Gender, equity and participation
Inequitable access to productive resources, including access to knowledge and information, to technology and financial services, to employment, to education and extension services and to membership of rural organizations, builds poverty traps for vulnerable populations. Unequal distribution of the benefits of development ensures benefits by-pass the poor. The negation of indigenous farming knowledge, the erosion of culture, and the somewhat cavalier attitude to rural people's rights strips them of the dignity which is necessary to keep poor people out of dependency and welfare.
Rural women are among the poorest of the poor, and are progressively becoming poorer as the gender gap widens. Women now represent over 60 percent of poor rural people worldwide, and will number as many as 70 percent by the year 2000 (IFAD, 1993). The sources of this inequity need to be uncovered as a matter of urgency, if the family members of poor rural women are to be protected. Those of us familiar with gender issues can suggest some of the causes which could be addressed in non-wood forest resource development.
First, the limited profile of women farmers in Asia and the Pacific as elsewhere, shows problems stemming from women's lower education, relative assetlessness, a plethora of constraints in access to productive resources, their dual and triple responsibilities as a result of an inequitable division of family labour, the scarcity of time available in a long working day, their ignorance about many of the scientific and technological solutions to pressing problems, and severe limits in their access to information and services. These are compounded by their lack of community organization, cultural attitudes to women's role, and stereotypes of patriarchy as the "natural order of things" which in fact have nothing to do with capacity or competence.
Women who head rural households are especially vulnerable, not only because of the loss of able-bodied manpower but because many rural women lack the status, confidence and knowledge to make wise decisions and take appropriate actions, even when they are allowed to do so. Most have had little or no exposure to the market or to entrepreneurial activity, and are uncomfortable in the public arena. When they are forced to supplement a meagre farm income with sideline activities, most steer away from those who could help for fear of exposing ignorance or subjecting themselves to ridicule, contempt or hostility. Handicrafts therefore traditionally command very low returns on time and skill investments for reasons which derive more from female servitude and humility than from inherent weaknesses in the product or the market. The few who know the market and have recognised the potential have been able to break into markets which command extremely high prices by ensuring quality control and continuity of supplies, and mounting aggressive marketing strategies.
While such strategies may initially help the "middleman" more than the producer, it is a step towards more organization in the production of non-wood forest products, and thereby a step towards "participation." Women traditionally engaged in home based cottage industries in which they may do everything from gathering and processing raw materials to selling a finished product in the local market, are unlikely to realise a fair return on their investment of time and skill. A degree of organization and specialization can greatly enhance productivity. In a situation where culture or domestic responsibilities do not allow a woman to work outside the home, she may have no choice, but studies have shown that productivity increases tremendously when women work undisturbed in a village factory-type work place, since the fragmentation of her time at home and the incessant demands in her domestic responsibilities place severe constraints on her productivity.
