The percentage of women living in rural areas decreased from 40.3% in 1972 to 29.2% in 1993. Overall, women comprise 17.3% of heads of households in Peru. Of the economically active women, 21.1% worked in the agricultural sector in 1981. More recent data is not available. A large portion of rural women perform unpaid work in agriculture, especially in providing for household needs. Women's roles differ according to geographic zones. Along the coast, women work as agricultural labourers in the cultivation of export crops as well as in food production for the household. In the mountain areas, where women participate in the peasant traditional economy, there is an increasing number of women heads of households due to male migration for work or to armed violence. In the Amazon forest area, the setters practice monoculture of rice and maize, while the river dwellers and indigenous peoples practice both subsistence and cash cropping. Women receive lower pay than men for the same or equivalent work.
Division of Labour by Gender. The gender division of labour also differs according to zone. On the coast, men are responsible for ploughing, pesticides and irrigation, while women are particularly active in harvesting. In the Amazon forest zone, indigenous and river dwelling women participate in various phases of subsistence farming, while settler women work in household food production, except with meat and fish, and participate in the harvesting and processing of cash crops. In the mountain zone, women participate in all the agricultural tasks, especially land preparation, sowing, banking, weeding, harvesting and irrigation, and are responsible for livestock and small-scale marketing. Everywhere, women are responsible for all household tasks. In the fishery sector, women are mainly involved in food processing and marketing. Because women have the major responsibility for post-harvest activities such as processing and storage, they play a key role in household food security.
Women also play a key role in livestock, especially in regard to shepherding, feeding, milking, calving and dressing, while men typically tend to the shearing, disinfection, and vaccination.
Gender Relations in Decision-making in Farming Activities. Rural women play a fundamental role in decisions regarding the household, including decisions regarding production, use of resources, and expenditures. However, women's decision-making role tends to be marginalized outside the household, especially in public decision-making bodies.
