WUNRN
ILO - International Labour
Organization
Website Link Offers Translations of
Article into French, Spanish, & Italian.
GENDER EQUALITY IN THE RURAL SECTOR
- EVER-PRESENT CHALLENGE
The
theme for this year’s International Women’s Day – Empower Rural Women, end
poverty and hunger – highlights the need to tackle gender inequalities in the
rural sector. Women living and working in rural areas are often perceived and
treated as second-class citizens. Despite the low level of recognition given to
their work, their socio-economic contribution to the welfare of their
households and communities is immense. In this interview, ILO Gender Bureau
Director Jane Hodges discusses the many facets of the plight of rural women.
Article
| 02 March 2012
Some 70 per cent of the world’s
poor are concentrated in rural communities. These are communities that rely on
agriculture, forestry, fisheries and livestock to make a living. Within these
communities, the poorest of the poor are often women and young girls who lack
regular and decent employment, and who may face hunger and/or malnutrition, and
poor access to health, education and productive assets. Although gender
inequality varies considerably across regions and sectors, there is evidence
that, globally, women benefit less from rural employment, whether in self- or
wage-employment, than men do.
There are various reasons. For
starters, women are disproportionately employed in low-quality jobs, including
jobs in which their rights are not adequately respected and social protection
is limited. Another reason related to the above is that women tend to get paid
less than men (around 25 per cent less, to be more precise). That doesn’t mean
they work less, on the contrary. The problem is that much of the work they do
is not valued and remunerated accordingly. In fact, most rural women are unpaid
family members. This not only lowers their labour income but also is likely to
increase their stress and fatigue.
Gender inequalities in rural
employment exist and persist because of a range of interlinked social, economic
and political factors. However, there is a specific cause that outweighs all
others: the invisible but powerful role of social institutions that disempower
one sex above the other. These include traditions, customs and social norms
that govern the intricate workings of rural societies, and which act as a
constraint on women’s activities and restrict their ability to compete on an
even footing with men. We’re not saying that urban-based women are not faced with
poverty … but that the context of rural communities places an added strain on
equal opportunities.
Yes: here’s one example that will
sound true to anyone who has lived and worked in isolated rural areas; the
commonly held view that it is a woman’s obligation to work in the home,
cooking, cleaning, and looking after children and the sick and the elderly.
Here’s another: the belief that women are less able to manage assets. The idea
that women have to obtain their husbands or guardians permission to leave the
house. Or even social - sometimes legal - restrictions that do not allow women
to have any property or inheritance rights. These practices are extremely
difficult to eradicate and are detrimental to women’s capacity to develop as
productive members of society; they stifle women’s economic empowerment.
First and foremost, because not
providing women with equal opportunities is a violation of their human rights.
Second, because we will not eradicate extreme poverty (as called for by the
MDGs) until we acknowledge the fact that women are disproportionately
represented among the poorest of poor in rural areas. Third, and this is something
that not only applies to rural areas, gender equality makes great economic
sense. It is well established that educating and providing women with
opportunities to take part in skilled paid employment provides benefits to
their families and communities in the form of lower fertility rates, decreased
child mortality, improved child health nutrition and levels of education.
Finally, the fight against child labour will be almost impossible to win unless
parents (mothers and fathers) can produce or earn sufficiently to ensure their
family’s livelihoods.
The financial crisis arrived at a
time when many people in developing countries were already facing hardship
because of the food and fuel crises. It is hard to quantify the impact of the
current crisis in terms of gender equality, but certain trends can be
predicted. For example, it is plausible to anticipate that in most countries
women will be expected to assume the primary responsibility for acting as
safety nets of last resort and for ensuring that their families will survive.
At the same time, rural women’s unpaid work burdens are likely to further
intensify, especially in low-income households and especially when State-run
facilities (even the few that actually reached rural areas) are cut as part of
austerity measures. Also, it is possible that rural women, more than rural men,
will be increasingly offered precarious employment with poor prospects and that
their children’s health, as well as their own health will deteriorate. During
Mexico’s 1995 crisis, for example, infant mortality rates increased most in the
areas where women’s work participation increased, with girls being affected the
most.
A lot! Women face inequalities in
all the pillars of Decent Work: standards and rights at work, employment
creation, social protection and social dialogue. That’s why for the ILO gender
equality is a cross-cutting issue. The ILO has implemented a number of projects
that promote gender equality in rural areas. One of them is the Cooperative Facility for Africa, which promotes cooperative
development across the continent. The ILO recently organized a participatory
workshop at the Cooperative College of Kenya to discuss strategies for
encouraging women’s participation on co-operative boards. The ILO’s Women's
Entrepreneurship Development Programme is in
its third and final phase. The aim of this project is to enhance economic
opportunities for women by carrying out affirmative actions in support of women
starting, formalizing and growing their enterprises, and by mainstreaming
gender equality issues into the ILO's work in enterprise development. In Timor-Leste, the ILO is supporting the Institute for Business Support
(IADE) and the National Directorate for Rural Development (NDRD) of the
Ministry of Economy and Development in boosting local economic development,
enhancing government service delivery and creating quality employment in rural
areas by expanding market access for MSEs, strengthening local contractors and
improving the provision of business development services.