70th SWCS International Annual Conference July 26-29, 2015 Greensboro, NC

1. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Gender Workshop
Islamabad, Pakistan
Cheryl Simmons, USDA NRCS in cooperation with FAS
National Conservation Planning Technical Specialist
Central National Technology Support Center
Fort Worth, TX, USA

2. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Abstract;
• In many cultures, just telling people to include women doesn’t work.
Looking at the gender aspect in demonstrating and disseminating
sustainable agricultural practices opens the door to implementing newer
technologies.
• Working with Gender experts and led by the International Center for
Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Simmons co-led a group
working on better and more effective incorporation of women into
activities that promote soil fertility and soil health. Topics included Sex and
Gender; Equity and Equality, the 24 Hour Day, Gender Roles and Valuation
of Labor and Gender Mainstreaming in research and applied sciences.
• Simmons will highlight the work in Pakistan and touch briefly on some
current projects in the U.S.

3. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Young soil scientists,
biologists and engineers

4. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Gender Mainstreaming And
Basic Concepts
Perspective
•View

5. Perhaps
there is
something
under the
bed
I’ve got it again - An eerie feeling like
there is something on top of the bed. Far Side, Gary Larson

7. Sky & Water, M. C. Escher, 1938

8. “Below the line”
issues, can be
huge & invisible
Purposely hidden,
or simply lack of
awareness
photo by Ralph Clevenger

9. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
More Perspective
View
Woman without her man is nothing
Woman,
without her man,
is nothing

10. Statement (is this about Sex/Gender?)
• Women give birth to babies' men do not
• Little girls are gentle and boys are tough
• Amongst Pakistani agricultural workers, women are paid
40-60 % of the male wage
• Women can breastfeed babies , men can not
• Women are better at caring for children than men
• Men are sexually more aggressive than Women
• Men need more help in post disaster because they are
main bread winners
• Men's voices break at Puberty, women's do not.
• At Construction sites, construction materials are carried
by women

11. Gender Sex
• Refers to socially constructed roles and
responsibilities, mainly influenced by
perceptions
• Differs between and within
cultures/societies, But in all cultures, gender
determines power and resources for females
and males
• Includes variables identifying differences in
roles, responsibilities, opportunities, needs
and constraints.
• However, gender attitudes are learned and
can be Changed
• Perceptions of gender are deeply rooted
• People are born female or male, but learn to
be women and men.
• Biologically defined
• Determined by
birth
• Universal
• Unchanging ….???

12. Sex roles
Biological makeup and cannot be changed e.g.
bearing a baby is biological role, only women
become pregnant and give birth.
Gender roles
Those behaviors, tasks and responsibilities that
a society considers appropriate for men,
women, boys and girls. These are socially
constructed; learned; dynamic (they change
over time); multi-faceted (they differ within and
between cultures) and influenced by class, age,
caste, ethnicity and religion .

13. Reproductive/family
maintenance Role
Productive Role Community managing Role
Ensure the reproduction of
society such as child
bearing and rearing and
caring for family members.
Most activities are labor
intense
Refers to activities to
produce goods and
services.
Example; economic
activity, income,
agricultural activities ….
Voluntary unpaid work
done as an extension of
their reproductive role.
Example; water collection,
caring elderly
For example;
managing household
chores,
bearing and caring for
children,
food preparation,
water and fuel
collection, family
health care
For Example;
plowing, transplanting
paddy, fencing,
harvesting,
maintaining water
pump or any other
related – often paid
work … income
generating activities
For example;
social gatherings,
community meetings,
spiritual and cultural
events - often
structured to support
men

14. Gender Equality
Equal participation of women and men
in decision-making, equal ability to
exercise their human rights, equal
access to and control of resources and
the benefits of development, and equal
opportunities in employment and in all
other aspects of their livelihoods.

15. Gender Balance
The equal and active participation of
women and men in all areas of decision-
making, and in access to and control
over resources and services.
The United Nations considers gender
balance fundamental to the achievement
of equality, development and peace.

16. Gender Equity
 Fairness and impartiality in the treatment of
women and men in terms of rights, benefits,
obligations and opportunities.
 By creating social relations in which neither of
the sexes suffers discrimination.
 Gender equity aims at improving gender
relations and gender roles, and achieving
gender equality.
 The essence of equity should always be
considered equivalent in terms of rights,
benefits, obligations and opportunities .

17. *Gender Mainstreaming
 Globally recognized strategy for achieving
gender equality.
 Gender mainstreaming is the process of
assessing the implications for women and
men of any planned action in all areas and
at all levels.
 That means making both the concerns and
experiences of women and men an integral
dimension of all development efforts.

