By Kathleen Colverson given at the 2015 MEAS Symposium

1. MEAS Symposium 2015
June 3-5
Washington, D.C.
“Strengthening Extension
and Advisory Services for
Lasting Impacts”
Leading Issues in Extension Advisory
Services – Gender Integration
Kathleen Earl Colverson, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
kcolverson@ufl.edu

2. Why is Gender Integration Important?
• 78% of the world’s poor live in rural areas – the
majority of poor and extreme poor are women
and children
• Many of the world’s poor engage in agriculture as
their primary livelihood – women are involved in
25-55% of ag production, processing and
marketing- men are not always the “lead farmer”
• Women have less access to land, ag inputs and
extension services than men- reducing their
overall yield and the family’s nutritional status

3. • Women often have less ability to make
decisions and control resources- limiting
productivity
• Female headed households are increasing,
males are still seen as “head of household”
• Extension agents often lack the skills or
knowledge of addressing women farmers’
needs and interests
Why is Gender Integration Important?

4. Closing the “Gender Gap”
Could increase yields on farms by
20 – 30 percent which…
Could raise total agricultural
output in developing countries
2.5 – 4 percent which…
Could reduce the number of
hungry people in the world by 12
– 17 percent
State of Food and Agriculture FAO 2011

5. What can be done to increase gender
integration in EAS?
• Train additional female extension workers
• Consider meeting times and locations - childcare provision should
also be considered to encourage attendance
• Consider cultural context - may be necessary to build women’s
confidence in single sex groups first before engaging them in mixed
sex groups to ensure their participation later
• Ensure that gendered division of labor will not adversely affect
women with project introduction
• Explore innovative ways to engage male extension workers
• Expand the use of Gender Transformative Approaches (GTA’s)

6. Gender Transformative Approaches
• Work explicitly to change “gender norms” and
promote more gender equitable relations
between men and women
• Examples: Changing farmer association bylaws
to increase women’s leadership
• Increase men’s involvement in household
activities, ie. Nutrition
• Working with “whole household” methods
and approaches

7. THANKS!
Questions???
Comments?
More info: www.meas.org
http://ingenaes.illinois.edu/
http://tinyurl.com/paheerb

8. Disclaimer
This presentation was made possible by the generous support of the American
people through the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. The
contents are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the
views of USAID or the United States Government.