Chapter 2. Improving women's agricultural productivity.

Chapter 2. Improving women's agricultural productivity. Recent attempts to improve Ghana's agricultural productionhave involved serious examination of gender issues. And just as earlyefforts to improve agricultural production focused on male farmers, socontemporary efforts have often become women's projects. Butneither approach has had the desired effect. It is important to gatherdata on women, after decades of neglect, but focusing only on women willjust keep women marginalized (Imam 1990). Sustainable programs need toinvolve both men and women. The traditional rural household has been misunderstood by manyanalysts: rural communities, like the rest of society, have undergonesignificant changes. In the traditional household there was a cleardivision of economic responsibilities. The division of labor--who wassupposed to do what--was clearly defined by age and sex. But socialchange has brought several changes in the structure, composition, andsocial and economic organization of the Ghanaian household and with themchanges in how work is divided and how responsibilities are shared(Brown 1994). To understand gender relationships at the household level one mustunderstand the rural household. In a simplified view the rural householdis a unified group of people with common goals, all working together,even if engaged in different activities--and gender is simply a way tocategorize cat��e��go��rize?tr.v. cat��e��go��rized, cat��e��go��riz��ing, cat��e��go��riz��esTo put into a category or categories; classify.cat labor or the head of the household. But rural genderrelationships are not simple. In rural households complex negotiationstake place between men and women over the use of productive resourcesand the use of produce or income. Gender affects productionrelationships within and across rural households--that is, the settingof goals and priorities, the mobilization mobilizationOrganization of a nation's armed forces for active military service in time of war or other national emergency. It includes recruiting and training, building military bases and training camps, and procuring and distributing weapons, ammunition, uniforms, of resources, andindividuals' willingness to take risks (Moock 1986). Women willhelp their husbands "in a more corporate manner," for example,if husbands have responsibility for finding the family's food. Themore pronounced the separation of accounts between men and women, thesharper the division of labor (Palmer 1991). According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Bukh (1979),the introduction of cash crops in Ghana (which involved mostly men) wasone of the most important reasons for the growing inequality between menand women. Another factor contributing to conflicts of interest inGhanaian households is that ties of lineage LINEAGE. Properly speaking lineage is the relationship of persons in a direct line; as the grandfather, the father, the son, the grandson, &c. are often stronger thanconjugal Pertaining or relating to marriage; suitable or applicable to married people.Conjugal rights are those that are considered to be part and parcel of the state of matrimony, such as love, sex, companionship, and support. ties in all ethnic groups in Ghana, patrilinear or matrilinear(Lloyd and Brandon 1993). However agricultural tasks and produce are divided, household foodsecurity is clearly a priority. In Ghana food purchases account for muchof the total household spending--in rural households, about 35 percent(UNICEF/Government of Ghana 1993). In many parts of the countrysubsistence subsistence,n the state of being supported or remaining alive with a minimum of essentials. farmers' output is insufficient to meet householdconsumption needs. The proportion of the household budget allocated forfood is often seen as a measure of relative poverty. Lloyd and Brandon(1993) maintain that women tend to allocate a larger share of their ownresources to the food needs of their children. Economic conditions inrecent years have affected the traditional gender division ofresponsibilities in the household. In areas where men are supposed toprovide food staples while women provide the soup ingredients, women areincreasingly supplementing household food needs as well as helping tomeet other traditional men's responsibilities (Whitehead 1993). THE GENDER DIMENSION OF AGRICULTURE The increasing number of households headed by women is a concern,as these households are believed to be among the poorest in rural areas(Heyzer 1992). Ardayfio-Schandorf (1994) reports that households headedby women are more prevalent in urban areas (33 percent) than in ruralareas (28 percent) and that overall the imbalance is increasing (from25.7 percent in 1960 to 29.1 percent in 1989). Households headed bywomen contain fewer children and fewer adults and tend to be smallerthan households headed by men, but with a higher dependency ratio Dependency RatioA measure showing the number of dependents (aged 0-14 and over the age of 65) to the total population (aged 15-64). Also referred to as the "total dependency ratio".Calculated by: .Whether the reported household head is male or female is not by itselfan indicator of economic status but it may be an indicator of potentialvulnerability. Individuals are more likely to be among the poorest groupif they live in households with older heads, either male or female, orin households headed by widows (Lloyd and Brandon 1993). Researchers and development practitioners often assume that ruralwomen are a socially homogeneous group. But women involved inagriculture vary widely in potential and in constraints on increasedproductivity and income generation. Sometimes better-off women traderstake advantage of poorer women farmers (Gura 1986; Imam 1990). To reachpoorer groups of women requires carefully targeting benefits that willreach them and be retained by them. The prevalence of polygamy polygamy:see marriage. polygamyMarriage to more than one spouse at a time. Although the term may also refer to polyandry (marriage to more than one man), it is often used as a synonym for polygyny (marriage to more than one woman), which appears (and theranking of wives and widows) maintains women in a subordinate position,whether among the matrilineal mat��ri��lin��e��aladj.Relating to, based on, or tracing ancestral descent through the maternal line. Akan-speaking peoples or in suchpatrilinear societies as the Ewe, the Ga, the Tallensi, and the manysocieties of the North (Nukunya 1992). But generally it is difficult toapply one description to all Ghanaian women. As one person writes: Ghana's ethnic, cultural and agro-ecological diversity makesgeneralizations about gender relations and their consequences forwomen's access to resources, decision making and status extremelydifficult. Divergence divergenceIn mathematics, a differential operator applied to a three-dimensional vector-valued function. The result is a function that describes a rate of change. The divergence of a vector v is given by of experiences has been further widened byregionally distorted historical development and biased developmentpolicies. In particular, the three Northern regions are disadvantaged bythe combined effects of harsh agro-climatic conditions, low output percapita [Latin, By the heads or polls.] A term used in the Descent and Distribution of the estate of one who dies without a will. It means to share and share alike according to the number of individuals. , limited options beyond small-scale farming, less urbanizationand low service provision. Combined with strongly patriarchal pa��tri��ar��chal?adj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a patriarch.2. Of or relating to a patriarchy: a patriarchal social system.3. familystructures, women's lack of influence in decision making, and ahistory of male outmigration which has tended to increase women'swork burden, this results in the generally more limited options ofnorthern women. However, socio-economic differentiation is also markedin more prosperous southern regions... Other variables, such as age andeducation, particularly differentiate women's experiences(University of Sussex 1994; i). Although rural women are important in agricultural production, theyare commonly believed to be less efficient farmers that men (Box 2.1).Even women see many of their tasks as unproductive. They struggleagainst greater odds than men do, bearing heavier responsibilities.Wherever women find themselves, they look for ways to improve household,food, and economic security. Agro-ecological conditions often limittheir opportunities for agricultural production and otherincome-generating possibilities. In coastal areas where land is oftenunavailable or unsuitable for farming (Manu 1989), fish smoking is amajor activity. And according to the 1960 census, out of 90,000 peoplein the canoe-fishing industry, more than half (47,000) were women whoprocessed and sold fish. Salt mining is also important for women fromOctober to early May. These activities compensate for the lack offarmland (Date-Bah 1985; Manu 1989). Women rarely concentrate all theirefforts in one activity; it would be too dangerous if crops or marketswere to fail. The importance of diversification was brought out during avisit to Lekpongunor, a coastal village of the Greater Accra region,which had a poor fishing harvest for a few months. Most of the womenthere rely heavily on income from fish smoking, so Mrs. Anson, the fieldcoordinator of the Regional Training and Applied Research Project forArtisanal Fish Processing In fishing industry, fish processing or fish products industry refers to processing fish delivered by fisheries, which are the supplier of the fish products industry. , used the opportunity to stress the