“Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.”
- Kofi Annan
There has been growing concerns about the fact that African media has failed to commit itself to ensuring that the gender question becomes a standard of measure for press freedom and access to information on the continent. The use of the female body as a mere decoration or as an attention-getting device diminishes women's self-esteem and ignores other aspects of women's personality, their human potential and contributions to economic empowerment for development. Women are underrepresented in political, social and economic reporting; this results in limiting the freedom of expression caused by self-censorship by a male dominated industry. It is a cause of concern on the portrayal of women in household-related roles, mostly in advertisements for household products, particularly because of the repetitiousness of the housewife image. The media does not fully recognize the dynamism that women display in the economic, cultural and social lives of their communities through their associations and informal networks channeled into creating new models of participation and leadership. This paper therefore explores the need for positive women access and use of the media for economic empowerment in Africa; it examines the challenges facing the portrayal of women in the media and makes recommendations on how increase women's representation in decision-making structures in media houses and develop structures and frameworks for gender mainstreaming based on laws and policies for sustained economic empowerment of women. This paper explores secondary data from text books, and journals to conclude that, without meaningful commitment in the form of policy changes and the provision of resources to address women conditions and involvement in the media representation; Africa cannot hope to see a breakthrough in its development and renewal. It recommends that, greater awareness and supportive environment needs to be enhanced by the media for women to be more self-reflective and have a greater awareness of their own weaknesses, challenges, strengths and opportunities. Women should be exposed to more in-depth training and development to gain not only knowledge and skills but also wisdom in order to be authentic leaders with integrity. Also, there should be is an urgent need to increase the knowledge and ability of mass media professionals to create more awareness on gender issues.
Women’s empowerment in agriculture: Lessons from qualitative researchIFPRI Gender
Overview of qualitative findings from the GAAP2 project and how they relate to the development of the quantitative pro-WEAI survey and how they illuminate quantitative pro-WEAI findings
“Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.”
- Kofi Annan
There has been growing concerns about the fact that African media has failed to commit itself to ensuring that the gender question becomes a standard of measure for press freedom and access to information on the continent. The use of the female body as a mere decoration or as an attention-getting device diminishes women's self-esteem and ignores other aspects of women's personality, their human potential and contributions to economic empowerment for development. Women are underrepresented in political, social and economic reporting; this results in limiting the freedom of expression caused by self-censorship by a male dominated industry. It is a cause of concern on the portrayal of women in household-related roles, mostly in advertisements for household products, particularly because of the repetitiousness of the housewife image. The media does not fully recognize the dynamism that women display in the economic, cultural and social lives of their communities through their associations and informal networks channeled into creating new models of participation and leadership. This paper therefore explores the need for positive women access and use of the media for economic empowerment in Africa; it examines the challenges facing the portrayal of women in the media and makes recommendations on how increase women's representation in decision-making structures in media houses and develop structures and frameworks for gender mainstreaming based on laws and policies for sustained economic empowerment of women. This paper explores secondary data from text books, and journals to conclude that, without meaningful commitment in the form of policy changes and the provision of resources to address women conditions and involvement in the media representation; Africa cannot hope to see a breakthrough in its development and renewal. It recommends that, greater awareness and supportive environment needs to be enhanced by the media for women to be more self-reflective and have a greater awareness of their own weaknesses, challenges, strengths and opportunities. Women should be exposed to more in-depth training and development to gain not only knowledge and skills but also wisdom in order to be authentic leaders with integrity. Also, there should be is an urgent need to increase the knowledge and ability of mass media professionals to create more awareness on gender issues.
Women’s empowerment in agriculture: Lessons from qualitative researchIFPRI Gender
Overview of qualitative findings from the GAAP2 project and how they relate to the development of the quantitative pro-WEAI survey and how they illuminate quantitative pro-WEAI findings
In this upload, you can refer all the topics related to the women empowerment.
Definition of women empowerment
various principles in women empowerment
Necessity of women empowerment
The process of women empowerment
NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2001)
Laws Related to Women
Necessity of women reservation:
A SIMPLE QUOTATION ON WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
detailed NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2001) is mentioned in the presentation
Time for recognition of women's abilityM S Siddiqui
It is found in many studies that economic empowerment seems to protect women from violence. Women living in wealthier households have a 45 percent lower risk of violence than those living in poorer households. Bangladesh has far way to give equal opportunity to the man and woman. The family code, inheritance laws, perception of society (include both man and woman) towards women is still not same. There are some steps of empowerment in Bangladesh.