18. Gender Relations
The ways in which a society defines
rights, responsibilities and the
identities of men and women in
relation to one another.
Gender Blind
Gender-blindness refers to a
failure to identify or
acknowledge difference on the
basis of gender where it is
significant.
Gender Sensitivity
Ability to perceive existing
gender inequalities/Being
aware of the differences
between women’s and men’s
needs, roles, responsibilities,
and constraints.

19. Gender Analysis
 Provides us with ways to compare the relative
advantages and disadvantages faced by women
and men in different spheres of life; the family,
the workplace, the community and the political
system.
 Helps us to understand the status, roles and
responsibilities of men and women in society, as
well as their access and control of resources,
benefits and opportunities.
 It also can yield baseline information against
which the potential gender impacts of
programmes policies can be evaluated.

20. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Gender Sensitive Extension/Dissemination
Strategy
• Promote equitable access to improved agricultural strategies
• How?
• Pre-testing of strategies to assess the willingness of
farmers to adopt the technology – men and women?
• Agriculture Providers and Field – will their sex matter?
• Organization of field/demonstration days – offer
alternative days, time, place, conducive learning
environment?
• Dissemination of information of improved technologies?

21. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Impacts….MORE… MORE … MORE
Environmental impact – improvements in soil nutrients,
vegetation coverage, etc.
Social impact – women accessing technologies, increased
community collaboration, etc.
Economic impact – increased income
Institutional impact – increased capacity at different levels of
gov’t, changes in policy, etc.

22. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Data Collection Tools
22
• Secondary sources of data
• Surveys – structured interviews/questionnaires
• Focus Groups
• Resource Mapping
• Oral Life Histories
• Daily and seasonal activity calendars
• Access and control
• Poverty Mapping (overlay GIS with economic data)
• Valuation of labor – paid and unpaid labor.

23. Gender Mainstreaming/Analysis Tools
Production of goods and services Males Females Notes
Subsistence crops
Cash crops
Livestock
Tasks
Irrigation
Land preparation
Planting and harvesting
Construction and fence building
Human capital production
Food preparation
Child care
Community/political
23
Activity analysis – gender division of labor
• Used to record time spent on activities and the location of the activities

24. 24
Activity – seasonal calendar
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES WHO?
JAN F MA AP MA JU JU AU SE OC NO DE
PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES
Land clearing Hired labor, grandmother
Land preparation Hired labor, grandmother
Planting Hired labor, grandmother, wife
Weeding
Grandmother, husband, wife,
children
Herding Hired labor
Harvesting Hired labor, grandmother, wife
REPRODUCTION ACTIVITIES
Cooking Grandmother, adolescent daughter
Laundry Adolescent daughter
Gathering food, shopping
Grandmother, adolescent daughter,
wife
Slaughtering Relatives, neighbors, husband
Food processing Grandmother, adolescent daughter
REDISTRIBUTED FARM Wife
SCHOOLING
URBAN LABOR Husband
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Grandmother, Husband, Wife,
children

25. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Why Does Gender Matter?
• On average 47% of the world’s farmers are women (FAO 2011)

26. Women’s Labor Input in Selected Crops

27. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Field Visit from Pakistan
• Focus group discussion and the problem tree (core problem,
causes, and effects)
• The question: “What is the main challenge in improving
productivity of your land?”
• Divide into 3 groups:
• All women group
• All men group
• Men and women group

28. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer

29. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Women are comfortable in many styles
Thank you to Dr.
Shaheen and Ms.
Dessalegn. For
sharing their
presentations.

30. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Gender is particularly important in the context of agriculture in
Pakistan. Women perform an important role in the sector with
three-fourths of women in the workforce employed in
agriculture. Labor statistics show this proportion has increased
in the last 10 to 15 years. In effort to more fully recognize
women in the Soil Fertility and Soil Health efforts, USDA
collaborated with ICARDA and other Pakistan partners to
present the Gender Mainstreaming in Soil Fertility and Soil
Health Training Workshop.
Discussions and presentations focused on why and how
including a gender perspective and analysis can make
agriculture research, and more specifically soil fertility
programs, more effective. Simmons presented examples from
the U.S. and spoke to the cultural similarities in the desire for
healthy food from healthy soil.
Participants were introduced to a broad range of gender
analysis tools, examples in terms of case studies and on-going
projects, and were given opportunities to learn by doing
through group exercises and by testing some of the tools in the
field.
Cheryl Simmons, USDA, (Center) joined Dr. Shaheen Asraf Shah,
Gender Consultant (Right), and Beza Dessalegn, ICARDA (Left)
to lead the workshop.