need forthe women to engage in additional income-generating activities to ensurea steady income, regardless of seasonal and annual variations in theharvest. In addition, of course, women do most of the work gatheringhousehold fuelwood, especially during farming season. Even though womenhave much more work to do on the farm they must still make fuelwoodavailable for preparing family meals.Box 2.1 Are Women Farmers as Productive as Men?Early efforts to improve agricultural production focusedexclusively on male farmers. Women were not believed to be capableof farming at the same level of efficiency and giving womenextension information and improved inputs was considered a waste ofscarce resources. Given the advantages that male farmers enjoy,especially those growing cash crops, it is no wonder that manystudies found male farmers more efficient. Several factorscontribute to the lower productivity of Ghana's women farmers:small farm size and inability to hire laborers to increase farmsize; types of tools used; unfavorable land tenure; lack ofextension information and agrochemicals; lack of credit; and thenumber of tasks women have to perform at a distance from the farm(Date-Bah 1985). But studies that control for differences inindividual characteristics and levels of input use show that femalefarmers are as efficient as male farmers (Quisumbing 1994). Gladwin(1996) states that "gender differences alone do not explainproductivity differences between men and women farmers, but genderdisparities and women's lack of access to the basicyield-increasing inputs of production result in lower yields." CONSTRAINTS ON WOMEN'S PRODUCTIVITY Several related factors limit women's productivity, but chiefamong them are competing demands on their time. Constraints on Women's Time Lack of time is a serious constraint for rural women, whosemultiple tasks give them a far heavier workload than men. Cleaver andSchreiber (1994) argue that women's lack of time--or the excessiveamount of time they must spend each day on household tasks--is thesingle most binding constraint on female productivity in farming andother income-earning activities. Competing pressures for women'stime and energy may lead to trade-offs, such as fewer hot meals or lessattention to one crop or field. And conflicts may arise about the use offamily labor time if men's and women's crops or fields requireattention at the same time (Ghana-CIDA Grains Development Project 1993).Saito and Weidemann (1990) advise extension agents to be sensitive towomen's lack of time and to the fact that the timing of householdtasks is relatively inflexible. Their training visits should not add towomen's time stress. In most places women are responsible for collecting water andfuelwood, although Islamic tenets require men to provide thesenecessities for household use, which may be why more men are involved infuelwood collection in the savanna savannaor savannah(both: səvăn`ə), tropical or subtropical grassland lying on the margin of the trade wind belts. areas (Table 2.1). Some men mayactually pay their wives for the water and fuelwood the family uses.Environmental degradation has increased the burden of collectingfuelwood and other forest products for household use, and has affectedthe income generated. The household's socioeconomic situationdetermines whether these tasks are done by members of the household orby hired laborers. Inadequate infrastructure facilities--especially the watersupply--greatly curtail cur��tail?tr.v. cur��tailed, cur��tail��ing, cur��tailsTo cut short or reduce. See Synonyms at shorten.[Middle English curtailen, to restrict women's productivity and increase theirtime commitments. Among households in Ghana 76.9 percent (urban) and16.1 percent (rural) have access to pipe-borne drinking water drinking watersupply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. ; 13.9percent (urban) and 43.0 percent (rural) depend on borehole bore��hole?n.A hole that is drilled into the earth, as in exploratory well drilling or in building construction. , well, orrain water; and 9.2 percent (urban) and 40.9 percent (rural) use onlyrivers, streams, or dugouts (Ghana Statistical Service 1995). Poor roadsare another major problem. Ehiring the rainy rain��y?adj. rain��i��er, rain��i��estCharacterized by, full of, or bringing rain.raini��ness n.Adj. season most farms in thenorthern region are cut off because of impassable roads, so farmers areunable to sell or buy at market rates prevailing elsewhere. The notion of time as human capital to be managed, or a resource tobe carefully invested, is not new. Nor is the fact that women usuallyendure harsher time pressures than men do. Time is a resource, but it isnot expandable. Improved agricultural practices can raise cropproduction, better information can increase a fisher's catch, butnothing yet devised can add hours to the day. In a sense using time moreproductively effectively "stretches" time by producing moreoutput, but for repetitive, time-consuming, essential daily tasksdistance rarely shortens and the means of transport See: mode of transport. rarely improves. Infact, the time and distance covered to fetch firewood may graduallyincrease as nearby brushwood is consumed. The economic implications of how women have to use their time arediscomforting--and run across all sectors and issues. Poverty of timealso affects perceptions about other kinds of deprivation. The effects of women's heavy time constraints are pervasive:the woman's exhaustion and daily (perhaps prolonged pro��long?tr.v. pro��longed, pro��long��ing, pro��longs1. To lengthen in duration; protract.2. To lengthen in extent. ) absence fromthe village or community; inequities within the family; gradual erosionof the local supply of water and fuelwood; and, nationally, the waste ormisuse of energy and abilities needed to bring about lasting social andeconomic development. Ghana's capital of human time and energy arestill directed to preserving an unbalanced and unproductive system inwhich women contribute the most and benefit the least. How people respond to changing macroeconomic mac��ro��ec��o��nom��ics?n. (used with a sing. verb)The study of the overall aspects and workings of a national economy, such as income, output, and the interrelationship among diverse economic sectors. conditions is partlyconditioned by the demands on their time. If a woman is overworked andher time is already committed to one activity, for example, she may notbe able to take advantage of a changing price incentive withoutabandoning another important duty. New economic opportunities mayinvolve women in a "negative sum game" in which time andenergy devoted to any new effort are diverted from other importantactivities (Haddad 1991). Realistic efforts to encourage women toparticipate in economic activities and be more productive must considertheir time constraints and obligations. According to the 1987/88 living standards living standardsnpl → nivel msg de vidaliving standardsliving npl → niveau m de vieliving standardsliving npl survey, women's timecommitments are 15 to 25 percent greater than those of men--for all agegroups, jobs, and types of households--mainly because of their heaviercommitment to household work. Women typically spend 20 hours a week (menfive) doing housework. Men compensate for only a third of this gap bydevoting more time to paid activities (Haddad 1991). A similar picture emerges from the 1991/92 survey (Figure 2.1).Women of all age groups spend more time than men on householdactivities. Men withdraw from household activities as they becomeadults, but women's household responsibilities increase with ageand do not substantially decrease until they are 70 or older.Girls' significantly greater involvement in household activitiespartly explains their low enrollment in middle and secondary schools.The gender gap in time devoted to household activities becomesappreciably ap��pre��cia��ble?adj.Possible to estimate, measure, or perceive: appreciable changes in temperature.See Synonyms at perceptible. wider for the age groups 10-14 and 15-19, but is widest forthe most productive age group, 20--49. And demands on women's timedo not change with household income. The time women devote to householdactivities is similar for different household-income quintiles Quintiles Transnational Corp. is a contract research organization which serves the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare industries. HistoryQuintiles was founded in 1982 by Dennis Gillings and as of 2007 it has 18,000 employees. (Figure2.2). True, women from richer households may devote less time tofetching fetch��ing?adj.Very attractive; charming: a fetching new hairstyle.fetching��ly adv. water and fuelwood but they spend more time on other householdactivities. [FIGURE 2.1 OMITTED] The reasons for women's greater involvement in householdactivities include many socially defined gender-based expectations. Withthe emergence of the nuclear family system, men are sharing morehousehold chores, but the pace of change in the division of householdtasks is slow. Women's involvement in household work (and thelength of time devoted to household activities) depends on the type offamily structure, the social class, the economic resources available towomen, and how modernized mod��ern��ize?v. mo��dern��ized, mo��dern��iz��ing, mo��dern��iz��esv.tr.To make modern in appearance, style, or character; update.v.intr.To accept or adopt modern ways, ideas, or style. the economy is (Brown 1994). Women in urban areas devote significantly less time to householdactivities than those living in rural areas do, because they spend lesstime fetching water and collecting fuelwood (Figure 2.3). In the shortrun public policy cannot effectively reduce that part of women'stime burden attributable