Gender Dimensions of Agricultural and Rural Employment: Differentiated Pathways out of Poverty

"What do we know about the gender dimensions of rural employment, both on and off the farm? What are the gaps in data and research? Are there examples of good practice that could inform national policies?"

With an eye to exploring these questions, this paper on the gender dimension of agricultural work finds that women still benefit less than men from rural employment and face challenges due to current economic and food crises. It is based on the premise that decent work can be a means to achieve equitable, inclusive, and sustainable development. The report emerged out of a collaboration between by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Labour Office (ILO) following two years of work begun in 2009. Designed to encourage maximum interaction among participants, three main topics were discussed during the joint assessment: key gender issues, gaps in knowledge, data and approach, and policy implications. For example, one finding: "Since gender differences in rural employment are many and often inter-related, a package of complementary policy measures are needed, including legal reforms that promote gender equalities, social safety nets, support to the creation of farmers, women and youths' organizations, child care programmes, female education, instruments to improve access to information and labour markets."

Communication-related findings are included throughout the report. For example, when it comes to gender-inequitable rural employment outcomes, the report points to patriarchal norms, which "largely account for women's restricted role in decision-making at household, community, regional and national levels. This lack of female voice reinforces women's own sense of self and underpins the continuance of the economic and social realities which make women unable to compete equally in employment markets..."

It is noted that rural women often lack advocacy power and voice. "Farmers' organizations, when they exist, are usually dominated by men; women are under-represented or not represented at all, particularly at the leadership level....When women cannot express their voice within a group composed of men and women (despite recognized membership or in contexts where women have little or no experience in public speaking or working in groups), it can be more efficient for women to set up and run their own separate organizations, in which they can develop and practise some basic skills in a more familiar, more comfortable or culturally appropriate setting....[To support this claim, several boxes are included in the text:]...the importance of women contributing to collective actions through membership in producers' organizations in rural areas has been unanimously recognized as a powerful tool for women's economic and political empowerment, as it increases female participation in community decision-making processes."

Policy recommendations classified under the four pillars of decent work that are related to communication, with selective suggestions (illustrated by specific examples in the form of text boxes within the report), include:

1. Fundamental rights - e.g., "Involve civil society and governments in awareness raising and educating women on labour conditions and employment rights, without forgetting to provide continuing communication and accessible means to fight for these rights."
2. Employment creation - e.g., "One strategy would be to train and involve rural women more often in agricultural advisory services so that they can transfer their knowledge to other women and play an active role in widening the outreach of technical information and awareness of women's rights over productive assets and incomes."
3. Social protection - "In order to protect rural women workers, it is important to create the necessary safety nets that protect against dramatic changes in livelihoods for women and the poor, including shifts from formal to informal employment, migration and return migration."
4. Social dialogue - "The Tamil Nadu Empowerment and Poverty Reduction project gives a good example of the empowerment of women and gender equity in a local project: at least one of the two leaders of the economic activity groups has to be a woman, and a quorum can be achieved at meetings only if 50 percent of the attendees are women. To ensure that project activities aimed at securing livelihoods and promoting activities are relevant to women, a special focus is given to providing women with access to skills, information, resources and assets."