Women's involvement in agriculture: a worldwide challenge

ACWW World Conference
Australia, March 2004

By Fabienne Derrien, Economist at the International Federation of Agricultural Producers and Secretary of the IFAP Standing Committee on Women in Agriculture

Dear Rural Women and Women Farmers,
Dear National and International Representatives of women farmers of the world,
Dear ACWW President, Hilda,

It is my great pleasure to be with you to represent the women farmers of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers.

Today the international community seems to recognise the contribution of women to food security and to fighting poverty, being proudly stated by the major decision makers in the world. However when we look more closely, women farmers continue to be a marginalised group in this sector. Obstructing the potential of this important actor in society slows down sustainable agricultural and rural development to the same extent.

Women farmers, your experience speaks for itself: you play a vital role in supporting the family unit and community by providing food for families and ensuring their well being. You are key players in day-to-day agricultural tasks, the instigators of activities that generate non-agricultural income and the custodians of natural and productive resources.

Gender inequality: an impediment to development

However, women farmers still suffer from a number of gender-based inequalities in their quality of female professional. Gender inequalities affect access to, and management of, natural resources (land and water) and productive resources (credit and agricultural inputs), opportunities for education and training, as well as access to agricultural services, technologies and markets.

These inequalities are due to the numerous obstacles confronting women farmers every day. These can be economic (lack of personal liquidity), legal (lack of a professional status, which restricts their access to agricultural services), or social and cultural (certain traditions, norms and social rules impede the autonomy of women). Such obstacles hamper development considerably, especially in view of the fact that the number of farms run by women is constantly rising.

This shortage of means prevents women farmers from achieving the same levels of profitability as their male counterparts. In consequence, to ensure adequate income for their families, some women are obliged to change their farming operating system and/or the selection of the crops. These adjustments can have significant repercussions, for instance a rise in food insecurity, production of crops with a lower nutritional value, adoption of environmentally harmful farming techniques, and a decline in activities that generate off-farm income resulting in the impoverishment of the family, just to mention a few.

Supporting women farmers

And yet, removing these barriers would enable women farmers to exploit agricultural land more efficiently, adapt plans to farming operations more effectively, manage the environment better, ensure regular food production throughout the year, and motivate them to invest in land that is their own.

Recognising women farmers as agricultural professionals can take the form of regulations and a legislative framework giving them equal access to resources, services and jobs in the agricultural sector. However, the introduction of laws is not sufficient because their application depends on institutional, political and social factors that differ widely from one continent to another. Special attention should therefore be paid to the concrete implementation of such legislation and its practical consequences on the ground.

If women farmers are to play their full role in the agricultural sector, they need policies designed to protect their interests in addition of legislation to cover specific gender problems. Governments and farmers’ organisations have considerable responsibility in this matter.

First of all, a political and financial commitment by governments expressed through concrete action that reflects women farmers’ concerns has become a pressing issue. It is the duty of governments to fulfil the commitments they made in Beijing in 1995. They undertook to ensure that all national and international policies would be gender-balanced and that participation of women farmers in every stage of the formulation and implementation of government policies and positions. They should set up the framework required to strengthen the processes of participatory decision-making processes. This kind of a commitment generates faster development, a higher level of food security and an improvement of social well-being and health.

Second, farmers’ organisations should serve as spokespersons to convey the recommendations of their women members to national and international bodies. Agricultural organisations and their elected leaders should therefore make political decision-makers aware of the valuable role played by women farmers in rural areas and take into account women specific concerns in the elaboration of agricultural policies.

Greater involvement on the part of women farmers in formulating the political positions of the farmers’ organisations representing them, as well as a more active participation in national and international debates and programmes, should lead to a better understanding of their specific requirements in the policies advocated.

Although the creation of groups of women farmers is a way of facilitating their participation in political and social discussions where their claims can be heard, this is not an end in itself. The main objective of these groups is the effective integration of women farmers in mixed structures so that they can defend their interests at all decision-making levels in the agricultural sector.

Furthermore, the specific needs of women farmers would be better understood if women in rural areas were not so frequently the invisible partners of development. Visibility in the media is a major component in the recognition of the role women play in the agricultural world. It is necessary to introduce gender disaggregated statistics to illustrate the extent of their involvement in the development process and in the fight against poverty, and to introduce concrete measures adapted to the needs of women farmers. Setting up observatories on women farmers within national governments could be a first step towards studying their specific situation.

This being said, it should not be forgotten that major efforts also have to be made by the women farmers themselves. They must be prepared to discuss their situation and give their views on national and international policies. Only sound and regularly updated training can enable them to promote their interests at working sessions with decision-makers. With this in mind, facilitating the access of women farmers to knowledge, training, and general and technical information is necessary not only to improve their productive activities and optimise their use of natural resources, but also to raise their personal awareness as to their reel needs. We have to bear in mind that improving the general skills of women would have the additional advantage of transmitting knowledge to the next generation. This would be an invaluable asset for the rural community as a whole.

A tool for international representation

Thus, in order to ensure sustainable agricultural development at world level, it has now become indispensable for women farmers to understand the ins and outs of the policies governing them. How can you influence policies that affect your activities if you do not fully understand their contents and functioning?

Women farmers can count on support from the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) to help them obtain recognition of their views and recommendations by top world leaders. Through its Standing Committee on Women in Agriculture, the goal of IFAP is to make the conditions and recommendations of women farmers known throughout the world, defend their interests at international level and strengthen their capacities by a more active participation at all levels of decision-making and representation. I encourage you to consult the information that has been distributed to you on the activities and recommendations of the IFAP women farmers. There is a special women farmer newsletter available that was produced at the beginning of the year and a fact sheet of the Committee. All the Committee’s working documents are available on the IFAP site, in English French and when possible in Spanish.

The majority of the world’s poor live in rural areas. Most of them are women and agriculture is their main source of income. To achieve the objectives set by the United Nations to reduce the number of people living in poverty by half by 2015, priority must clearly be given to taking the concerns and needs of women farmers into consideration in development policies.

The purpose of agriculture is not only to produce food, it is also an essential component in the social, environmental and educational context. Women farmers have an important role to play at all these levels, whether it is to produce food, protect traditional forms of cultivation or help to develop rural areas. Women should be recognised as precious assets in the rural community and every one of us should be conscious that there is no limit to what could be achieved through investing in women farmers.

Dear women farmers, make contact with your national farmers’ organisations and the structures representing women farmers within them, participate actively in their debates, and comment on their political positions… You will only be listened to by your national leaders if you make yourself heard!

I would particularly like to thank the president of ACWW, Hilda Stewart, for her invitation and for the always pleasant working relationship that has been established between our two organisations.

Thank you for your attention.