Summary
African women farmers make up a significant
portion of the agricultural workers in Africa but yet face lower productivity
outcomes from their farms in comparison to their male competition. Ethiopia,
Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda were six of the countries that were
used in a report that observed the extreme differences in male and female
farmer production and why these differences occurred. This gender gap issue has
brought attention to women’s land rights being secured and women’s accessibility
to have hired labor as a means to narrow the gap. The story goes on to share
how two-thirds of Africa’s citizens livelihood rely on farming and that if
women were given equal resources to advance in their farm productivity, how
much of a impact it would leave on so many millions of people who go hungry
every day. Other points that have been
made pertaining to the solution of the gender gap has been related to
government getting involved to invest in agriculture, more specifically its’
women farmers, by looking at key policies that will effectively improve their
work ethic such as but not limited to: providing training to women’s need,
enhancing women’s use of equipment to reduce amount of labor work on their
farm, providing community based-child care centers, encouraging women to use
high quality fertilizers, and developing better educational levels in female
farmers.
Analysis
This
gender gap has not only caused discrepancies among female farmers of Africa but
has been a general pattern across the world as women have not been provided
with equal access to resources like male farmers, which puts them at a disadvantage.
But Africa in particular is facing direct impact to families from this form of
inequality as it affects the family’s household income potentials, the amount
of food that is produced to feed growing families, and creates an injustice to the
women of the families. I have to agree
with the statement that was made how this issue really hinders the economic
growth & food security of the continent as well as employment/business opportunities
that could arise for the youth population entering the job sector. As mentioned before, this problem is not just
one affecting Africa but other countries around the world as well and if the
governments of these countries, especially Africa’s, don’t step up and consider
the key policies towards necessary improvements then they could eventually see
detrimental backfires on their stubborn decisions to ignore the larger issue
that is at stake.
Published: March 18th, 2014
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201403191389.html
No comments:
Post a Comment