1. This report, while focusing on women specifically, utilises a framework of gender analysis: an understanding of power relations, including differential control over production and resources, between the sexes. It should be emphasized that both women and men determine the construct of gender within a given arena, be it the household or the state.
2. As a desk study, consultation and participatory appraisal with grassroots organisations and farmers were outside the scope of this study. However, the author has drawn on her own fieldwork and experience in Omusati, Oshana, Okavango, and Caprivi regions, and to a lesser extent, in Karas, Kunene, and Otjozondjupa regions.
3. Ethnic groupings include Baster, Caprivian, Damara, Owambo, Kavango, Herero, Himba, Nama, Tswana and San or "Bushmen" groups; English, German and Afrikaans-speaking whites; and several groupings of "coloureds", and Tswana groups.
4. Office of the Prime Minister, July 1992:1-2. Population figure is calculated from the 1991 census.
5. In 1904-7, widespread uprisings by Herero, Nama and Owambo-speaking peoples were suppressed by the Germans; they used their victories to justify further expropriation of land, a labour code making wage labour mandatory, prohibitions on cattle ownership by Africans, and, most drastically, a policy of wholesale genocide and environmental destruction, which reduced the indigenous population by 50%, including the indirect or direct genocide of 80% of the Herero population.
6. See for example, World Bank 1991.
7. This paper will only refer to South African policies. For a discussion of German practices, see Werner 1993.
8. To cite one example, the per capita expenditure on education varied immensely by ethnicity. A pre-independence survey of educational expenditure found that R329 was spent per capita on students in the Owambo reserve, R553 for those in Okavango, R810 for those in Namaland, R1,071 for those in Hereroland, and R1,190 for Coloreds. At R3,213 per capita, white students received almost 10 times more than their counterparts in the Owambo reserve. Cited in UNDP, December 1989:34.
9. Kahuure and Vigne 1992.
10. World Bank 1992:39.
11. Formerly the Bantu Investment Corporation.
12. Kahuure and Vigne 1992:6-7.
13. Republic of Namibia, Co-operative Policy, December 1992.
14. Although few held senior ranks.
15. Solomon and Kandando 1993.
16. Becker 1993:122. According to Katjavivi, the formation of the SWAPO Women's Council in 1980 did not lead to any significant differences in the composition of the party leadership. In 1982, the central committee had only 3 women, while the executive committee had none (Katjavivi 1988).
17. Becker 1993:179-185.
18. The 60 member National Assembly of the Transitional Government included only 2 women. Women were completely absent from senior positions in the Second Tier Administration, and held only 2 such posts in the National Government Service.. Neither were they present in the National Transitional Government Cabinet. ibid. :73.
19. Cited in Hubbard and Kavari 1993
20. This discussion is drawn from Hubbard and Kavari 1993. Although women comprised almost 42% of the candidates for village councils, only 34% gained seats. This is in part because in SWAPO, women candidates received higher placement for municipal elections. Inversely, DTA women had better placement on the lists for the village councils. SWAPO won the elections by an overwhelming margin.
21. Ibid.
22. Ministerial posts are political appointments. The permanent secretary position is the senior civil servant post. The Arusha declaration has set as a goal that by the year 2000, at least one in eight top policy and decision-makers in Africa (including cabinet ministers, senior civil servants, armed and police forces, parastatals and private corporations), should be a woman. (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa 1991:21).
23. See Becker, 52-3.
24. Among all ten organisations informally surveyed, women members of NGO boards are a minority, even when the constituency served is predominantly female.
25. Republic of Namibia, Co-operative Policy December 1992.
26. Namibia Development Trust (NDT) 1994.
27. Namibia Development Trust (NDT) 1994; Naeraa and Solomon 1994; Directorate of Agricultural Extension and Engineering 1994.
28. For example, the Namibia Development Trust and Oxfam Canada have gender coordinators who are expected to help other staff integrate gender concerns into their field work and program development. The Legal Assistance Centre has a gender research unit and its legal education program has primarily targeted women. The Private Sector Foundation has a small-loan program for women in the informal sector. Regarding unions, the teachers union, together with student organisations, have stressed the need for improved education, including distribution of books, materials and teachers, in rural areas. They have also highlighted the plight of pregnant teens, who often are forced to leave school.
29. Hubbard and Solomon 1993.
30. Gender issues have been highlighted in training workshops and materials for Rural Extension Officers.
31. Excluding rural water supply, which has since been moved to the Department of Water Affairs. Figures calculated from annual budgets and financial ledgers of the Ministry of Finance.
32. Girvan and Tapscott June 1993.
33. Christof Brock, Acting Director, Division of Co-operatives, MAWRD, personal communication.
34. The church has also been cited as reducing the prestige and authority women gained through traditional rituals. For example, by guarding the holy fire, Herero women controlled the communication between families and their ancestors. Sustainable Animal and Range Development Programme (SARDEP), 1993:7.
