Rural women in developing countries make significant contributions to forestry and agriculture. Still, cultural and organizational barriers prevent them from taking up leadership positions in natural resource management. Photo: Marie-Claude Simard
They are every day images of rural Asia or Africa: women working hard in a field or rice paddy, collecting kindling for a fire, pounding grain into flour, selling crops by a dusty road, or taking them home in a string basket for the family meal. According to the FAO, women account for more than 50 per cent of the workforce necessary to produce the food consumed in developing countries.
They are involved in every facet of agriculture.
Except one: making the decisions.
According to Jeannette Gurung, women are expected to do all the hard work in growing food, receive peanuts in return, and remain in the kitchen, away from the decision-making process.
“Too often, women farmers tend to be beasts of burden, doing the hard work of harvesting and trading natural products, but without reaping the benefits and being able to make decisions”, said Gurung, the Director of Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management (WOCAN).
Gurung’s comments came while visiting CIFOR’s regional office in Yaoundé, Cameroon, as part of WOCAN’s September launch of its activities in West and Central Africa. WOCAN is a global network that promotes gender equality in agriculture and natural resources management by collaborating with governments, NGOs, universities, international organizations and civil society groups.
According to Gurung, women in the rural sector come up against all kinds of barriers and practices.
“Take for instance Asia and parts of Africa,” Gurung says “Where women can not inherit land insufficient access to market information, gender bias and workload are other barriers that prevent rural women from getting better returns on their investment.”
“Not only rural women have difficulties with having their voices heard. Professional women in natural resources organizations tell me about their frustrations of not being able to influence policies that affect their sisters in the field.”
In addition to launching WOCAN’s activities for the region, Gurung was also visiting CIFOR on the basis of the partnership agreement (MOU) recently signed between the two institutions. Under the MOU, CIFOR is hosting and assisting in coordinating the regional hub of WOCAN’s platform.
WOCAN and CIFOR are perfect partners, according to CIFOR’s Central Africa Regional Coordinator Cyrie Sendashonga.
“CIFOR supports this initiative because we believe gender awareness is crucial in any sustainable development initiative. Especially in West and Central Africa, where women play a central role in food production”, Sendashonga explains. “When fighting against rural poverty, we can not leave a crucial resource, women’s knowledge, untapped.”
Jeannette Gurung: “WOCAN organizes trainings for professional and rural women to build women champions. We also advocate at national and international level for greater benefits and decision making power for rural women.”
Activities of the partnership in West and Central Africa include workshops in Ghana and Cameroon and identifying case studies to present at the upcoming UN Commission on Sustainable Development. WOCAN’s activities in Africa get financial support from Heifer International and the New Field Foundation.