to rigid gender-based expectations, butproviding more easily available drinking water and energy-efficientcooking technologies can greatly help. Rural women in Ghana depend heavily on "free" naturalresources, such as nuts, mushrooms, fruits, berries, leaves, and smallanimals and on raw materials for such cottage industries as thoseinvolving dyes, resins, and fibers. At the same time women as forestexploiters are also important managers of natural resources (Molnar andSchreiber 1989). Protecting the environmental resources they depend onis one way to ensure that their present level of household food securityis not further threatened. Poverty is one of the worst enemies of theenvironment: poorer nations and people overexploit natural resources tosurvive (Chitepo 1991). [FIGURE 2.2 OMITTED] [FIGURE 2.3 OMITTED] Unenlightened exploitation equally degrades the environment. Insome areas of Ghana's forest zone, for example, oil palm trees aredeclining because of the method of palm wine harvesting (cutting downthe trees instead of tapping the trees for wine, as practicedelsewhere). For women who process palm oil, such a technique threatensan important food source and income-earning activity. Clearly, anintervention focused solely on improving the processing technologywithout addressing the problem of deforestation deforestationProcess of clearing forests. Rates of deforestation are particularly high in the tropics, where the poor quality of the soil has led to the practice of routine clear-cutting to make new soil available for agricultural use. would soon run intoproblems because there would eventually be no palm fruit to process.Widespread deforestation and the extension of agricultural lands intoforest areas has placed a severe burden on rural women, especially thepoorest women who must travel longer distances and spend more timecollecting firewood. Substitutes must be found for diminishing firewoodsupplies, and cooking methods and family nutritional needs must beadjusted to match available firewood supplies (Bagchi 1987). Women arepainfully aware of how changes in the environment have reduced cropyields and the fertility of land, dried up water sources, and destroyedvegetation, including fuel wood (Iddi 1996). In one fishing village 95percent of the women said they had no difficulty finding fuelwood 10years ago; only 5 percent say that is true now (Ardayfio-Schandorf1993). Policymakers in Ghana can ease major constraints on the productiveuse of women's time by doing four things. They can: * Focus on providing easily accessible, safe drinking water.Heavier investment in the water and sanitation sanitation:see plumbing; sanitary science. sector will clearly easewomen's time constraints. The collection and use of water isprimarily a women's task, according to a UNICEF study (1990). Innorthern Ghana 88.4 percent of water is collected by women and 9.3percent by girls, so improving the water supply benefits womenproportionately pro��por��tion��ate?adj.Being in due proportion; proportional.tr.v. pro��por��tion��at��ed, pro��por��tion��at��ing, pro��por��tion��atesTo make proportionate. more than men. Easier access to sources of safe drinkingwater not only reduces the time women spend fetching water, but reducesthe incidence of waterborne diseases in the family. The most effectiveand sustainable water and sanitation projects involve women in planning,implementation, and maintenance. * Conduct research on appropriate technologies for reducing theconsumption of fuelwood. A reliable supply of fuelwood is important forhousehold cooking and for such income-generating activities as thebrewing of beer, the processing of nuts, and the smoking offish off��ish?adj.Inclined to be distant and reserved; aloof.offish��ly adv.off . Womenare responsible for most of these food processing Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans or animals. The food processing industry utilises these processes. activities, which,together with domestic cooking, account for 80 percent of the demand forfuelwood (UNICEF 1990). Technological innovations that increase theefficiency of traditional wood ovens will reduce the time women now usecollecting fuelwood, cooking, and processing food. New models of the"smokeless smoke��less?adj.1. Emitting or containing little or no smoke: smokeless factory stacks.2. oven" used in India are more fuel-efficient andemit TO EMIT. To put out; to send forth, 2. The tenth section of the first article of the constitution, contains various prohibitions, among which is the following: No state shall emit bills of credit. less smoke. Promoting similar technologies in Ghana will easewomen's time constraints and reduce the likelihood of theircontracting respiratory diseases. * Consider gender differentials in access to and control over landand trees and design schemes to promote communal woodlots in ways thatensure women's participation. Recent efforts in the northernregion, designed primarily to produce wood appropriate for male-orientedconstruction activities, were of little benefit to women in the area. * Make gender analysis an integral part of the design of policiesand programs to promote economic growth and alleviate poverty.Systematic attention should be paid to the economic implications of timeallocation issues. Gender analysis can be used to identify imbalances inthe gender division of labor (including rigidities in labor allocationand the unequal division of household work), to understand gender-baseddifferences in incentive and capacity because of differing levels ofaccess to (and control over) economically productive resources, and toexplain the implications (and invisibility) of women's work. Onlywhen these factors are better understood can economic reform anddevelopment programs achieve their intended objectives. Limited Access to Productive Resources Women's limited access to land, labor, and capital (as well asdecisionmaking power) clearly affects their productivity. One of severaltypes of rural poverty that especially affect women in Sub-SaharanAfrica is "poverty of resources." Resources become more scarceas demand for them increases because of high population growth and asenvironmental degradation reduces their supply and quality. Women areoften the losers when resources become scarce. One reason why povertyand hunger are increasing is that responsibility for the physical andintellectual growth of boys and girls boys and girlsmercurialisannua. is being shifted to their mothers,who do not have the access to resources they need to provide for thefamily (Snyder 1990). Women need not just "access to" but"control over" a resource, and decisionmaking power over itslong-term use, including its ultimate disposal. Rural women's limited access to land has received muchattention but, as Davison (1988) points out, land alone does not explainwhat is happening to women in agricultural production. In Ghana land isnot traditionally considered a "commodity" to be bought orsold; rather, it is a resource with sacred meanings that defineone's existence and identity in social relationships (Davis 1993).Land tenure land tenure:see tenure, in law. in Africa technically involves access rather than ownership,as land is usually officially owned by the government, but controlled byvillage chiefs. If, in allocating land, chiefs discriminate againstwomen, this merely reflects women's socially inferior position(Ewusi 1978). As Cleaver and Schreiber (1994: 80) explain: In Ghana, despite significant differences among ethnic groups, land generally belongs to the community and use rights are held by the lineage. Lineage members seeking land to farm ask the lineage head to assign them a piece of land. Discrimination against women in this allocation process is widely reported; fewer women obtain land; women often get less fertile land; and women obtain smaller parcels. In some patrilinear groups, such as the Krobo, women usually have no access to lineage land, unless they are unmarried, live in their parental home, and cultivate land allocated to them by their fathers. Women in matrilineal societies may have an advantage over theirsisters in patrilinear societies. Among the Ashanti (a matrilinealsociety), more than 50 percent of the landholders are women comparedwith only 2 percent in the north (NCWD NCWD North Carolina Western District (US federal court system)NCWD National Center for Women Development (Nigeria)1994). Uncertain access to land is a disincentive dis��in��cen��tive?n.Something that prevents or discourages action; a deterrent.disincentiveNounsomething that discourages someone from behaving or acting in a particular wayNoun 1. to improve that landthrough long-term investment (Chitepo 1991). Moreover, restrictions,often socially imposed, about using the land for such purposes astree-growing limit women's ability to participate in agroforestry ag��ro��for��est��ry?n.A system of land use in which harvestable trees or shrubs are grown among or around crops or on pastureland, as a means of preserving or enhancing the productivity of the land. or other programs requiring long-term land use. With access only to landthat is often less fertile women may only be able to cultivate cassava cassava(kəsä`və)or manioc(măn`ēŏk), name for many species of the genus Manihot of the family Euphorbiaceae (spurge family). ,while men will put the more fertile land into the cultivation of cashcrops (Bukh 1979). The man in the family often controls labor and capital, so a womanmay need to ask her husband's permission to take time to work onher own farm during farming season. Nor is the children's laborautomatically under the mother's control. A woman makes decisionsabout the crops grown on her own plot and influences decisions about thefamily farm, but the male head of household has final