35. Republic of Namibia l990, Constitution of the Republic of Namibia, Articles 10 and 14 respectively.
36. Ibid., Article 23.
37. Ibid., Article 95. This includes non-discrimination in remuneration, as well as legislation to provide maternity and related benefits for women, and legislation to ensure the health and strength of workers.
38. Indeed, Hubbard points out that, if not for the Constitutional provision authorizing affirmative action, it could be argued that affirmative action violates the provision prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race or sex. (Hubbard 1991).
39. Constitution, Articles 140 and 66 respectively.
40. Republic of Namibia October 1992, A Commitment to Our Children.
41. Erenstein 1993:10.
42. NDT 1994:55-6.
43. NDT 1994:50.
44. NEPRU July 1991A; Yaron, et. al. 1992; Environmental Evaluation Associates of Namibia 1991, SARDEP 1993; NDT 1994; Paul Vleermuis personal interview.
45. NEPRU July 1991A and July 1991B; SARDEP 1993; Directorate of Agricultural Extension and Engineering 1994.
46. Reported in 1991 to be R400 for a plot of 1-2 ha. A recent environmental assessment of one Owambo district reported the price to be R500, or over $150. This represents a substantial chunk of the annual income of subsistence farmers. NEPRU 1991; Irving et. al. 1993.
47. NDT 1994.
48. One of the few measures passed by Parliament of relevance to rural women, a resolution on the inheritance of property by widows, was non-binding.
49. Bience Gawanas. personal communication, Lindiwe Kazamboue, personal interview; NDT 1994:47.
50. NDT 1994:53.
51. Lindiwe Kazamboue, personal interview.
52. The booklet, entitled Women and Rape, was produced by the Federation of Namibian Women, Women's Solidarity, and the Law Society of Namibia in 1992.
53. Hubbard 1991: 14.
54. The NDT survey (NDT 1994) discovered that some women continue to see beating as a husband's right. Current debates in Namibia over corporal punishment, prohibited by the Constitution, reflect the view that physical punishment is merited and effective.
55. For example, during a participatory needs assessment, women in a district in Owambo emphasized the need for reforming the traditional authority system. Ranked alongside access to clean water and health facilities was the need for headmen to be elected and the concern that "headmen don't hand out justice fairly" (Girvan 1993).
56. In the broadest sense, basic needs go beyond food, clothing, and shelter, to include ability and will to participate in social, economic and political realms.
57 The most oft-quoted figure is that in the World Bank report which estimated that the wealthiest 5% of the population controls 70% of the GDP, while only 3% of the GDP is controlled by the poorest 55%. The 1991 figure estimated an average per capita annual income of US$16,300 for whites, US$750 for urban and/or wage earning non-whites, and US$85 for blacks in the traditional sector (World Bank 1991).
58. For example, the census counted a household as female-headed based on who was the person in charge at the time of the survey. Women whose husbands were temporarily absent (i.e., gone to the shop) might have been counted as heads. Some also question the validity of the very concept of head of household, as it vests one member with a singular authority. One lawyer has suggested that the declaration of one person as authority or owner has legal implications by undermining the equality of men and the women in marriage, guaranteed by the Constitution in Article 14 (see Erenstein 1993).
59. During recent fieldwork in the Okavango region, participants suggested to the author that another type of "de facto household" has emerged: Men formerly employed (i.e., by the military) who have withdrawn from working and asserting responsibility for the household, into alcohol.
60. From a comparison of Tables COI and EO3, 1991 Census.
61. Van Rooy, et. al. 1993.
62. Devereaux and Tapscott 1993. When labour demands are high or exacerbated by drought, households may withdraw children from school.
63. An environmental assessment of an Owambo district found that an average sized household ploughing by hand and cultivating 2 ha (the average plot size in the district) will produce enough millet to last only 8 months -- not factoring in losses in storage or the affect of drought on harvests. Irving-Forbes 1993, pp. 267.
64. Naeraa and Solomon 1994.
65. NDT 1994. The study did not assess the number of households who receive non-cash transfers.
66. Naeraa et. al. 1993.
67. International Labour Organization (ILO) 1991:49. Although 1991 figures are cited, recent television and newspaper reports on the plight of farmworkers suggests that despite the labour act, farmworkers remain underpaid.
68. ILO 1991; NEPRU July 1991A:402-3.
69. Interestingly, a study of the Okavango Region found that the food insecure relied proportionately more on income from the sale of animals than the income secure, although the amount of income was considerably higher for the latter. Yaron et. al. 1992:89.
