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    Running Out of Time: The Reduction of Women's Work Burden in Agricultural Production
    Running Out of Time: The Reduction of Women's Work Burden in Agricultural Production
    Running Out of Time: The Reduction of Women's Work Burden in Agricultural Production
    Ebook82 pages54 minutes

    Running Out of Time: The Reduction of Women's Work Burden in Agricultural Production

    By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

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    About this ebook

    Based on a broad literature review, this publication discusses rural women’s time poverty in agriculture, elaborates on its possible causes and implications and provides insight into the various types of constraints that affect the adoption of solutions for reducing work burden. This paper raises questions about the adequacy of women’s access to technologies, services and infrastructure and about the control women have over their time, given their major contributions to agriculture. It also looks into the available labour-saving technologies, practices and services that can support women to better address the demands derived from the domestic and productive spheres and improve their well-being. The reader is presented with an overview of successfully-tested technologies, services and resource management practices in the context of water, energy, information and communication. The findings elaborated in this paper feed a set of recommendations provided for policy makers and development partners. A gender-transformative approach at community and household level is suggested as a way forward to promote women’s increased control over the allocation of their time.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
    Release dateFeb 29, 2016
    ISBN9789251091227
    Running Out of Time: The Reduction of Women's Work Burden in Agricultural Production
    Author

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

    An intergovernmental organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance inter alia, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries.Founded in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO provides a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. The Organization publishes authoritative publications on agriculture, fisheries, forestry and nutrition.

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      Book preview

      Running Out of Time - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

      The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

      The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO.

      ISBN 978-92-5-108810-4

      E-ISBN 978-92-5-109122-7 (EPUB)

      © FAO, 2015

      FAO encourages the use, reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Except where otherwise indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for private study, research and teaching purposes, or for use in non-commercial products or services, provided that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO as the source and copyright holder is given and that FAO’s endorsement of users’ views, products or services is not implied in any way.

      All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be made via www.fao.org/contact-us/licence-request or addressed to copyright@fao.org.

      FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through publications-sales@fao.org.

      Cover photograph: ©WFP/Evelyn Hockstein-Polaris

      Table of contents

      Tables and figures

      Abbreviations and acronyms

      Acknowledgements

      Executive Summary

      Section 1 Introduction

      Section 2 Context: the gender division of labour in agriculture

      2.1 Farming

      2.2 Fisheries and aquaculture

      2.3 Livestock

      2.4 Forestry

      Section 3 Women’s work burden and time poverty

      Section 4 Labour-saving technologies and services

      4.1 Barriers in access to and adoption of labour-saving technologies and services

      4.2 Technology and services: findings by sector

      Section 5 Conclusion and recommendations

      Section 6 Proposed approach

      References

      Tables and figures

      Table 1 Comparison of days worked by men and women in rice paddy cultivation

      Table 2 List of selected technologies, services and practices with labour-saving potential for women

      Figure 1 Gender division of labour in Nandafubwa, Busia District, Kenya

      Figure 2 Conceptual model to reduce women’s work burden in agriculture

      Abbreviations and acronyms

      Acknowledgements

      This background paper was prepared and presented at a workshop on Women’s Work Burden held in FAO on 3 April 2014, with the participation of colleagues from IFAD, ILO, UNIDO and Practical Action. We would like to thank all those who participated for sharing information on their organization’s initiatives, providing their interesting insight, and discussing actions to be taken to move ahead on the subject. The authors are most grateful for the valuable feedback provided by Clare Bishop-Sambrook (IFAD), Susan Maybud (ILO), Cristina Pitassi (UNIDO), Barnaby Peacocke (Practical Action), and by numerous colleagues from various FAO Departments. In particular, the authors wish to thank Rob Vos, Regina Laub, Joseph Kienzle, Ilaria Sisto, Unna Mustalampi, Alejandra Safa, Helga Josupeit, Yvette DieiOuadi, Ida Christensen and Andreas Thulstrup. Any errors and omissions are those of the authors.

      Executive Summary

      Rural women in developing countries play an active role in small-scale agriculture, currently accounting for 43 percent of the global agricultural labour force (FAO, 2011b). Women support their households by producing more than half of all food worldwide, despite increasing competition over the natural resource base, which is being depleted by climate change and unsustainable practices.

      Smallholder women’s access to resources is very diversified and context-related. However, research indicates that in comparison with men, women bear a disproportionate work burden which leads to time poverty. Women have limited access to solutions in the form of labour-saving technologies, services and infrastructure, and in many regions they also face mobility constraints.

      This paper illustrates the role of smallholder women farmers, fishers, forest dwellers and/or livestock keepers, and analyses the factors that lead to time poverty as well as their implications. The paper discusses women’s triple work burden in the productive, reproductive and social spheres, and highlights how this can affect their communities’ food security and prosperity, with potential impacts on their well-being and health. The fact that rural women spend more time in order to produce less has broad implications for their family and productive life and weighs on the choices they are able to make, including the choice to dedicate more

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