The Rural Woman’s Contribution to Our Economy
by Adewole Rukayat
Women in both developing and developed countries play an active role in the world and the rural economy. Report highlights that 70% of the world’s poor population reside in rural areas. And more than two-thirds of the 796 million illiterates in the world are women, many of whom live in rural areas. In developing countries, agriculture remains the major source of employment for women.
These women constitute an average of 43% of the agricultural workforce. Their participation in the agricultural sector is of vital importance, since they contribute to a great extent, the eradication of poverty and hunger. They also grant access to universal education and overall, sustainable development.
However, this contribution is diminished by different factors such as discrimination and gender stereotypes, which have repercussions in the lives of women and the agricultural sector. They make it impossible for these women to access the productive resources and services they need to achieve higher performance.
Sustainable and authentic rural development cannot fail to have women as protagonists. Also, efforts in that direction will be impossible to ignore. The truth is that this statement should be self-evident, especially since women make up more than half of the agricultural labor force. They are also responsible for most of the food production of farm households, low-income, and food-deficit countries. Based on an estimate by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nation (FAO), about two-thirds of the female workforce and more than 90 percent in many African countries are engaged in agriculture.
Women and Rural development
The importance of women in the development of the future of a country has been evidenced over the years. According to the FAO, numerous studies indicate that providing sources of income for women has a direct effect on the health and education of children. Therefore, harnessing the potential of women is essential to achieving rural development.
Where there are economically and socially autonomous women, there is a powerful vector of change. In rural areas of the developing world, women occupy a central place in agricultural activity. As agriculture moves from large subsistence to an income-generating activity, and from being traditional to more modern, the rural sector is likely to experience the development of livelihoods and opportunities.
Better access to knowledge and tools means more productive agriculture, and this increased productivity on farms means more resources for education, health, and other areas. Through women empowerment, communities can drive economic growth, fight hunger, and lift themselves out of poverty. However, the inequalities between women and men hinder the realization of the potential of the woman.
The potential of women improving rural development does not necessarily occur naturally. Here are five avenues to ensure that rural women help lead and fully participate in rural development:
1. Education and Training
To achieve a broad and lasting improvement in the environmental and economic sphere, a better condition is needed, especially by women. Given the high illiteracy rate among rural women, there should be training courses on new skills, such as first aid, food processing, and sewing. This creates opportunities to obtain more income. Basic education of women, with an emphasis on mastery of arithmetic, reading, writing, information and communication technologies (ICT), business management, marketing, and methods of sustainable production (non-agriculture and agricultural) are also necessary. It is vital to use these learning methods to strengthen the skills of rural women relating to the exercise of responsibility and their self-confidence.
2. Increase Opportunities
Offering more employment opportunities to women in and out of agricultural work can contribute to the growth of rural economies as a whole. Rural women face several problems in improving their livelihoods. Therefore, they should be empowered to develop income-generating activities such as nurseries, poultry farming, aquaculture, or tailoring, and business and financial management skills (including the importance of savings). Leadership can help challenge traditional perceptions that impede the full participation of women.
3. Employment and Entrepreneurship
Rural women especially the younger ones have fully understood the possibilities that open in the diversification of the economy in their territories, through activities that complement agriculture and livestock; such as rural tourism, ecotourism, agrotourism, tourism of experience, crafts and crafts, as well as the transformation of indigenous product, agri-food sector, among others. Therefore, there is a need to provide development by launching an advisory program for the female entrepreneur, particularly concerning the marketing and internationalization of its product.
4. Incorporation of equal opportunity in the design of promotion policies
Agricultural policies can play an important role to close the gender gap in societies’ rural areas, thus strengthening women’s access to resources productive, rural services, infrastructure, counseling, economic opportunities, and protection social. Other affirmative actions include providing vulnerable rural women with subsidized land, seeds, and training. To ensure that agricultural policies address gender issues more explicitly, the government and developmental organizations must sensitize those responsible for agricultural policies on the needs and capacities of rural women as economic agents.
5.Make women’s voice heard and have greater representation
Finally, young rural women need to have a greater voice in the decision-making processes that affect them. Cultural norms can restrict the participation of women and girls, meaning that their specific needs are rarely heard or taken into account. Consequently, the challenges they face are often not addressed. However, increasing young women’s self-confidence, training in public speaking and leadership, strengthening rural youth organizations, and establishing a minimum level of representation in policy dialogues are all ways to ensure that rural women voices are more likely to be heard. Also, these rural women can effectively be agents of change for rural development.
Conclusion
If we are to achieve sustainable rural development, rural young women must be at the forefront of change. Empirical data shows that women contribute significantly to the rural economy. They have more domestic responsibilities than men and the income they generate supports family development. This phenomenon has truly positive consequences in terms of contribution to economic growth, sustainable development, creation of human capital, and social well-being in the world.