70. Gawanas March 1993.
71. However, until 1991, the amount of the pension varied widely by race and ethnicity, with members of African groups receiving as little as N$55/month, while white pensioners received N$382/month. The pension was equalised in 1991 to N$ 120 for all new applicants, but did not apply to those receiving higher amounts prior to that date. Plans are underway to apply the new policy retroactively.
72. NDT 1994.
73. A baseline survey of Uukwambi district found that 28 % of grandmothers helped to pay school fees, while only 15% of grandfathers were involved. (Naeraa and Solomon 1993.)
74. Cogill and Kiugu 1990. See also Hay et. al. 1990.
75. Directorate of Rural Development (DRD) 1992:35. 28% of all households surveyed only ate mealie pap, with no sauce, milk or meat.
76. The Saamstaa self-help housing scheme and other housing programs in the urban areas show a reversal of this division: women are expected to build the homes and get little assistance from husbands or male relatives.
77. NDT 1994:26.
78. Biesele 1993:97-98.
79. See Becker 1993, Chapters 2 and 3.
80. In 45% of households in an Owambo district, women were responsible for land preparation, while in 27%, men contributed most of the labour. Irving et. al. 1993:30.
81. An estimated 80% of households rely on wood for cooking and heating water, and many also use wood to provide lighting.
82. A survey undertaken just after Independence found that some households walk as much as 1 hour and 42 minutes. Namibia Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER) 1991 UNICEF Situation Analysis.
83. This issue was addressed by the NDT 1994 survey. Less than 4% of respondents felt that women have too much freetime. Inversely, 84.6% disagreed, some strongly, that women have plenty of time for leisure activities. Over half agreed that migrant labour leads to shortages of labour on the farm. Interestingly, results varied across the three regions on husband's ability to participate. 63% in Uukwambi, 47.3% in Uukwanyama, and only 21:2% in Ombalantu felt that husbands were not too busy to assist.
Moreover, many urban men, who will undertake or assist in household tasks in their homes, revert to traditional roles when in rural areas. This was pointed out by men themselves during a recent training workshop for development fieldworkers.
84. A study of women farmers in Uukwaluhdi district (Omusati Region) found that, women are responsible for the storage of grain, but must seek their husbands' permission before opening a new basket. (Van utyvanck Nove 1993.)
85. SARDEP 1993:9; Directorate of Agricultural Extension 1994; Directorate of Rural Development 1992.
86. This point was made to the author by women in several villages across the Okavango Region.
87. The Namibian Agronomic Board is undertaking a pilot project for the marketing of millet. However, low productivity levels, as well as the cost and associated problems of storage and processing, make its commercial viability questionable. van Uytvanck November 1993; Christof Brock and Piers Vigne, personal interviews.
88. This phenomena was documented by Boserup (1970) in the 1960s, but continues to happen again and again. See, for example, Davison 1988.
89. Constitution, Article 100 and Article 124 together with Schedule 5.
90. For example, relocation and dispossession most affected residents of stock-producing communal areas, including Nama, Damara and Herero-speaking groups. They thus felt that priority for land should be those whose land was stolen. In the crop producing areas, where the policy was one of restricting expansion rather than relocation, residents were more likely to stress that equality of access should guide land reform or that priority should be given to returnees or the unemployed landless. See NEPRU July 1991B.
91. Office of the Prime Minister July 1992, Report of the Technical Committee on Commercial Farmland, 143.
92. The consolidation of fenced settler farms into the bantustans led to the granting of exclusive grazing rights for some farmers and groups of families, primarily in the Eastern and Southern Communal Areas. In addition, a special system of land rights was applied to Rehoboth.
93. Devereaux and !!Naruseb 1994; Devereaux 1993.
94. Directorate of Agricultural Extension 1994:62.
95. This inaction is due in part to the lack of a policy regulating the authority of traditional leaders.
96. ILO 1991:47.
97. Bauer 1993. See also NDT 1994.
98. Directorate of Rural Development 1992; Rohde 1993; Directorate of Agricultural Extension and Engineering 1994; NDT 1994.
99. Van Rooy et. al. 1993:32. The survey attached values to assets and livestock with handtools and chickens at the lowest end of scale and tractors and cattle at the highest.
100. Only half of households in Uukwaludhi district in Owambo use animal-driven plough. Half of these own the animals, the other half borrow or hire. Only 1.5% use oxen. Only 7% used tractor, showing that few farmers have been able to take advantage of a government subsidized tractor service. (Irving et. al. 1993.)
101. The NDT survey found that 68.5% of all households surveyed had no donkeys. This figure was as high as 86.7% in the Kwanyama area. NDT 1994:27.
102. Lightfoot 1994.
103. Gender-based statistics are limited, as are figures on rural and urban participation. 12 of the 21 credit unions affiliated to the Namibia Credit Union League are located in the Owambo regions. Of these 4 are in Oshakati, the urban centre, while the remainder are outside. However, these still tend to be in rural towns and centres, such as Ombalantu, the capital of Omusati region.