decisionmakingpower (Millar 1996). A woman may need the consent of her husband to takeout a loan, which the husband could then take for his own purposes. In focus group discussions involving rural women, women said theyhad trouble expanding their farm size because they didn't haveenough money to hire laborers to help with the land. Even if theyplanted the same cash crops as men, their farms were smaller and most ofthe produce was used for household consumption. They also usually had tosell whatever excess they had at harvest time Noun 1. harvest time - the season for gathering cropsharvestfarming, husbandry, agriculture - the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock , when prices were low. Ifperishable per��ish��a��ble?adj.Subject to decay, spoilage, or destruction.n.Something, especially foodstuff, subject to decay or spoilage. Often used in the plural. crops such as cassava and vegetables could be processed orstored, instead of being sold as tubers or fresh produce, women couldsignificantly increase their financial gains, even without increasingproduction. Less wastage wastagea loss of product or productivity; in terms of animal production includes losses due to deaths of animals, lowered production from survivors, including reproduction, and lost opportunity income.wastageFetal wastage, see there and greater profits would encourage women tofind ways to produce more, possibly through groups, and to process otherwomen's raw produce. Even if women cannot get better control of theland, locally, more capital would allow them to make fuller use of theresources at their disposal and expand their options for activities lessdependent on land. The Need to Combine Several Activities Rural women combine as many as four or five income-generatingactivities to minimize the risk inherent in total reliance on oneactivity. This is a coping mechanism coping mechanismPsychiatry Any conscious or unconscious mechanism of adjusting to environmental stress without altering personal goals or purposes used by poorer men and women alike,but women are especially willing to try additional ventures. Most ofthese activities entail low capital input, use labor-intensivetechnology, and yield low levels of productivity. At Wadie-Adumakase, an Ashanti village, rural women emphasized theneed for a separate income because even though their husbands mightincrease income from the family farm, the increase might not be used toimprove the welfare of the family. "In the long run, thechildren's welfare is the woman's responsibility," theysaid. B.M.B. and FEMCONSULT (1990: 9) concur CONCUR - ["CONCUR, A Language for Continuous Concurrent Processes", R.M. Salter et al, Comp Langs 5(3):163-189 (1981)]. : "Increased output onthe husband's fields does not automatically improve the livingconditions living conditionsnpl → condiciones fpl de vidaliving conditionsnpl → conditions fpl de vieliving conditionsliving of the whole family, since the men often spend the extraincome on consumer or luxury goods, whereas the output of thewomen's fields are mainly used to satisfy basic family needs." Most rural women rear some small livestock. One survey in thenorthern region showed that about 70 percent of the women have 5 to 10chickens and 20 percent have 2 to 5 goats (Adongo 1980). In focus groupsmost women (from villages in Ghana's forest, savanna, and coastalareas) said they kept a few chickens, goats, and sheep. In one villagein the forest zone many inhabitants :This article is about the video game. For Inhabitants of housing, see Residency Inhabitants is an independently developed commercial puzzle game created by S+F Software. DetailsThe game is based loosely on the concepts from SameGame. , male and female, were rearingturkeys, especially to sell at the time of festivals. (They complainedof the birds' high mortality rate, which was hardly surprising asthey were allowed to range freely, like chickens. Despite regularextension visits to this village, extension agents had not advised themto cage the turkeys or take other precautions). In one coastal villagemany women rear pigs, but only for sale, as local residents do not eatpork. Several local women own cattle. (The myth that women do not owncattle in the area may persist partly because women tend to conceal suchapparent wealth. Only because a trusted project field coordinator waspresent was this information offered.) These women were able to purchasecattle and other livestock with profits from their fish-smokingbusinesses, which were enhanced by technological improvements from theproject. Women all over Ghana also process various types of edible oil,including that from palm, coconut coconut,fruit of the coco palm (Cocos nucifera), a tree widely distributed through tropical regions. The seed is peculiarly adapted to dispersal by water because the large pod holding the nut is buoyant and impervious to moisture. , groundnuts, and shea nuts. Sheabutter extraction is very important in northern Ghana. Otherincome-earners--many encouraged by different developmentprojects--include cassava processing, soap making, fish smoking,small-scale gold mining, fish pond farming, cotton spinning, pitabrewing, basket making, batik batik(bətēk`), method of decorating fabrics practiced for centuries by the natives of Indonesia. It consists of applying a design to the surface of the cloth by using melted wax. printing, and dry-season vegetablefarming. Many women also process the fruits of locust locust, in botanylocust,in botany, any species of the genus Robinia, deciduous trees or shrubs of the family Leguminosae (pulse family) native to the United States and Mexico. trees (Parkiibiglobiosi) into a local spice called dawa dawa. One woman has madebeekeeping beekeepingor apicultureCare and manipulation of honeybees to enable them to produce and store more honey than they need so that the excess can be collected. Beekeeping is one of the oldest forms of animal husbandry. , usually considered a man's activity, a full-timebusiness. (In 1990 she harvested 24 gallons of honey.) Pottery making is an important source of income for women in manyvillages. (Indeed, in the Kumasi area, the craft is taboo for men.)Because of changing economic conditions and the high cost of importedpots, local pots regained importance in the 1980s, to the advantage ofthe women potters (DateBah 1985). In the Adansua village in easternGhana, pottery and soap making are being introduced to women who areprimarily fish processors, as insurance against times when fish are notplentiful. The women paid for their training and deposited money for akiln to be installed. Some activities are significantly affected by gender and socialbeliefs. Traditionally, for example, rural Ghanaian women do not weaveKente ken��te?n.1. A brightly patterned, handwoven ceremonial cloth of the Ashanti.2. A durable machine-woven fabric similar to this fabric, prominently featured in Afrocentric fashion. and other types of cloth because of their belief that weaving on anarrow loom loom,frame or machine used for weaving; there is evidence that the loom has been in use since 4400 B.C.Modern looms are of two types, those with a shuttle (the part that carries the weft through the shed) and those without; the latter draw the weft from a with their legs apart would cause infertility infertility,inability to conceive or carry a child to delivery. The term is usually limited to situations where the couple has had intercourse regularly for one year without using birth control. (Konadu 1980).Cloth dyeing, however, is an important activity for women in Ashantiland, where black cloth is essential for funeral ceremonies. At NtonsaMission, near Ntonsa village in the Ashanti region Ashanti is an administrative region in central Ghana. Most of the region's inhabitants are Ashanti people, one of Ghana's major ethnic groups. Most of Ghana's cocoa is grown in Ashanti, and it is also a major site of Ghana's gold-mining industry. , nearly all women areengaged in cloth dyeing. Lack of water keeps them from expanding theirbusiness. During the past session, one component of the Sasakawa Africa Fundfor Extension Education (SAFE): * Introduced pig farmers to improved meat-smoking techniques sotheir products could be sold (at much higher prices) as smoked pork. * Increased women farmers' decisionmaking options for maize maize:see corn. storage. * Trained rural women to process soybeans into dawa dawa. * Integrated beekeeping with plantation crops. * Introduced the use of woodlots to provide fuelwood for cottageindustries (Ntifo-Siaw and others 1996). Such projects not only help women farmers but also make extensionagents more aware of the possibilities for helping rural women. Cultural Constraints Strategies to advance women that directly conflict with culturalnorms and social beliefs will not be sustainable in the long run if themode of intervention is confrontational. The socioeconomic context thatputs women at a disadvantage is often disregarded at planning programsfor them. Among the Frafra people of the upper east region, for example: * The gods forbid for��bid?tr.v. for��bade or for��bad , for��bid��den or for��bid, for��bid��ding, for��bids1. To command (someone) not to do something: I forbid you to go.2. a married woman to go into a granary without herhusband's permission. * Women are not allowed to search for firewood in or around fetish fetish(fĕt`ĭsh), inanimate object believed to possess some magical power. The fetish may be a natural thing, such as a stone, a feather, a shell, or the claw of an animal, or it may be artificial, such as carvings in wood. groves, except at specified times. * Women in their menstrual menstrual/men��stru��al/ (men��stroo-al) pertaining to the menses or to menstruation. men��stru��alor men��stru��ousadj.Of