Deep Roots

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in the national agendas by identifying gaps and opportuni-

ties to promote a shift towards a more equal and balanced

development”

is achieved, we urgently need a paradigm

shift to support ecological systems of food production.

This shift is described by the United Nations Conference

on Trade and Development in its Trade and Environment

Review 2013 as “a rapid and significant shift from conven-

tional, monoculture-based and high external-input-dependent

industrial production towards mosaics of sustainable, regen-

erative production systems that also considerably improve the

productivity of small-scale farmers.”

Women in family farming

The inclusion of the objective to “achieve the recognition

of the role of women in family farming and of their specific

rights” in the 2014 IYFF is a welcome one. But such recog-

nition should be anchored on clarifying, examining and

critiquing the unequal gender division of labour in family

farming and the discrimination farming women face in society.

Women belong to farming families whose access to land is

limited or threatened as land and resources are consolidated and

controlled by the rich, landlords and corporations. Under condi-

tions of class and caste inequality, the discrimination of women

is intensified. Farming women’s multiple burdens on account of

their responsibilities in the farm and in the family are exacerbated

by their lack of access to land, seeds and credit as well as access

to trainings and organizing as women food producers.

Moreover, there is growing outmigration of men from

rural areas, leading to a rise in the number of women-headed

households in many regions and countries. According to the

International Fund for Agricultural Development, “female-

headed households are particularly disadvantaged when it

comes to land access”.

Other sources indicate that female-

headed households “where female heads are single, divorced

or widowed are more likely to be poor than those with support

from adult males.”

On top of poverty, lack of access to resources and multi-

ple burdens, women are vulnerable to violence within and

outside the home. The World Health Organization states that

“35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either

intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in

their lifetime.”

Women in family farming play significant roles in food

security, ensuring food production, economic access to avail-

able food and nutritional security. However, this significant

contribution is often not recognized; and they are denied

opportunities to decide for themselves and to be heard. This

non-recognition of women’s contribution and their marginali-

zation in community affairs and decision-making are rooted

in the dominant culture that considers women as weak and

subservient to men. This culture denies women the right to

live a life free from harm and violence and denies them the

opportunity to achieve their full human potential.

It is essential that the concept of family farming be strength-

ened to include women’s struggles, and to address the issues

of their disempowerment and the increasing female-headed

households in many countries. Governments and institutions

need to recognize women’s contributions, and to initiate and

support policies and programmes that empower women to

have access to land and needed resources, including promot-

ing ecological agriculture.

In the face of ongoing discrimination and exploitation,

women continue to advocate for decent livelihood to ensure

the survival of their families and communities. They continue

to organize and struggle for their rights and for social and

economic justice.

Collaborating with rural women’s organizations and

people’s movements, Pesticide Action Network Asia and the

Pacific (PAN AP) works to strengthen rural women’s leader-

ship in campaigns and policy advocacy, and helps build rural

women’s capacity to assert their rights. Through PAN AP’s

capacity building and training, the understanding and skills

in food security and sovereignty and ecological agriculture of

rural women’s organizations and their members have been

enriched. Such understanding enables rural women to raise

and address gender issues in programmes, projects and other

efforts geared towards achieving sustainable livelihoods and

building community resilience.

PAN-AP’s leadership training for rural women has been

ongoing for the past seven years. It is now named the ‘Irene

Fernandez Leadership Training for Rural Women’ in honour

of a remarkable woman leader who initiated this training

and inspired PAN AP to systematically develop rural women

leaders. The training programme includes sessions on femi-

nism, globalization and food security, caste and class, and

leadership, and utilizes interactive methods such as sharing

experiences, exercises, games, discussions, role playing and

inputs. Timely assessment by teams of participants provides

the fine tuning of daily sessions to ensure better understanding

and participation of the rural women. A strategy discussion

outlines the follow-up to the workshop by participants and

PAN AP’s capacity building sessions in Sarawak, Malaysia help indigenous

communities learn how to map and document their native customary lands

Image: PAN AP

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