Posted March 1996
During 1993-94 FAO undertook a number of national studies on women's roles in agriculture and rural development, within the context of its Programme of Activities in Support of Rural Women in Preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women. The studies were prepared in order to ensure that information regarding the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sectors was included in the discussions at Beijing, and that the situation of rural women would be subsequently addressed in policy and decision-making debates at the national level. The following is a summary of the findings of the reports prepared for nine African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe).
At the same time, government interventions did little to address the plight of rural women as, in most countries, the agricultural sector continued to be neglected. Women's low participation in national and regional policy-making, their invisibility in national statistics and their low participation in extension services (with the exception of home economics programmes) has meant that those issues of most concern to women had been neglected in the design and implementation of many development policies and programmes. When women were targeted as beneficiaries, it was generally in their reproductive capacity or as targets of welfare interventions. Small, dispersed "women-specific" projects, or project components focusing on their productive role in agriculture, remained isolated from national agricultural planning and policies.
It was during this period, however, due in part to the recommendations coming out of the first two world conferences on women (Mexico City in 1975 and Copenhagen in 1980) and the UN Decade for Women, that issues concerning women were put on the international agenda and governments, including those in Africa, began to establish bodies responsible for the promotion of women's interests. These bodies promoted an awareness of women's issues, including those of rural women, and encouraged research on their agricultural and other roles. They also served as advocates for changes in national policies and legislation affecting women's rights to land and inheritance, employment conditions, and wage rates.
In Africa, the creation of national women's machineries was a critically important step in ensuring that women's needs and constraints were put on the national policy agenda. However, their technical weaknesses, frequent location in "social" ministries such as education and health, urban bias, and their lack of influence in the technical ministries meant that their direct impact on rural women was negligible, and that interventions designed by them often focused on smaller income generating projects which did not adequately address women's needs for assistance concomitant with their agricultural production responsibilities. The general isolation of the machineries from the planning ministries also meant that women's needs and potentials were not given adequate attention in the development of national strategies and plans.
Mechanisms to promote the advancement of women. In the late 1980s national women's machineries played an increasingly important role in Africa, shifting from a women-specific approach towards a mainstreaming approach in development projects, programmes and policies. This shift has helped such machineries to break out of the marginalized position in which they found themselves by establishing focal points in the technical ministries in order to ensure that women's needs and concerns were addressed in `mainstream' development projects, and not just those aimed exclusively at women. National women's machineries have begun to conduct gender and socio-economic analysis training programmes to sensitize government officials on the importance of incorporating gender considerations into the development process.
With the exception of Sudan, all of the countries examined have a national machinery for the advancement of women. Many of these machineries, however, continue to suffer from the same limitations found in similar organizations throughout all regions: restricted financial and human resources and the lack of communication channels with technical ministries and departments as well as other bodies dealing with gender issues.
The role of national and international NGOs in reaching the rural population in Africa is being increasingly documented. In most of the countries examined, the growth in recent years of NGOs and women's associations which pay attention to gender issues has benefited rural women. Indeed, with the exception of Namibia and Morocco, the countries examined have all experienced an increase in the number of NGOs working with rural women.
Women's rights. Eight of the nine countries examined have ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and most of which also have national constitutions guaranteeing the equal rights of men and women as well as other supporting legislation on the status of women in particular sectors. However, the existence of national legislation and international conventions has not necessarily guaranteed their implementation as both women and men, especially in rural areas, are frequently unaware of such rights. In addition, in many countries discriminatory legislation regarding inheritance and land rights remains, and the coexistence between customary and civil law continues to have negative implications for rural women.
Access to agricultural resources and services. In general, women have less access to land than men; when women do own land, the land holding tends to be smaller and located in more marginal areas. Rural women also have less access than men to credit, which limits their ability to purchase seeds, fertilizers and other inputs needed to adopt new farming techniques. Although women's access to credit and extension services is improving due to the increase in special programmes and funds created to address their particular needs, access to land continues to pose problems for rural women in almost all of the countries examined.
Access to employment. National statistics on the economically active population have been of limited value in looking at the extent to which women are economically involved in agriculture, food production and processing, as conventional definitions of the labour force have led to an under-estimation of women's work. In Africa, it is estimated that only 42% of the economically active population involved in agriculture are women due to the tendency to register farm women as housewives. Nevertheless, in all of the countries examined women's contribution to the production of food crops is substantial, ranging from 30% in the Sudan to 80% in the Congo. However, women's involvement in agriculture tends to be as own account or unpaid family workers, as they continue to have fewer opportunities for formal employment than do men.
Policy, planning and research. This category includes those projects focused on the collection and dissemination of data disaggregated by gender and place of residence, on the gender division of labour, and on overcoming the main constraints that continue to confront rural women. These projects appear to be increasing as the relationship between gender and the efficacy of micro-level projects with macro-level policy planning becomes better understood. In several countries, participatory research has been conducted to diagnose the situation of rural women, identify their constrains, and to determine their needs. Other projects have included gender analysis training components for extension agents and ministry staff, while several countries have programmes that include a component on the collection of gender disaggregated data.
Institutional strengthening. Projects in this category have included gender analysis training programmes for government officials and agricultural extension agents and the creation of WID units. A variety of interventions have been carried out, often with donor support, which focus on increasing the number of qualified female extension agents and sensitizing extension and ministry staff to gender issues. Some male and female extension staff have been trained in communication skills, participatory development, gender analysis, and household food security in order to provide extension services to rural women in a more effective manner.
Another type of project in this area addresses a major constraint raised in several of the studies: the lack of coordination among the various bodies and organizations working with rural women. In some countries, efforts have been under way to establish linkages across sectors, within and among districts/provinces, and between Governments and NGOs, which in turn have helped to improve service provisions for rural women.
Direct assistance to rural women. It was stressed in several of the reports that projects targeted at rural women were often more successful if they sought to address both women's productive and reproductive roles and needs. It also appears that the use of participatory methodologies is an important factor determining project success.
Projects by governmental and non-governmental actors that seek to support local women's groups and cooperatives, as well as those that support women's increased participation in rural organizations, were also mentioned in several reports as effective in addressing the constraints that women face in accessing credit and land, and in participating in decision-making at the local level. In several countries, initiatives have been undertaken to involve women in community decision-making structures by integrating them into the village, district and regional project committees.
 
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