or relating to menstruation. period should not go into a farm untiltheir period is over; if they do, and if there is no sacrifice to pacify pac��i��fy?tr.v. pac��i��fied, pac��i��fy��ing, pac��i��fies1. To ease the anger or agitation of.2. To end war, fighting, or violence in; establish peace in. the gods, the harvest will be poor. * Women must not eat fowl, except guinea fowl guinea fowl(gĭn`ē), common name for any of the seven species of gallinaceous birds of the family Numididae, native to Africa and Madagascar. (Iddi 1996). Rural women themselves may view such cultural constraints not asrepressive re��pres��siveadj.Causing or inclined to cause repression. , but as a valued part of their way of life. When that istrue, innovative ways must be found to introduce unconventionalstrategies that will benefit the rural community. Some successes--suchas getting a few women farmers to use animal traction Animal traction refers to the use of draft animals (also draught animals) to provide motive power for vehicles or machinery. It is believed to be the first significant non-human source of power. in a northern areaof Ghana, where it was considered culturally impossible to do so--haveled to guarded optimism that cultural barriers can be broken down(Millar 1994; Box 2.2). But one report concludes that "traditionalsocial claims and rights may be eroded e��rode?v. e��rod��ed, e��rod��ing, e��rodesv.tr.1. To wear (something) away by or as if by abrasion: Waves eroded the shore.2. To eat into; corrode. in practice, but probably onbalance to the detriment Any loss or harm to a person or property; relinquishment of a legal right, benefit, or something of value.Detriment is most frequently applied to contract formation, since it is an essential element of consideration, which is a prerequisite of a legally enforceable contract. of women" (University of Sussex 1994: 68).The report warns that women may be caught "between weakeningtraditional forms of support and security and failure to implementlegislative and other protective measures .. for economicsecurity." Social change must be encouraged, but selectively. Somestrategies, no matter how well-intentioned or carefully planned, may notbe accepted in some places. Targeting Failures When improvements do become available, women are often not targetedor they lose control over the benefits. Several authors report that whena new technoogy makes women's tasks easier and more profitable, menoften take over (Gittinger and others 1990; Saito and Weidemann 1990).Since shea nuts have become an important income-earner, for example, menare increasingly trying to get into the industry to buy and sell them inbulk, thus reducing access to shea nuts for women operating on a smallscale (University of Sussex report to ODA ODA - Open Document Architecture (formerly Office Document Architecture). 1994). And sometimesdevelopment projects make conditions worse for rural women, orstrategies designed to increase output unintentionally increasewomen's workload without appropriate compensation (Gittinger andothers 1990).Box 2.2 Changing Social Beliefs about Women: The AmasachinaSelf-Help Association in the Northern RegionIn most developing countries women's subordinate position isreinforced by social norms and values. Empowering women oftenentails a confrontation with a cultural framework that even thewomen cherish. But for women to be able to take advantage ofopportunities to improve their productive capability, some of thesecultural constraints must be eased. The Amasachina SelfHelpAssociation, an indigenous nongovernmental organization workingthroughout the northern region of Ghana, was formed in the 1960s topromote cultural and self-help development activities amonggrassroots people. (Amasachina, from Arabic, can be interpreted as"commoner," "youth," or "community.") Today there is a network oflocal Amasachina associations in villages throughout the region. AHactivities in its integrated rural development programs havecomponents for women.The association's executive secretary believes the most importantassistance to women is the loans women use to buy paddy rice orshea nuts for processing or food products to sell later when theprice is higher. Amasachina collaborates with the InternationalFund for Agricultural Development to implement its credit scheme byidentifying the poorest people, organizing them into groups, andproviding training on loan management and repayment, groupformation, conflict resolution, record keeping, and gender issues.Through training about gender issues some discriminatory socialpractices against women are being softened. Because of this, womenin some communities are now allowed to sit and discuss developmentissues with men. Through the efforts of Amasachina some barriers towomen's participation in decisionmaking are being broken down notby confrontation, but by enlightenment. It used to be taboo forwomen to plant trees; now women in groups plant woodlots. Eachcommunity has a separate men's and women's executive. The leader ofthe women, called Magazia, has significant influence in promotingthe interests of local women.Source: Amasachina Self-Help Association brochure and interviewwith the executive secretary, Issah Slifu, in Tamale. APPROACHES TO IMPROVING WOMEN'S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY Agricultural productivity is measured as the ratio of agricultural inputs to agricultural outputs. While individual products are usually measured by weight, their varying densities make measuring overall agricultural output difficult. ANDINCOME Many efforts to integrate women into development have antagonizedpolicymakers and local populations by emphasizing only the empowermentof women. It is important to reeducate re��ed��u��catealso re-ed��u��cate ?tr.v. re��ed��u��cat��ed, re��ed��u��cat��ing, re��ed��u��cates1. To instruct again, especially in order to change someone's behavior or beliefs.2. policymakers and citizens, butpeople should be helped to understand that although activities engagedin by rural women may be targeted, higher productivity and income, abetter supply of fuelwood, local processing equipment, and so on willbenefit the entire rural household. Any approach taken should emphasizean improved standard of living for all that does not threaten to destroytheir cultural traditions. "Participatory approach" is a catch-phrase in thedevelopment community for an ideal that is not often realized. Tooseldom are the voices of the people heard or their ideas acted upon. Thecurrent emphasis is on interactive "bottom-up" processes, buteven when nongovernmental organizations Transnational organizations of private citizens that maintain a consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Nongovernmental organizations may be professional associations, foundations, multinational businesses, or simply groups with a common interest in are involved that may mean thatthe beneficiary is allowed to participate in the predetermined pre��de��ter��mine?v. pre��de��ter��mined, pre��de��ter��min��ing, pre��de��ter��minesv.tr.1. To determine, decide, or establish in advance: "agenda of the intervener" (Millar 1996). "Circumstancesmust be created in which farmers' demands can be heard...Participation by women farmers is especially constrained con��strain?tr.v. con��strained, con��strain��ing, con��strains1. To compel by physical, moral, or circumstantial force; oblige: felt constrained to object.See Synonyms at force.2. by the lowstatus often accorded to them" (World Bank 1992b). Some agencieshave encouraged more local input but often only after realizing that thetop-down approach is not working (Box 2.3).Box 2.3 The Process-Oriented Approach of World Vision InternationalWorld Vision International is a Christian nongovernmentalorganization assisting rural communities in Ghana with anintegrated rural development program called the Natural ResourceManagement and Sustainable Agricultural Program. In the early yearsof its development activities in Ghana, the organization's approachwas that of a patron on whom recipients become dependent. When itdug wells and boreholes for rural communities its staff later foundthat when the pumps broke down or any other problem arose, thewells were abandoned and the people waited for someone to come andfix the problem for them. According to Dr. Opoku-Debrah, theprogram's coordinator, this taught the organizers that theirapproach was not leading to sustainable improvements. A new"process-oriented" approach was adopted, in which a staff memberstays in the village for eight weeks, discussing with the localpeople their problems and their perceptions of possible solutions.World Vision International staff now appreciate local knowledgeabout agriculture and natural resources, which makes developmentprograms more realistic, and build rapport with communities. Amember of the local community becomes the "animator" or liaisonbetween the community and project staff. Clan heads are broughtinto the decisionmaking process to ensure local cooperation. Pumpmaintenance volunteers, including women, have been trained to carryout regular maintenance, for a fee paid by the community. WorldVision International staff have seen better long-term improvementswith this approach.Source: CIIFAD 1994; WVI 1994. Working with local people yields better longterm results becausethe problem is viewed from the local perspective. Bukh describes how theattitude of rural women can make or break a project: "Women farmerswere reluctant to adopt a new hybrid maize because it tasted differentfrom the local variety and, from their view, was "harder toprepare" into kenkey and other local maize dishes. They consideredthe hybrid maize only as a cash crop and not as a food crop. The hybridwas also considered to be less resistant to