1. Janani janmabhoomischa sargadapi gariyashi
- Ramayana

2. Gender in Agricultural Development
Issues and Challenges
Presentation by:
Suchiradipta
Bhattacharjee
Ph.D 1st Year 2nd Semester

3. Is it GENDER?
Or is it SEX?
3

4. The disparities...
• Income disparity
• Wage disparity
• Medical disparity
• Educational disparity
• “Missing women”
4

5. Does gender really matter?
5

6. And statistics say....
Closing gender gap in agriculture could –
 increase GDP by 9-16 %
 reduce no. of hungry people by 12-17 %
 increase yield by 20-30 %
6
(Source: FAO, 2014)

7.  84% women engaged in agriculture and allied
activities
 Produce 80 % of food for developing countries and
half of the world’s
 Women constitute about 50% world population
 50% contribution in food production
 30% of official labor hours
Without women, the world would go hungry!!!
7
(Source: UN Women, 2014)

8. Yet they
 make up 70 % of the world’s poorest people
 Constitute only 15% of the world’s agricultural
extension agent
 Receive 10% of world’s income
 Own 1% of world’s property
8
(Source: UN Women, 2014)

9. When it all started...
Early 1970s
Mid 1970s
Mid 1980s
1985
1980
1979
1975
‘Women’s Role in Economic Development’
by Esther Boserup
Women in Development (WID) approach
1st World Conference on Women, Mexico
Convention on Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
adopted by UN General Assembly
2nd World Conference on Women, Copenhagen
Gender and Development (GAD) Framework
3rd World Conference on Women, Nairobi;
Harvard Analytical Framework 9

10. 1990
1993
1995
2000
2010
2011
2012
Longwe Women’s Empowerment Framework by
Sara H. Longwe
Moser Gender Planning Framework by Carol Moser
4th World Conference on Women, Beijing
MDGs identify Gender Equity as key objective
Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook by World Bank
FAO State of Food and Agriculture: Women in
Agriculture
1st Global Conference on Women in Agriculture,
New Delhi 10

11. Gender in Development
Issues
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12. 1. Food security
Women are key to food security in households
• Availability and use of time
• Hidden hunger
• Food availability
• Food utilization
12

13. 2. Strengthening governance
“Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in
eradicating poverty and promoting development”
-Kofi Annan
 Government effectiveness
 Policy processes
 Public sector reforms
 Decentralization
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14. 3. Rural finance
Financial sector
Rural finance
Agricultural finance
Microfinance
14
(Source: World Bank, 2010)

15. 4. Land policy
• Land rights – a critical resource
• Bargaining power
• Legal framework
– Hindu Succession Act, 2005
• Socio-cultural difficulties
15

16. 5. Agricultural markets
• Access to markets
• Capacity development
• Collective action and market linkages
“Feminization of poverty is the tragic consequence of women’s unequal
access to economic opportunities”
- UNDP
16

17. 6. Agricultural labour
Increased women’s LFP, productivity and
income
Increased income;
consumption
expenditure
Greater decision
making and
income control
Improved
children’s well
being
Current poverty
reduction and
economics growth Future poverty
reduction and
economic growth
Differential
savings
Better health
and education
Source: Morrison, Raju and Sinha (2007)17

18. 7. Rural infrastructure
• Transport
• Energy
• Information and Communication Technologies
• Sanitation, hygiene and potable water
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19. 8. Natural Resource Management
• Biodiversity
• Natural disasters
• Land and water degradation
19

20. 9. Agricultural extension
Women addressed by
extension service
Enhances economic
productivity
Informed decision making
Reduced poverty and greater
food security
Better development outcomes
Women in extension
service
Better exposure of rural
women
Better utilization of women
workforce
Role model to rural girls
Increased job opportunities
20

21. 10. Monitoring and Evaluation
• Design of sound
gendered M&E
• Gender sensitive
indicators
“What gets measured gets managed”
21

22. Gender in Development
Challenges
22

23. 1. Political challenges
• Women’s Reservation Bill
• Status quo
• Under-representation
• India - 11% representation in parliament and 111th
among 189 countries
“In politics, you want something said, ask a man; you want
something done, ask a woman”
- Margaret Thatcher
23

24. 2. Policy andstrategy challenges
• Increased recruitment and retention
• Women targeted projects
• Capacity building
• Breaking the mould
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25. 3. Practical challenges
“This is not a tidy world of tyrannical men and victimized
women, but a messier reality of oppressive social customs
adhered to by men and women alike.”
- (Dunn and Kristof, Unknown)
 Discriminatory gender roles
 “Education is necessary, but not sufficient, for
development” – Simister, 2011
Conflict of interest
25

26. 4. Technological challenges
• Drudgery reduction
• Traditional technologies
• Gender specificity
26

27. • Gender sensitization
• “The power of 49”
“There is no chance of welfare of the world unless condition
of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly only
with one wing”
– Swami Vivekananda
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End notes

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