104. A total of 863 applications have been received. Of those approved, specifically, N$2105700 was for the acquisition of stock; N$371,125 for crop production and N$353,562 for infrastructure to better manage crop production. Republic of Namibia January 1994:48.
105. A small proportion of cases handled by the Legal Assistance Centre are for people who have been unable to meet payments to stores and face repossession of goods or threat of legal action. Rosa Namises, personal interview.
106. Naeraa and Solomon 1994:45.
107. For example, a 1971 figure shows that of 132 government agricultural workers, only 14 were black. Oloya et. al. 1984:39.
108. Yaron et. al. 1992.
109. In general, households reported little contact with government staff from any ministry. Health was the highest, with only 36 people visited by government health workers. In contrast, 98% had been reached by census takers, which shows that contact is possible. NDT 1994:22.
110. 62% of those surveyed were spending less than 10% of their time in the field, while 36% were spending more than half of their time on administration. (van Uytvanck November 1993.)
111. Hayes and Keulder 1994: :21 -22.
112. SARDEP 1993:8; Directorate of Rural Development 1992; Directorate of Agricultural Extension 1994.
113. The baseline survey of Uukwambi district Owambo found that in male headed households, 17 % of members go to Oshakati, the urban centre, one or more a week, compared to only 1 % of those in female headed households. Similarly, 49% of male-headed households owned a bicycle and 29% owned a vehicle. In contrast. the rates for female-headed households were 14% and 8% respectively. Naeraa and Solomon 1994:40.
114. NDT 1994:77; van Uytvanck November 1983:28. According to extension officers, information on seeds, fertilisers, gardening and crops are the main information requested.
115. An assessment of agricultural services in Caprivi fond that support of draught ploughing services, including ploughing and discing, would be far more cost-efficient and reach far greater numbers of farmers than tractor services. Hayes and Keulder 1994.
116. SARDEP 1994.
117. In the past, high subsidies have created dependence and inhibited the viability of cooperatives, which are unable to compete with the subsidized prices and terms of the government. For example, government subsidized sale of seeds undercut the prices of those being sold by a regional cooperative. The constraints and opportunities of the relationship of MAWRD and cooperatives is highlighted in a case study of the Caprivi. See Hayes and Keulder 1994.
118. Because the seeds must be grown under specific conditions, it is mostly larger-scale crop farmers who are involved.
119. Roger Arenstrup, Ministry of Education and Culture, personal communication.
120. MASDAR Zambia September 1993.
121. Yaron et. al. 1992:40.
122. Irving et. al. 1993; van Uytvanck November 1993B; Hay 1991.
123. Republic of Namibia, n.d.:10.
124. Tvedten and Girvan, 1994.
125. See Article 95 of the Constitution.
126. Tvedten and Girvan 1994.
127. For example, the 1988 Manpower Survey only recorded farmworkers. The category yielded a total of only 1885 women and 9,504 men.
128. ILO 1991.
129. Calculated from Census Table E08. Own account workers and unpaid family members were excluded.
130. NDT 1994; Naeraa and Solomon 1994.
131. NDT 1994:19.
132. Elkan et. al. 1992.
133. Pomuti and Nghikembua 1993. Girvan 1993.
134. For example, scant attention is given to women farmers in missions undertaken to identify and design internationally supported interventions in agriculture. There is little or no gender-based research. These include: FAO 1991, FAO 1992, Masdar 1993 (prepared for the African Development Bank). A 1992 report of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) does address issues of economic differentiation in the communal areas and gender and economic organization. However. this information is not fully incorporated into the final recommendations.
135. The New Era Publication Corporation Act. No. l of 1992, cited in Republic of Namibia October 1992.
136. Other operational sectors are: Reproduction health and maternal protection; Legal affairs; Violence against women; Education and training; Communication; Economic activities; Research and data collection; and Women in decision-making. It is not clear whether rural job creation encompasses improving agricultural productivity.
137. Multilateral agencies, such as the EC, as well as international donors and NGOs, have taken little account of women farmers. For example, the French NGO, CRIAA, has been a central supporter of the Likwama Farmers Association which remains oriented towards serving male farmers.
138. With funding from the Food and Agriculture Organization, this one-day workshop was conducted on 13 May 1994 by the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) in collaboration with MAWRD's Directorate of Agricultural Extension and Engineering. Participants included Ministry officials, extension officers from all agro-ecological zones, including 6 female extension officers, members of farmers' associations, and representatives of NGOs. Following an overview of the report, participants drew on their own experiences to assess and to update Chapter I. Chapters II and III were drafted after the workshop and fully incorporate the recommendations highlighted at the workshop.