Self Help Groups (SHGs) are small groups of poor people. The members of an SHG face similar problems. They help each other, to solve their problems. SHGs promote small savings among their members. The savings are kept with the bank. This is the common fund in the name of the SHG. The SHG gives small loans to its members from its common fund
Women Empowerment : Reservation with ProtectionApurv Londhe
Women Needs to be empowered to make there situation better . The answer is education , employment and ecourage them in social activities . Only reservation won't empower women's situation in India But rather it is a best way to contribute for the empowerment of India . According to me women could be empowered through three ways - 1. Education 2. Employment - i.e Economic Empowerment 3. Sociall Empowerment !!
But being seen the will of our polititian for Reservation in Loksabha , The Bill is still pending is the saddest thing . The President of INC - is a Women , Hon' Speaker of Loksabha is a Women and also Opposition Leader of Loksabha is a WOmen Still and still womens situation in India is not too good , and still the bill is pending .!!!
I am not saying that the bill is only solution put I am damn sure that bill is part of solution !! If womens are led to be the part of the system they could change them and could make other women empower ,
This is what Empowering Women by Women i.e what Empowering Women Empowering India !!!
Major constraints faced by women in agriculture By Mr Allah Dad Khan Former ...Mr.Allah Dad Khan
Major constraints faced by women in agriculture By Mr Allah Dad Khan Former D.G ,Agriculture Extension KPK Visiting Professor the University of Agriculture Peshawar
In this upload, you can refer all the topics related to the women empowerment.
Definition of women empowerment
various principles in women empowerment
Necessity of women empowerment
The process of women empowerment
NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2001)
Laws Related to Women
Necessity of women reservation:
A SIMPLE QUOTATION ON WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
detailed NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2001) is mentioned in the presentation
Time for recognition of women's abilityM S Siddiqui
It is found in many studies that economic empowerment seems to protect women from violence. Women living in wealthier households have a 45 percent lower risk of violence than those living in poorer households. Bangladesh has far way to give equal opportunity to the man and woman. The family code, inheritance laws, perception of society (include both man and woman) towards women is still not same. There are some steps of empowerment in Bangladesh.
Self Help Groups (SHGs) are small groups of poor people. The members of an SHG face similar problems. They help each other, to solve their problems. SHGs promote small savings among their members. The savings are kept with the bank. This is the common fund in the name of the SHG. The SHG gives small loans to its members from its common fund
Women Empowerment : Reservation with ProtectionApurv Londhe
Women Needs to be empowered to make there situation better . The answer is education , employment and ecourage them in social activities . Only reservation won't empower women's situation in India But rather it is a best way to contribute for the empowerment of India . According to me women could be empowered through three ways - 1. Education 2. Employment - i.e Economic Empowerment 3. Sociall Empowerment !!
But being seen the will of our polititian for Reservation in Loksabha , The Bill is still pending is the saddest thing . The President of INC - is a Women , Hon' Speaker of Loksabha is a Women and also Opposition Leader of Loksabha is a WOmen Still and still womens situation in India is not too good , and still the bill is pending .!!!
I am not saying that the bill is only solution put I am damn sure that bill is part of solution !! If womens are led to be the part of the system they could change them and could make other women empower ,
This is what Empowering Women by Women i.e what Empowering Women Empowering India !!!
Major constraints faced by women in agriculture By Mr Allah Dad Khan Former ...Mr.Allah Dad Khan
Major constraints faced by women in agriculture By Mr Allah Dad Khan Former D.G ,Agriculture Extension KPK Visiting Professor the University of Agriculture Peshawar
Contribution of women empowerment towards the development in Rwanda: Case of ...Premier Publishers
The main objective of this study was to examine the contribution of women empowerment towards development in Rwanda, using Duhaguruke/Kora cooperative as a case study. The following were the specific objectives; investigate how economic activities contribute to women empowerment, explore challenges to the effective women empowerment and propose the solutions to those challenges. Data were collected from 93 respondents using questionnaires, group discussions and interviews. The cluster sampling method and simple random sampling methods were used. Findings revealed that economic activities empower women in community and they can contribute to the socio-economic development by educating their children, establishing businesses and paying taxes, paying health insurance for the family members, influence the family welfare, participation in decision making at local level through incomes from their jobs and employment. High fertility rate and gender inequalities within households were revealed as the most challenges to the effective women empowerment, other challenges observed were low education level and lack of professionalism, irresponsibility of men which affect negatively the loans management for women. Solutions suggested by participants were low fertility rate and gender equality within the family, women's education and participation in women's associations, legal marriage and greater access to credits.