pests and diseases, and moredependent on agro-chemicals, which were expensive" (Bukh 1979: 69). Improving Access to Credit Rural women in developing countries seldom have access to formalcredit. And it is often assumed (wrongly) that credit made available topoor farmers, including women, must be offered at below-market interestrates. Holt and Ribe (1991) report that most efforts to provide credithave been large-scale, formal, regulated programs that have reporteddismal results. In most cases subsidized sub��si��dize?tr.v. sub��si��dized, sub��si��diz��ing, sub��si��diz��es1. To assist or support with a subsidy.2. To secure the assistance of by granting a subsidy. credit does not reach poorfarmers, and when it does credit alone has not, by itself, generatedmore income. Some credit programs targeted to women have not been asaccessible to poorer rural women as to better-off urban or peri-urbanwomen, as Women's World Banking Women's World Banking (WWB) is a non-profit organization, based in New York, whose mission is to expand the economic assets, participation and power of low-income women entrepreneurs by helping them access financial services and information. Ltd., Ghana learned. Dameh andothers (1992) studied the degree to which the Co-operative Credit UnionAssociation was meeting the credit needs of Ghana's female members.The study made the following observations, many of which apply to othercredit programs as well: * Women do not have the same access to credit as men in the creditunion do, and the loans that women were given were too small to meettheir needs. * The policies of the revolving loan fund A Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) is a source of money from which loans are made for small business development projects. A loan is made to one person or business at a time and, as repayments are made, funds become available for new loans to other businesses. were too rigid to meetwomen's needs. * Most women lack financial management and business planning skillsand many women know very little about credit union operations andcooperative principles. * In mixed credit unions (and most were mixed), women seldomoccupied decisionmaking positions. * Fear of borrowing and being in debt was a problem for women insome areas. They asked for less than they needed, which bought toolittle input to improve their businesses. * In some credit unions men did not allow women to apply forwomen-in-development loans (set aside specifically for women members). Smaller-scale credit schemes have generally been more successfulthan larger ones, but even those have trouble assisting women,especially when programs do not specifically integrate women into theschemes. Iddi (1994) found that benefits from the Nandom Rural WomenCredit Scheme in northern Ghana included greater unity among members ofthe groups, a higher social status for women, and greater ability toimprove family welfare. Among other innovative efforts to help women getaccess to needed capital, Africa 2000 is successfully disseminating thesusu message to villagers and Ghana's Money Back program, agovernment-established insurance program based on the susu concept,provides life insurance and investment opportunities for small tomedium-size businesses (Holt and Ribe 1991; Box 2.4). Most important isfor women to start saving by themselves and in women's groups toreduce their dependence on outside assistance. Women can begin to helpthemselves, but only if they learn their own potential.Box 2.4 Enhancing Opportunities for Women in Development:Developing a Sustainable Credit Program for WomenTo ease the economic hardships endured by the Ghanaian populationas a result of the Structural Adjustment Program, the Program ofAction to Mitigate the Social Costs of Adjustment was set up in1988, with 23 assistance "packages." One project, called EnhancingOpportunities for Women in Development (ENOWID), focused onproviding credit in the mode of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank. Theproject operated in 18 districts from the Bhono Ahafo, Volta, andwestern regions of Ghana. According to ENOWID's coordinator, Mrs.Abrakwa, women are responsible for mobilizing and administering totheir own groups. Loans are given to individuals within groups, butthe group is responsible for ensuring that the loans are repaid.Loan disbursement is in full view of all members of the group soeveryone is aware of what is happening. Peer pressure has been aneffective means of achieving the high rate of repayment (estimatedto be 95 percent): the group is responsible for repaying the loanof any defaulting member. Unlike many credit programs, interest isbased on the current commercial rate in Ghana, now about 45percent. This has not been a constraint, as the women who wantcredit are taught to save and to repay on a regular schedule.(Their alternative is moneylenders who charge 100 percent to 300percent interest.) The ENOWID loan cycle is eight months. If awoman takes a loan of 100,000 cedi, for instance, she pays back130,000 cedi over a 32-week period, with payments of 4,300 cedi aweek. Even if she can pay back fully before 32 weeks she is advisedto pay back in installments to ensure that she has enough workingcapital to reinvest or to earn interest from savings. According toArdayfio-Schandorf and others (1995), ENOWID has markedly expandedwomen's income-generating capability. The project has focusedespecially on 1,800 women beneficiaries, but 4,500 women haveenjoyed some assistance. Twumasi (1993) criticized the program forreaching only a fraction of its original target of 7,200 groups,but acknowledged that return rates have been high. The coordinatormaintained that to properly supervise the groups, it has beennecessary to limit their number. As the government is ending itsfunding of the Program of Action to Mitigate the Social Costs ofAdjustment, the women's groups assisted through ENOWID are formingthemselves into an NGO with the same name to ensure that thebenefits they have enjoyed will continue. Credit should be provided to rural women in such as way that thebenefits will help them maintain their present level of production andimprove productivity and income--perhaps by extending the time ofrepayment so subsequent loans maybe unnecessary. Capital needed toembark on new income-generating activities or to expand existing ones(including livestock rearing) should be provided through credit schemes.Mechanisms for providing credit and encouraging local women'ssavings groups (such as ENOWID) should be expanded. Some local savingsand credit groups, like the susu, already exist, but most of them needtargeted training programs. Improving Access to Extension Services In the 1980s development planners realized that women farmers indeveloping countries were at a disadvantage because extension servicesdid not reach them, with either information or inputs (Box 2.5). Bagchee(1994) and others call rural women "neglected potential." TheWorld Bank (1991) suggested that to be effective agriculturaldevelopment activities should aim to: * Bring services physically closer to women. * Involve women in the formulation and management of programsaffecting them. * Make women (as individuals or in groups) the contact point fordelivering services to, and receiving feedback from, beneficiaries. Extension services are important, but an extension system is onlyas good as the technology it offers. Innovations for women should beportable, inexpensive, multifunctional, adjusted to women's sizeand strength, and locally produced. They should also be used in wayscompatible with women's other activities. Labor-saving equipmentmay give farm women enough extra time to allow them to get involved inmore remunerative activity, to devote more time to child care andnutrition, and to be more productive at traditional tasks. But not all"improved" technologies are advantageous to women. Much of thetime saved at grinding mills, for example, may be lost again travelingto the mill and standing in line for long hours. Increasing fruitproduction without providing for appropriate methods of preservation maylead to such a market glut glutpronounced as rut, slut Vox populi An excess of a service or skilled labor in a particular area. See Physician glut. that producers end up giving their produceaway to avoid waste, or carrying it home. Too often, the benefits oftraditional techniques are overlooked in efforts to improveproductivity. Mechanical peelers introduced for processing cassava metlargely with low adoption rates in small processing units because thepeelers created more waste than hand peeling did (UNIFEM 1989). Womenare reluctant to accept new technologies that are not practical and donot reduce arduous ar��du��ous?adj.1. Demanding great effort or labor; difficult: "the arduous work of preparing a Dictionary of the English Language"Thomas Macaulay.2. work and otherwise meet their needs, especially ifthey require capital investment.Box 2.5 When Technology Does not HelpProviding agro-processing equipment is a common developmentstrategy to help rural women. This has led to some significantgains in cassava processing, palm oil and soap making, and fishdrying, for individuals and groups. Ahmed (1989) found this to beso in assessing a collaborative program of assistance between aDutch-funded International Labour Organisation (ILO) project andGhana's National Council on Women and Development, through whichimproved technologies were introduced to 22 women's groups engagedin six different processing activities. But technology transfer hasoften had negative consequences for women, children, andcommunities--nowhere more so than in Africa (Stamp 1989). InSavelugu town in Ghana's northern region, women reported mixedresults. The International Fund for Agricultural Development