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I used to think the gender gap existed only in Africa, but soon learned that it exists in the western world as well. I realized that STEM fields the world over have fewer participating women compared to men in technical fields that for decades have been deemed to be a man's playing field. And the agricultural sector is one field that predominantly constitutes STEM disciplines.
This realization gave me a slightly different, more broadened view on the impact of the gender gap in Africa's agriculture. Firstly, unlike in the western world where in the midst of a similar gender gap, agricultural production and productivity still thrives, in Africa food production is marked by labour intensive processes existing mostly at the bottom of the agricultural value chain. And this is the level where women participate most. Up the value chain, as Madalitso Chidumo alluded to, fewer women exist. This clearly points to a leadership issue. And this is the nature of the gap that exists in the western world too (culturally embedded) though our counterparts have found solace in technology and high throughput methods of agriculture which have mitigated the effects of the gender gap.
We on the other hand not only battle with the" women in leadership" challenge but the inadequacy of modern technology in agriculture. The second dimension that my realization made apparent to me is that the definition of women empowerment in many African countries is not empowerment in the true sense. Yes the gap has been identified, and yes interventions have been devised and applied to various African communities but results have been often short-lived because these are probably not the most appropriate interventions. Interventions to the gender gap thus far have focused more on handouts such as supplying women with capital to run agri-businesses, encouraging them to form groups sometimes under male leadership in order to qualify for funding, providing them with already developed seed varieties to test on their land and hopefully adopt etc. Whereas this does produce some favourable results, these are not sustainable .
Take for instance the last example, where improved seed is supplied to them for planting, yes good yields maybe realized for a time but in the long run , when that seed variety succumbs to the many vagaries of agriculture, who will supply the next good variety? Do we wait for another donor to do this? is it not more sustainable to train the African girl the science of developing new seed varieties for longer term results rather than attempt to continuously supply her mother with donor sourced seed? I
n short, more sustainable interventions should emphasize on equipping the women with the skills to effect improved production and productivity rather than just supplying the end product. Finally, because of the lower levels women occupy in the agricultural sector, it is not uncommon to find many of them in many African countries specializing in marginalized crops.
For instance in southern Africa, many women specialize in pulses and legumes because for cereals like maize and wheat, they simply cannot compete for the market with the seed companies or the commercial farmers who obviously use hybrid seed coupled with modern technology and obtain great yields. Therefore, marginalized crops would be a great niche within which to develop the capacity of these women and girls and will not only serve the purpose of developing their leadership skills in agriculture but will promote the desperately needed crop diversification in countries like Zambia and others.
WIthin the sector of marginalized crops, we are meeting the women right in their play ground to build their capacity and this will gradually close the gender gap in leadership within the agricultural sector .
BUILD CAPACITY WITHIN THEIR NICHE TO CLOSE THE GENDER GAP
Soumis par Chapwa Kasoma le lun, 19/06/2017 - 06:05 Permalien
I used to think the gender gap existed only in Africa, but soon learned that it exists in the western world as well. I realized that STEM fields the world over have fewer participating women compared to men in technical fields that for decades have been deemed to be a man's playing field. And the agricultural sector is one field that predominantly constitutes STEM disciplines.
This realization gave me a slightly different, more broadened view on the impact of the gender gap in Africa's agriculture. Firstly, unlike in the western world where in the midst of a similar gender gap, agricultural production and productivity still thrives, in Africa food production is marked by labour intensive processes existing mostly at the bottom of the agricultural value chain. And this is the level where women participate most. Up the value chain, as Madalitso Chidumo alluded to, fewer women exist. This clearly points to a leadership issue. And this is the nature of the gap that exists in the western world too (culturally embedded) though our counterparts have found solace in technology and high throughput methods of agriculture which have mitigated the effects of the gender gap.
We on the other hand not only battle with the" women in leadership" challenge but the inadequacy of modern technology in agriculture. The second dimension that my realization made apparent to me is that the definition of women empowerment in many African countries is not empowerment in the true sense. Yes the gap has been identified, and yes interventions have been devised and applied to various African communities but results have been often short-lived because these are probably not the most appropriate interventions. Interventions to the gender gap thus far have focused more on handouts such as supplying women with capital to run agri-businesses, encouraging them to form groups sometimes under male leadership in order to qualify for funding, providing them with already developed seed varieties to test on their land and hopefully adopt etc. Whereas this does produce some favourable results, these are not sustainable .
Take for instance the last example, where improved seed is supplied to them for planting, yes good yields maybe realized for a time but in the long run , when that seed variety succumbs to the many vagaries of agriculture, who will supply the next good variety? Do we wait for another donor to do this? is it not more sustainable to train the African girl the science of developing new seed varieties for longer term results rather than attempt to continuously supply her mother with donor sourced seed? I
n short, more sustainable interventions should emphasize on equipping the women with the skills to effect improved production and productivity rather than just supplying the end product. Finally, because of the lower levels women occupy in the agricultural sector, it is not uncommon to find many of them in many African countries specializing in marginalized crops.
For instance in southern Africa, many women specialize in pulses and legumes because for cereals like maize and wheat, they simply cannot compete for the market with the seed companies or the commercial farmers who obviously use hybrid seed coupled with modern technology and obtain great yields. Therefore, marginalized crops would be a great niche within which to develop the capacity of these women and girls and will not only serve the purpose of developing their leadership skills in agriculture but will promote the desperately needed crop diversification in countries like Zambia and others.
WIthin the sector of marginalized crops, we are meeting the women right in their play ground to build their capacity and this will gradually close the gender gap in leadership within the agricultural sector .