Due to the lack of gender-disaggregated data, and the fact that the last census carried out in Lebanon was in 1970, it is difficult to give accurate information on the role of women in agriculture. According to United Nations projections, women comprised 40.7% of the agricultural labour force in 1990. However, rural women have had to become the main contributors to agricultural production, from planting to marketing, due both to extensive male migration to urban areas and to increasing widowhood as a result of war. More than 10% of rural households were headed by women in 1987. Most women work on family farms, although a considerable number work as seasonal daily paid labourers, particularly in harvesting, where their wages are only half those of men. Women are also employed as cheap labour in food processing industries.
Division of Labour by Gender. The division of labour varies from crop to crop and depends on whether or not the area is irrigated. In all cases, women perform a large share of the agricultural work. Men generally carry out land preparation, irrigation and spraying, while women are primarily responsible for seeding, harvesting and processing. In animal husbandry, men care for the health of animals and market the by-products, and women carry out all other tasks. Fisheries are male-dominated, with women involved only in food processing for home consumption. Both men and women collect fuelwood, while women are responsible for virtually all other household tasks.
Gender Relations in Decision-making in Farming Activities. According to Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) interviews in 1994, almost all decisions related to farming activities are made by men, except for the allocation of water for livestock, which is a woman-dominated activity. When the husband is away, most women are able to decide on allocating family expenditures, hiring labour and allocating water to crops. Single, divorced and widowed women have a lower status in society and decisions are usually made by other males in the family, although such women may have a say in the allocation of family expenditures.