“Emergence and Activities of Self-Help Group (SHG)-A Great Effort and Impleme...iosrjce
The budding social consciousness from corner to corner of the globe has brought a number of issues
to the fore among which gender impartiality and empowerment of women are very noteworthy. Discrimination
against women in the form of male-female segregation reflects the core of the gender-biased structure. The
education is the biggest therapeutic power and the rise in the levels of education which nourishes progressive
stance and the beginning of industrialization and modernization have effected a sea change in the attitudes and
thinking prototype of the citizens. The empowerment is not fundamentally political single-handedly in fact;
political empowerment will not be successful in the deficiency of economic, socio-cultural and environmental
empowerment. Women empowerment is a progression in which women confront the presented norms and
culture, to efficiently encourage their well being. The involvement of women in Self Help Groups (SHGs) made a
momentous impact on their empowerment both in social and economical aspects. This study addresses women
empowerment as well as rural development through self help groups of Khejuri CD Blocks in Purba Medinipur
district of West Bengal. The information requisite for the study has been collected from both the primary and
secondary sources. A multistage random sampling method has been followed. Average and percentage analysis
was accepted out to draw significant interpretation of the results. Factor analysis was used to measure the
relationship between the observed variables. The outcome of the study revealed that the SHGs have had greater
impact on both economic and social aspects of the beneficiaries.
Economic Contribution of Women in Self Help Groups: Village Level Evidence fr...iosrjce
Women in Self Help Groups (SHGs) have made their mark in the rural economy in a quite nontraditional
way. This paper examines the economic contribution of SHG women drawing on a field survey
conducted in 20 villages by canvassing a structured schedule among 150 sample respondents of two blocks of
Balasore district in Odisha, India. The findings show that women in SHG’s have made a significantly positive
contribution to employment, income, expenditure and saving at the household level. An increase in the demand
for SHG products is required for improving productivity of women and enhancing their economic contribution
in a sustainable way. A reorientation in policy is suggested for generating awareness, upgrading skills and
expanding markets in order to augment their contribution and raise their empowerment level for the benefit of
the households as well as for transforming the rural economy in a big way.
The role of gender in enhancing the development agendaJack Onyisi Abebe
Gender and development is important because it focuses on connections between gender and development initiatives and feminists’ perspectives, and deals with issues such as health and education, decision making and leadership, peace building, violence against women and economic empowerment. Development cannot be realized without the very significant component of gender. Countries the world over have proved that exclusion of women in development has rendered their development efforts futile.
The Impact of Development Interventions on Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment...AI Publications
The study investigated women led income generating projects in Mafutseni and Dvokodvweni both constituencies in the Kingdom of ESwatini. The aim was to gain some understanding on ways in which women transform their livelihoods taking into consideration household income, skills training, and access to finance and empowerment. The objectives of the study were to determine development intervention’s influence on rural women’s livelihoods, determining the extent to which these development interventions influence rural women’s livelihoods and how education and training impact their livelihood strategies. The study established that there are an increasing number of women entrepreneurs who are becoming active players in sustainable development. Rural women in these constituencies were found to be playing an important role in economic development and poverty alleviation in their communities. Most income generating activitieshowever, did not increase household’s welfare for women who lack education and training, access to credit and management skills. It was concluded that there is a greater need to empower women for sustainable development if the country is to meet its vision 2022 developmental agenda.
Investing in rural women farmers narrows the gender gap in agricultureICRISAT
The glaring inequality between men and women farmers in the African agricultural sector is alarming evidence that calls for fair, inclusive and sustainable development. Gender productivity gaps vary across and even within countries, but recent studies suggest that gender gaps are in the range of 10% to 30%. Gender gap in agricultural productivity means that crop production is lower than its potential. Closing the gender gap in access to production capitals alone has been estimated to have the potential of lifting 100–150 million people out of hunger, thus resulting in benefits that spread far beyond female farmers.
Presented by Kathleen Earl Colverson at the Africa RISING Integrating Gender into Agricultural Programming training, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 18-20 August 2014
A trainer's manual" (available at http://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/33426)
This is a summary of a survey on stakeholder analysis in Malawi and Ghana in relation to the use of analysis tools for gender and youth equity in sustainable agriculture intensification investments.
The survey was conducted in the framework of Africa RISING's Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Research and Learning in Africa (SAIRLA) program. It is part of first steps toward understanding how gender and youth equity can be fostered in SAI investments in Ghana and Malawi.
“Gender inequality is an important aspect which deserves special attention. Women and girls represent half the population, and our society has not been fair to this half. Their socio-economic status is improving, but gaps persist….The emergence of women in public spaces, which is an absolutely essential part of social emancipation, is accompanied by growing threats to their safety and security…… the issue of safety and security of women is of the highest concern to our Government. There can be no meaningful development without the active participation of half the population and this participation simply cannot take place if their security is not assured”.