hadhelped local women's groups get a corn mill (valued at 2.27 millioncedi) and a groundnut oil-extracting mill. The Agricultural SectorInvestment Project had helped a women's group acquire a rice millat a cost of 3.83 million cedi (Amoah 1996). The rice mill hasimproved their rice processing and the quality of the finishedrice, but the women are unable to operate the mill. The women pay ayoung man to operate the mill but he is unreliable, so the milloften does not function. The women agreed that they could learn todo it themselves, but have trouble starting the engine. The womenneed to be taught operation and maintenance so they can beindependent. No one comes to use the groundnut oil extractor,people do not like the way the equipment processes the groundnutpaste. As for the corn mill, the women complain that the machine isalways breaking down, so they spend all their profit on its repairsand have nothing left over with which to repay the loan. None ofthe equipment has brought the expected benefits. The womenappreciated the Fund's efforts but asked it to remove the corn milland the oil extractor and give them a shea nut crusher. Capacity building of local groups is now receiving significantattention. The degree to which women in Ghana have formed informalgroups varies by area. Woodford-Berger maintains that women do not seemto organize around productive activities such as farming or marketing.At the same time, she recognizes the importance of informal collectiveassociations or networks and susu groups, often church-related ororganized along lineage lines. Assisting Rural Women through Government Programs Responding to the UN Decade for Women and the call for greaterattention to women, in 1975 the government of Ghana established theNational Council on Women and Development by decree to provide anofficial focal point focal pointn.See focus. for promoting the advancement of women. Under theoffice of the president, it is directed by a 15-member council appointedby the government. Its stated functions are monitoring and evaluatingdonor programs and activities, identifying and formulating policies,managing pilot projects, and providing training. The council'sregional secretariats help women farmers by providing small revolvingloans before planting season to help pay for labor and to meet expensesuntil harvest time. It also helps groups of rural women get land fromthe local chiefs and teaches women income-generating skills, which areuseful during the off-farm season. The 31st December Women's Movement women's movement:see feminism; woman suffrage. women's movementDiverse social movement, largely based in the U.S., seeking equal rights and opportunities for women in their economic activities, personal lives, and politics. is registered as avoluntary NGO NGOabbr.nongovernmental organizationNoun 1. NGO - an organization that is not part of the local or state or federal governmentnongovernmental organization but operates more as an arm of government. Launched May15, 1982, it emphasizes the "mobilization of ordinary women to beconscious of their rights and their potential." Active in all 10regions of Ghana Ghana is divided into ten regions (capitals in parentheses): Ashanti Region (Kumasi) Brong-Ahafo Region (Sunyani) Central Region (Cape Coast) Eastern Region (Koforidua) Greater Accra Region (Accra) Northern Region (Tamale) , it has established 821 day care centers in rural andurban communities and has worked with women's groups to increasetheir income-generating capability in a wide range of production,processing, and craft activities. Another government initiative, theAgricultural Sector Investment Project, implemented through the Ministryof Food and Agriculture, helps communities and groups improveproductivity. Efforts to provide extension services to rural women are carriedout through the Women in Agricultural Development Division of theDepartment of Agricultural Extension Agricultural extension was once known as the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of extension now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organised for rural people by Services in the Ministry of Foodand Agriculture. Its responsibilities include deciding which topics tocover for rural women, especially about their crops and better use ofproduce such as soybeans (WIAD 1995). Facilitating Development through Nongovernmental Organizations Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have become an increasinglyimportant channel for development implementation. Independent ofgovernment, they are driven primarily by humanitarian, not commercial,motives. They work with government and international agencies tomobilize mo��bi��lizev.1. To make mobile or capable of movement.2. To restore the power of motion to a joint.3. To release into the body, as glycogen from the liver. local community participation or strengthen local groups. NGOinvolvement in World Bank-supported projects has risen sharply in recentyears (World Bank 1990). Similarly, the Amasachina Self-Help Association(see Box 2.2) has helped the International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment International Fund for Agricultural Development(IFAD), specialized agency of the United Nations with headquarters in Rome, Italy. IFAD grew out of the 1974 World Food Conference; it was established in 1977 and is comprised of 161 member nations. to identify and train local groups that will later benefitfrom its credit. Other NGOs, such as TechnoServe and the Sustainable Endof Hunger Foundation, implement programs more independently. Some development projects facilitated by NGOs focus oninfrastructure development. Through the Food for Work Project, forexample, ADRA ADRA Adventist Development and Relief AgencyADRA Agencia Adventista para el Desarrollo y Recursos Asistenciales (Peru)ADRA Agence Adventiste d'Aide et de D��veloppement (French)mobilized communities to embark on 250 projects between1993 and 1995--in initiatives that involved health posts, markets,roads, schools, toilets, and agroforestry. The range of NGOs and types of interventions in Ghana can only betouched on in this short report. Efforts such as the Directory forInteragency Dialogue: Women in Development--Ghana, by the Food andAgriculture Organization's Regional Office for Africa (1995b), havelisted and described the development projects that benefit women andcombine international support with local initiatives through governmentand NGOs. No one doubts NGOs' potential for facilitating localparticipation, but some NGO activities still cause concern, as expressedby Evangelische Zentralstelle fur Entwicklungshilfe E.V (EZE) (1994:35): Many NGOs are following what has been termed a "poverty approach," that is, their main activities are oriented towards improving women's and girls' immediate economic situation by projects for income generation and vocational training. Very often this becomes an end in itself without any analysis of market trends at both micro and macro level. Nor do those involved seem aware of the growing criticism in the development world of income-generation programs for women since these bring only minimal economic returns and present an extra work burden without causing any noticeable changes in gender attitudes. Providing Training One thing everyone seems to agree about is the need to train women,as a starting point Noun 1. starting point - earliest limiting pointterminus a quocommencement, get-go, offset, outset, showtime, starting time, beginning, start, kickoff, first - the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the for any development intervention. Many NGOsrecognize that their programs will face difficulties if women are notgiven training in basic business management skills; how to secure, use,and repay loans; how to use and repair unfamiliar technologies; and soon. Most women consider their profit to be the difference between whatthey pay for major inputs and what they receive for their goods; mostreport that they often spend money from what they view as profit(Ahene-Amanquanor 1996). They need traning in basic business concepts. Women in Agricultural Development has been described as weak, butit also has potential that remains to be tapped. Personnel complain ofbeing understaffed, yet underused. At the same time, the department hasthe official mandate to determine what gender-specific topics should beincluded each year in extension messages. Women in AgriculturalDevelopment and the Department of Agricultural Extension Services havedifferent opinions about how well extension agents--especially maleagents, who are in the majority---can deliver extension messages towomen about food processing and similar topics. A close look at messageson seven subjects (including crop production and protection, livestock,agroforestry, fisheries, and agricultural mechanization mechanizationUse of machines, either wholly or in part, to replace human or animal labour. Unlike automation, which may not depend at all on a human operator, mechanization requires human participation to provide information or instruction. ) that agentsconvey to farmers and groups suggests that topics important to women maynot receive the attention they deserve. Most staff favor a return to theold system of separate extension activities, which would put many femalestaff members back in permanent extension positions. The literature andexperience in other countries suggests that operating parallel extensionsystems for women would not only be economically unsustainable but wouldalso result in the staff being underused at the times women are busiestwith on-farm activities. The economic implications of two extensiongroups--one supervised by the Department of Agricultural Extension Services andthe other by Women in Agricultural Development--regularly