Roll up Your Sleeves: Why Is It Important to Highlight Gender in Agriculture?

Gender and poverty combine to put a burden on the status of women farm workers. On top of that, women’s contribution in agriculture, albeit important to the overall agricultural chain, is commonly overlooked. This study looked into the time-use of women in agriculture, relative to men in the largest rice producing community in the Philippines. The methodology included key informant interviews of nine women, a survey questionnaire to a total of 159 individuals form the farming household, and a time-motion study of women’s work in raising livestock during a whole day. The data revealed that women are involved in all aspects of the agricultural production although there is a differentiation in the time allocation between the men and female farmers. Women worked 2.6 hours per day on the average compared with 6 hours per day for men. Statistical analysis also showed that women’s work in the home is not lessened even as she devotes more time on the field. Hence, she experiences double burden. More than half of the women (60%) stated that they do not own the land, in contrast to only 29.6% among the men. The study supports that gender matters and males dominate on decisions regarding crop production (usually a man’s decision), usage of money earned from activities, and in the determination of the purpose of livestock. However, women provide labor and take direction. From this perspective perspective, this study highlights the role of women and their contribution to agriculture, ultimately supporting the need for agricultural statistics to include gender and not be gender-blind