricultural education be made gender sensitive and research,
development, extension and services be engendered to give due
recognition to the multiple role played by women agriculturists.
IMPLICATIONSIMPLICATIONS

25. -Empowering the Impoverished…..
NABARD’s Micro Finance Model

26. WOMEN AND SELF HELP GROUPS
A Journey from Micro Savings ------- Micro Credit , Micro
enterprise
Total SHGs in India : 72 Lakhs (2010)
Estimated membership: 197 million poor people
savings in the bank with aggregate bank balance of Rs.62 billion
Loan disbursement Rs 14, 453.50 Cr during 2008-09
SHGs helped the rural women to over come their restricted social
movements and participate in diversified income generation activities.
(Sangeetha,2009)

27. SHG – Bank Linkage ProgrammeSHG – Bank Linkage Programme ::
Cumulative credit linkage of SHGsCumulative credit linkage of SHGs
0
500000
1000000
1500000
2000000
2500000
3000000
31.3.2005 31.3.2006 31.3.2007
1,618,456
2,238,565
2,924,973

28. SHG – Bank Linkage ProgrammeSHG – Bank Linkage Programme ::
Cumulative Bank loan to SHGsCumulative Bank loan to SHGs
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
20000
31.3.2005 31.3.2006 31.3.2007
6,898
11,398
18,041
(Rs
crore)

29. To sum up
• The role of women in technological development in
agriculture has been receiving special attention
• Agriculture and allied activities are the main areas in
which transfer of technology into women hands can raise
the level of productivity.
• Women in agriculture have vast potential, intelligence
and ability, which if trapped properly, may enable them to
join the mainstream of agriculture development.
• It is, therefore, necessary to equip these women with
required information, knowledge and skills to enable
them to do their work efficiently and became equal
partners in agricultural production.

30. “ As long as there are women, we will survive! ”