“Gender inequality is an important aspect which deserves special attention. Women and girls represent half the population, and our society has not been fair to this half. Their socio-economic status is improving, but gaps persist….The emergence of women in public spaces, which is an absolutely essential part of social emancipation, is accompanied by growing threats to their safety and security…… the issue of safety and security of women is of the highest concern to our Government. There can be no meaningful development without the active participation of half the population and this participation simply cannot take place if their security is not assured”. Hence, “Gender Inclusive Development” should be our main aim for the overall development of our country. We have to find out the ways and means, how women could be involved in the development process. In India, despite several years of planed development, improvement observed in education and, to a lesser extent, in health women’s improved capabilities do not seem to have been translated into an equal participation between men and women in economic and political activities.
Executive summary womens empowerment in agriculture usaid indonesia_2013
1. WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN
AGRICULTURE ASSESSMENT
INDONESIA 2013
JUNE 2013
This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International
Development. It was prepared by Weidemann Associates, Inc., A Crown Agents USA
Company.
2. WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN
AGRICULTURE ASSESSMENT
INDONESIA 2013
Submitted by:
Weidemann Associates, Inc., A Crown Agents USA Company
Authored by:
Lead Author: Laine Berman
Contributing Authors: Joeni Hartanto, Rossana Dewi
Submitted to:
USAID/Indonesia
Contract No.:
AEG-I-00-04-0010-00, Task Order Number AID-AA-TO-10-00017
DISCLAIMER
The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United
States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.
3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“Economic indicators and social well-being indicators do not correlate”
(Bissio, 2012).
Gender equality and empowerment are core development objectives, fundamental for the realization
of human rights and key to effective and sustainable development outcomes. As a basic human right, a
gender perspective and a strong commitment to women’s rights must be central to any development
framework. Women’s empowerment means a space is created in which women can freely interact
with men in constructive dialog. Development models focused on income generation, as most of the
women in agriculture projects are, must also recognize the absolute need for a gender strategy that
does not instrumentalize women to achieve productivity goals, but that strategically and intentionally
opens such spaces for women to gain the knowledge, access, voice, and respect that helps them to
achieve more power at productive, reproductive, and community levels. There is no simple answer to
the question of empowering women farmers in Indonesia. Women indeed have access to economic
resources, and are often important income earners for their households. Despite statistical increases in
income or access, women face significant structural and cultural obstacles to becoming effective
leaders and to gaining access to significant roles in society. The questions at the heart of much of this
report are: does increasing productivity lead to increased income and does increased income
automatically increase power?
In order to answer these questions, the research team examined multiple facets of women’s lives in
order to see the disjunction between economic autonomy and actual status, from the level of
individual gender ideology, as well as the division of labor in and outside the household. We also
examined women’s involvement in village social activities, particularly state-controlled welfare
organizations.
The assessment team found that most USAID partner interventions increase women’s already high
work burdens. The income generating project is often an addition to her productive work, paid or
unpaid outside the household in the so-called ‘public sphere’ in the fields, and her reproductive work
in the household or so-called ‘private sphere’, where she is responsible for feeding, clothing, cleaning,
and maintaining a family on a daily basis. There are also community demands on women for their
voluntary efforts, the ‘traditional’, social and religious demands, which all together take up her entire
day from early morning to late at night.
Following interviews and FGDs with nearly 400 women farmers in seven provinces from North
Sumatra to Papua, the team found no opportunities for ‘self-improvement’ since 1) she had no time,
and 2) she had no concept of a different life. Women in all FGDs and discussions in all areas saw their
daily burdens as normal. If they have no idea of what empowerment would be, or look like, or feel
like, or how it will improve her and her family’s life, then it is not going to happen. It is a myth that an
organization can ‘empower’ rural women. Women can only make the decision to empower themselves
if the knowledge, awareness and the decisions are hers to take and supported within the context of her
family and community life.
In short, women’s empowerment can only occur if the context allows it and if it is part of a broader
social, economic and political change in the region. This will require further and continuous education
and training through long-term, multi-level initiatives that recognize the holistic nature of women’s
roles within the contexts of the social, economic and political world she inhabits and not simply target
one facet of it. There is a vast disjunction in Indonesia between economic autonomy and actual status
that needs to be better understood by project designers.
Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Assessment – Indonesia 2013
1
4. Within this context, gender considerations need to be given serious attention in any development
initiative in Indonesia. The Government of Indonesia (at all levels) needs to remedy its standardized
instrumentalization of women and the blockages that exist between the good ideas at the center and
their lack of implementation in regional Dinas offices. Bilateral or multilateral international donors
need to take more lessons from the Indonesian private or non-governmental sector. Gender
mainstreaming (GM) regulations may be more of a threat to gender equity than a benefit because it is
being implemented to reach quota or statistical goals without concern for women’s improvements.
