New agricultural technologies and gender dynamics at house holds in rural Bangladesh. Siddiqur Rahman

1. NEW AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES AND
GENDER DYNAMICS AT HOUSE HOLDS
IN RURAL BANGLADESH
Siddiqur Rahman PhD
Professor
Department of Anthropology
Jahangirnagar University
Dhaka-1342
appolloju1@yahoo.com

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 All the Respondents - women, men and youth.
 Professor Jeffrey Tahseen- Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland
 Research Team in Bangladesh
 CIMMYT Office , Mexico
 CIMMYT Office, Bangladesh

3. AN OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH
• A global research commissioned by CIMMYT and executed by
Glasgow Caledonian University GCU, UK in 2015
• Five countries- India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and
Afghanistan from South Asia.
• Selected agricultural zones where community adopted
agricultural innovations in Wheat and Maize.
• Two key dimensions informed the sampling framework- the
economic dynamism and gender gap in assets and capacities.

4. OBJECTIVES
1. Document Research community’s experiences with gender
norms.
2. Explore the capacities for agricultural innovation around gender.

5. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES
• Qualitative and Quantitative Data Gathering and Analysis. Mostly
Qualitative study.
• Target respondents: Poor men and Women, Middle class Men
and Women, youth males and Females.
• Data Gathering Methods: Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), In-
depth Interview (IDIs), Case Study, Community Profile.

6. SELECTED DISTRICTS FROM BANGLADESH
• Rangpur
• Dinajpur
• Maymensingh
• Rajshahi
• Meherpur
• Faridpur

8. AN OVERVIEW OF THE LOCAL CONTEXT,
MAYMENSINGH
• Currently, above five thousands people live in the study village among
them 92% are Muslims and 8% Hindus. Reportedly, 25-30 individuals
belong to ethnic minority groups.
• Majority of people are engaged in agricultural activities, some in non-
agricultural related services and small businesses, few work as day
labourers in agricultural fields, and some village folk are fishermen.

9. STATUS OF GENDER NORMS IN DOMESTIC SPHERES
• Local community is governed by strong gender norms
• Women are expected to undertake the reproductive roles and are seen as
nurturers.
• Women’s expected tasks include cleaning, cooking, taking care of children and
husband, homestead gardening and helping husbands in the field during irrigation,
harvesting, drying and preserving the agricultural products.
• Men are expected to do household chores only when the women are sick or absent
in the family. Men are expected to do the agricultural works.
• Both men and women in the community do NOT expect men to do household
works such as cooking, cleaning the house, homestead gardening (mostly
vegetables) and taking care of the livestock and child rearing which are
traditionally done by the women.

10. HOW GENDER NORMS SHAPE INDIVIDUAL AGRICULTURAL
ROLES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND BENEFITS;
• Women’s participation in agriculture vary by socio-economic position
and cultural norms.
• Strong gender norms often informed by social, cultural and religious
values usually do not allow women to work outside homes.
• Gender Norms are strict for the young, unmarried and newly married
Muslim women to work outside homes which include agricultural
works.
• Gender norms for older, divorced, widowed and poor women are little
flexible.

11. NEW AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION/ADAPTATIONS IN
LAST TEN (10) YEARS
Top two Innovations
Men’s FGDs Women’s FGDs
For men For women For men For women
Poor 1. Information
2. Improved seeds
1. Improved seeds
2. Knowledge for
preserving seeds
1. Training
2. Improved seeds
1. Grinding
machine
2. Improved seeds
Middle
Class
1. Better (Hybrid)
seeds.
2. Information
about how to
apply Seeds &
Fertilizers.
1. Poultry activity.
2. Information
about the
diseases of birds
1. Fertilizer
2. Irrigation
1. Storing the
seeds carefully
2. Mixing up the
fertilizers and
pesticides so
that the
cultivation
become easier
Youth 1. Improved seeds
2. Modern training
on agriculture
1. Threshing
machine
2. Modern
agricultural
knowledge.
1. Modern training on
agriculture
2. Improved seeds
and fertilizer
1. Threshing
machine
2. Improved
vegetable
seeds

12. EXPERIENCES WITH AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS
AND THEIR GENDER DIMENSIONS
• Often It is the upper and middle class male farmers who fit well to the
requirements set by GO or other NGOs to qualify to test out new agricultural
innovations. Men own the minimum required land for plot demonstration.
• Men have social and other cultural capitals to network with powerful government
and NGO officials to receive updated information and new agricultural
technology. Thus, they are the direct beneficiaries of focal innovation.
• Strong gender norms restricts women’s physical mobility thus limit their chances
to get updated information on agricultural innovations/technology from
government and/or private agricultural institutions.

13. CONTINUED…
• Key factors as identified by women which hinder their possibility to become
an early adaptor are- lack of ownership of land, money and updated
information
• The agricultural innovation especially the hard systems (machines) often
designed for men.
• The decision on adopting new agricultural technology, women face more
barriers than men.
• However, women gained benefit from improved seeds and the soft system
such as training.

14. CHALLENGING GENDER ‘MYTHS’
• Some women who were highly motivated, despite social pressure, used
their own agency to overcome challenges and adopted new agricultural
technology and reaped the benefit.
• Gender norms are not always ‘fixed’ and ‘static’. Evidence suggests
that at times other economic reasoning overrides over strong gender
norms in rural Bangladesh.
• A large number of extremely poor, poor, widows, and women from the
lower-middle class are heavily involved into agriculture especially in
post-harvest, homestead gardening, and NRM activities in Bangladesh.

15. CONTINUED….
 In wheat/Maize innovations, by using their own agency, some women especially from
the lower middle class strata, were able to challenge the existing myth and have shown
to become a successful innovator.
 Women have managed to participate in agricultural sharing meetings beyond their
household compounds, have often physically visited households of other successful
male innovators located within or outside of their own to get updated knowledge on
wheat/Maize innovations and have contacted agricultural extension officers and
agricultural input dealers to get updated information on inputs, pesticides and prices
via cell phones.
 Despite many challenges, some women were exemplary in becoming a successful
wheat/Maize innovator without compromising family honour and dignity. Further that
the larger community celebrated the success of female innovators. Women were able
to take important decision to manage the agricultural production cycle and the selling
of produce at good profit margins. Successful women innovators were also able to
make a positive impact to their lives and that of their families. Some women also
extended their cooperation by providing moral and financial support and expert
opinions to their male counterparts to ensure a good harvest for the household.

16. TOWARDS A CONCLUSION
• Despite huge potentials of women being involved in agricultural and
NRM activities, both Government Agricultural departments and facilities
and NGOs alike lack robust attempts to bring women in agriculture to
utilize their full potential and collective agencies.
• New agricultural innovations are very hard to access for both poor men
and women. The innovation mostly the hard systems have no or
minimal effect for extreme poor men and women.

17. CONTINUED…
• Youth are more articulate in expressing themselves, risk takers, keen to try out
new agricultural technology, and have better education and access to Internet.
• The dominant practices by the national and global players in agriculture always
favoured upper and middle class men – or not questioning, the existing gender
Norms. By design poor men and women were not targeted as potential
beneficiaries. As a result, most agricultural innovation are not gender inclusive.
 It appears that in order to realize the full potentials and to reap maximum benefit
from agricultural innovation including wheat/Maize we need to focus on the socio-
political and institutional set-ups at the local level rather than focusing only on the
technology/innovations.

18. THANK YOU!!