The consultation concurred: "The vulnerability of rice livelihood systems adversely affects women in rice systems. The vulnerability arises from changing economic conditions and technological innovations. Therefore, it is crucial to consider local gendered knowledge systems, gender roles in production systems and local practices while developing technologies for rice livelihood systems". The regional recommendations that follow are presented under specific thematic groupings.
Database on women in agriculture specific recommendation for rice systems:
Collect sex disaggregated data and gender differentiated information on the following aspects of rice livelihood systems:
- levels of subsistence and commercialisation in rice production;
- gender roles in rice farming communities at various levels of subsistence and commercialisation in rice farming;
- land ownership and access to inputs, managerial power and economic activities in rice farming communities.
Collect sex disaggregated agricultural census data and household survey data.
Mak e all Par ticipator y Rural Appraisal (PR A) gender resp onsive and provide gender-differentiated information.
Begin programme and project planning with sex-disaggregated data.
Make gender training for investigators in national organisations mandatory.
Conduct research on the multiple and changing roles of women in rural production systems in the era of globalisation.
Collect, compile and disseminate gender- and sex-disaggregated statistics in rice livelihood systems in a user friendly format.
Gender equal opportunities in rice livelihood systems: the changing technological milieu, technology and training:
Promote gender responsive technology that is beneficial to women (by reducing drudgery but not displacing women) and upgrade women’s skills and capabilities through client needs assessment for technology development and proper targeting.
Provide full information to men and women on the negative and positive aspects that would accrue from specific technology in such areas as economic, social and health.
Train and enhance the skills of targeted groups of women on the use and maintenance of technology.
Institutionalise equal pay between women and men for work of equal value in the agricultural sector.
Promote technologies that are economically beneficial and sustainable.
Improve the livelihood of rice-based female households by transforming rice by-product technology for economic enterprises.
Establish linkages between the scientific community and farming communities for research and diffusion of technology.
Create access to development resources as a coping mechanism for communities by harnessing collective action.
Improve linkages to markets and service providers, such as agricultural finance and extension services, to sustain rural livelihoods.
Make technology transfer approaches in vulnerable rice livelihood systems gender sensitive and responsive to women’s situation.
Gender-equal opportunities in rice livelihood systems: The changing economic milieu of globalisation and economic development
Conduct research on the gender dynamics of agriculture in the context of mechanisation, commercialisation and globalisation.
Support rice biodiversity conservation and indigenous knowledge in view of livelihood and gender concerns through government programmes.
Enact policies to enhance the profitability of small rice farmers.
Mobilise men and women farmers to compete effectively in the market.
Assess the affect of migration on land use and its affect on women in rice systems.
Understand the negative effect of fragmented land holdings on rice production and the implications for the gender dimensions of the rural household workload.
Protect rice agricultural land and address the affect of urban encroachment on rice land use.
Acknowledgements
The meeting acknowledges with thanks the contributions made by the participants and by the organisers for planning and implementing the consultation on gender dimensions in rice-based livelihood systems.