The focus on commodity farming and short term economic gain over sustainability or food security
raises concerns over the safety of a mono-culture approach in a farming system with no safety net in
case of failure.
Most project interventions observed were based on gender-blind or gender-neutral policies that may
be enforcing women’s “traditional” roles, and threatening to create a situation where women are
instrumentalized as cheap, reliable labor but without recognizing or changing the excessive burdens
they face. Further complicating women’s empowerment was the basic fact that smallholder farmers in
all areas visited could not earn enough income from farming to cover the daily basic needs of their
families. Men had to find additional income through wage labor jobs in commercial farms, on
construction sites, or illegal logging. Almost all women interviewed had additional income generating
work processing and/or selling goods and produce through small kiosks or local markets. In all
locations, families were one failed harvest or natural disaster away from absolute poverty. Further, a
gender ideology that marginalizes women from power persists despite social changes that might seem
to challenge it. The assumption that economic development automatically empowers women is
widespread, despite being proven wrong by many scholars and project evaluations. Research does
help show why we must delve far more deeply to understand how development brings change to some
while it reproduces the more disempowering aspects of life at the same time.
The WEIA Assessment Team visited 45 agricultural project implementers from USAID partners to
GOI, NGOs, and CBOs and interviewed over 350 female and 100 male beneficiaries in 32 field visits
in seven provinces across Indonesia: North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, East Java,
Bali, West Timor (NTT), Papua. The WEIA assessment team found that the pursuit of economic
growth as the ultimate project goal has induced a movement away from farming multiple crops to a
mono-culture commodity approach. This has broad implications for farmers’ risk, food security,
sustainable land use and changes in attitude and behavior. The team also found that between poor
access to markets, lack of capital, lack of a fair price for their goods, the lack of any insurance or
safety net, and the lack of broader knowledge of or access to information meant that farmers remain
relatively poor. Gains achieved at one level of a project were gone by the next. For example, buyers
were ready to buy processed chips from lower quality bananas, a by-product of project fostered high
quality banana production, but lack of capital and machinery for banana chip processing meant the
supply chain was broken. Also, projects encouraged maximizing orange production in North Sumatra,
but had no answers to preventing the fruit fly infestation that devastated the crop. So, a question is
raised as to what support farmers receive when a project or a harvest fails.
Only in North Sumatra did informants want their children to continue the family tradition of farming –
something that was not shared by their children. Everywhere else we visited, farming was seen by
farmers as a worst possible choice, ensuring their children remain poor, dirty, and with no chance of
“getting an attractive spouse”. Such attitudes show how negatively farming is viewed by farmers
themselves and bodes poorly for the future of the sector – as well as the food supply. National history,
government policies, low prices, and far too much risk for far too little reward have marginalized and
even terrorized male farmers into an oppressive silence. Such stressors in the sector bode far worse for
the empowerment of women, since it is she who must be flexible enough to find alternative sources of
food or income when their men cannot.
Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Assessment – Indonesia 2013
2
5. Recommendations:
All projects need to include gender awareness elements that assist women and men to
recognize and respect women’s roles rather than maintain a gender blind, patriarchal status
quo that is indifferent to women’s (and farmers’) rights.
Since gender issues in the agricultural sector are many and often inter-related, a package of
complementary interventions is needed that seeks to empower both women and men. These
can include legal reforms that promote gender equalities, social safety nets, support to the
creation of farmers, women and youths’ organizations that are capable of negotiating political,
legal, economic, and social terms, child care programs, female education, sustainable farming
techniques, instruments to improve access to information and labor markets.
Income generating should not be considered the goal of a project but rather one of its
outcomes as part of a package of interventions that empower farmers in general and women in
particular. Income generation is not equal to empowerment.
Project beneficiaries need to gain control over resources and means of production (including
technology), access to information and knowledge, and control over decisions affecting their
personal life, family and community. These rural farmers can only achieve the necessary
changes if interventions recognize that such changes are a process that must begin with
awareness first, then skills and capacities.
To encourage women to be more vocal in terms of decision-making beyond her household,
examples of open dialog and the benefits of broad participation need to be provided.
Negotiating project design openly and equitably would be a good start for such training.
No single intervention can address the many challenges mentioned in this report. Partnering
with various government agencies and other projects to improve education and health,
infrastructure and technology are essential to providing the skills that broaden the range of
informed choices available to women.
Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Assessment – Indonesia 2013
3