visiting thesame place is unreasonable, but some attention can be paid to improvingextension services for rural women. Women in Agricultural Development staff in place regionally and atother levels could develop local one-day workshops for rural womenfocused on one or two topics that are important to them. Such localworkshops, repeated widely enough to reach many rural women, could beheld once a year during the off-season periods convenient to the women.Staff in one or more regions could develop a training program to beimplemented in a central place, such as a market town, for rural womenfrom surrounding villages. Women need training to improve their productivity, but trainingshould also be provided for policymakers, so they understand theimportance and advantages of addressing women's needs indevelopment programs; for program implementors in governmental agenciesand NGOs, on ways to make women's voices heard and to defineproblems and solutions with rural people; and for rural men and localelites, so they understand the benefits of involving women in thedevelopment programs. Iddi (1995b) reports on an innovative attempt byTAAP to sensitize sen��si��tizev.To make hypersensitive or reactive to an antigen, such as pollen, especially by repeated exposure. not only development staff, but also men's andwomen's groups in five communities at a one-day gender awarenessworkshop. Other training programs, whether on general businessmanagement and bookkeeping for rural women or aimed atgender-sensitizing groups, community leaders, and program developers andimplementors, could be effectively implemented through NGOs. Understanding the reasons and the way to incorporate women in allstages of interventions, from development through implementation, doesnot ensure a commitment to gender-sensitive action. As Jiggins (1995:59) maintains, "Method cannot substitute for commitment toprinciple, nor can method safeguard against the use of participation forextracting information or other forms of exploitation." It is alsoimportant to realize that women who are decisionmakers or extensionagents are not necessarily gender-sensitive, just because they arewomen. IMPROVING AGRO-PROCESSING AND STORAGE To increase the value of their products and hence their income,women need help to process and store their produce until a time when themarket price has risen above the prices paid at harvesttime. Bothgovernment and NGO field workers can help women to determine theirtechnology needs. The National Council on Women and Development could beset up a screening unit to determine needed areas of technologydevelopment and to ensure that improved methods that work in one areaare shared with other areas that could use them. INTRODUCING OR IMPROVING ALTERNATIVE INCOME-GENERATING ACTIVITIES Women are ready to take on additional activities to earn extraincome. Asked if her workload was not already excessive, one womanresponded: "It is not hard work that makes one old, it ispoverty!" The point is to be sure that the extra effort needed foran alternative income-generating activity truly improves economic andhousehold food security. One important source of emergency income in the rural areas of manycountries, including Ghana, is small livestock husbandry husbandrycareful management of e.g. animals. Implies thrifty, humane, caring. See also animal husbandry. . In mostGhanaian households, however, the few chickens, sheep, or goats aroundthe compound are not considered a reliable regular source of food andincome for the household--and the likelihood of disease killing all ofthe household's chickens or goats has been a disincentive toincreasing production, even though the market for the animals is nearlyalways favorable fa��vor��a��ble?adj.1. Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds.2. Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis.3. , especially at festival-time. There seems to be nogeneral social constraints against women in Ghana rearing small animals.There maybe local customs about particular animals, but women have otherkinds to choose from. Rural women can certainly raise small livestock ona larger scale than they do now, whatever their problems of access toland or other resources needed for crop production. But if they expandsmall-livestock production they will need more extension training aboutanimal husbandry animal husbandry,aspect of agriculture concerned with the care and breeding of domestic animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, hogs, and horses. Domestication of wild animal species was a crucial achievement in the prehistoric transition of human civilization from practices, as well as veterinary services. Before introducing new income-earning activities to women it isimportant to consider such factors as market potential, environmentalconditions, and how the activity will affect women's workload. Itis especially important to consider current access to a stable supply offuelwood and clean water and whether the new activity will require longhours to collect additional water and fuelwood. And it is essential toweigh potential health hazards associated with any agriculturalactivities. University of Sussex (1994), for example, notes thepotentially dangerous effect of head-loading. In improving the standardof living in, rural households, we must safeguard women's health Women's HealthDefinitionWomen's health is the effect of gender on disease and health that encompasses a broad range of biological and psychosocial issues. sothey live to enjoy the benefits. GENDER-SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION The effects of environmental degradation are felt acutely by ruralwomen who must spend longer hours gathering fuelwood and other nontimberforest products Nontimber forest products (NTFP) generally refer to all forest vegetation other than industrial timber products such as lumber. DefinitionsSome definitions also include small animals and insects. for fuel needed to cook meals. Enlightenment campaignscould encourage community leaders to allocate marginal lands to theestablishment of community woodlots so women can spend fewer hours andless energy finding fuelwood, hours and devote more hours to moreproductive activities. Tree planting--indigenous or exotic (Tectonagrandis or Gmelina)--should be encouraged on marginal lands. It is equally important to encourage the use of fuel-efficientcooking stoves, both for the environment and to save women's timeand energy for women. Development programs in other countries haveexperimented with various stoves; those that the women themselves canmake are the most successful. Fuel-efficient cooking stoves areespecially important in the northern areas and wherever there isextensive processing, such as fish smoking in the coastal areas.Impressive progress has been made with improved fish-smoking kilns, aneffort that needs to be more vigorously pursued elsewhere and for otheractivities. CONTINUOUSLY EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF INTERVENTIONS ON RURAL WOMEN Research into the long-term impact of interventions on conditionsfor rural women needs to be an important component of all developmentstrategies. Researchers from universities or institutes such as theCentre for Social Policy Studies and the Family and DevelopmentProgramme at the University of Ghana The University of Ghana is the oldest and largest of the five Ghanaian public universities. It was founded in 1948[1] as the University College of the Gold Coast, and was originally an affiliate college of the University of London[2] should be recruited as part of theplanning and implementation of all such interventions to continuouslymonitor their effects. Initial evaluation of the impact of interventionsshould focus on such qualitative factors as the enlightenment of partiesinvolved in development and the skills they form in the process. Generally, innovative methods and flexibility are needed to ease oreliminate social restrictions that limit women's productivity.Social restrictions previously considered impossible to overcome can berelaxed through imaginative implementation. NGOs have been somewhatsuccessful in implementing change, especially where their focus hasclearly been on helping women (rather than ensuring their own profits orsalaries). Extension agents are useful--especially for demonstratingagricultural innovations--but the local community should help identifypriority development problem areas, with the help of local NGOs. When access to finite productive resources, especially land, islimited, the most sustainable approach may be to improve profits fromcurrent production rather than try to expand. In introducing newincome-generating activities, it is important to consider how muchadditional work may be involved, and what stress may be placed on theenvironment. Will there be greater demand for fuelwood in savanna areas,for example? Will local resources provide the raw materials needed inthe long term? Interventions suitable for one place should not beautomatically imposed on all others. Edited by Shiyan ChaoTable 2.1 Who Collects Fuelwood within Households?percentage of labor FishingWho collects? Season Savanna zone villagesWomen Nonfarming period 28.6 18.2 Farming period 66.7 50.0Men Nonfarming period 42.9 -- Farming period 16.7 --Children Nonfarming period 14.3 18.2 Farming period -- --Women and children Nonfarming period -- 63.6 Farming period 16.7 50.0Other Nonfarming period 14.3 -- Farming period -- --Who collects? Season Forest zoneWomen Nonfarming period 64.3 Farming period 100.0Men Nonfarming period -- Farming period --Children Nonfarming period 14.3 Farming period --Women and children Nonfarming period 21.4 Farming period --Other Nonfarming period -- Farming period --Source: 1991/92 Ghana Living Standards Survey.