Case Study Gender Profile for Nias. Amsterdam, The Netherlands Agricultural/tree production and livestock women and men undertake a range of

Case Study

Gender Profile for Nias

Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

Agricultural/tree production and livestock

• women and men undertake a range of activities. Some done by both; others are done by men or women alone

• roles exclusively undertaken by women are domestic labour and childcare, and as a result women work up to five hours longer than men.

• women commonly run local market stalls. They sell excess fruit or vegetables, home-made cakes and sweets, and salted fish. Women have the role of drying and salting fish.

• men exclusively fish and sell fresh fish. Waged employment is also dominated by men


Agricultural/tree production and livestock• rubber and cocoa are major export crops and important

income sources.

• women are involved in cultivation, and have a central role in drying and basic processing of cocoa beans. In fishing communities, women dominate both the rubber and the cocoa sectors

• both women and men sell this produce to the local traders although women have a greater role in the fishing communities as the men are often absent when the traders visit the villages.

• in Christian communities, pigs are a major household asset and have great social and cultural importance. Women have the sole responsibility for managing all aspects of pig rearing.


Asset ownership & control• most women have joint ownership of household assets with

their husbands, and may discuss their use.

• however, men usually have the final decision-making control on the use, and/or disposal, of all household assets including land, the major productive asset for most households.

• in Christian communities, women are considered to be the owners of the pigs. However, the control over this asset lies with the men.

• all cash coming into the household is controlled by men. Women are in charge of daily budgeting for household needs. Any purchases of significant value, however, must be made with their husbands’ approval.


Mobility• women go to their fields and gardens, some walking up to

seven kilometres each way.

• they also travel, usually with other women, to the local markets in their own or neighbouring villages.

• their movements are normally discussed with their husbands or fathers, who would know and approve their whereabouts.

• in most cases, men are more mobile than women. They have opportunities for paid employment, go out fishing and have more access to and control over transport, making it easier for them to travel outside of their village.


Community decision-making• in Indonesia, the husband or father is the legal head of the

household and is called on for any official matters.

• at the village level in Nias, community formal decisions will be made at public meetings

• these are primarily attended by men, as the representatives of their households

• women may attend these meetings, although their attendance is not encouraged by men, as their domestic work is considered the priority

• meetings are often in the late afternoon.


Community decision-making (cont’d)

• when women do attend meetings, they have a limited role to play, as men dominate discussions.

• men commonly assert that women could contribute if they had something “relevant” to contribute

• women are often actively discouraged by men from speaking up

• Additionally, some women do not feel confident enough to participate in public forums, and may not have anything to contribute, as they have limited education.


Domestic violence

• domestic violence is an issue, for example husbands become very angry and hit their wives if they spend money without their husbands’ approval.

• it’s not widely acknowledged nor documented. It’s considered a “private” issue

Case Study

Nias Livelihoods Programme


Background• The December 2004 tsunami affected the west coast of Nias

island

• An earthquake, 3 months later, caused significant damage and loss of life across the island. 700 people were killed, over 13,000 families displaced, and many roads, ports, markets, schools and other public buildings damaged or destroyed.

• Nias was already experiencing significant levels of underdevelopment and poverty, compared to other areas of Indonesia

• This case study concerns a post-tsunami/earthquake livelihoods programme


Background• the programme was primarily based on an initial three-day

assessment to one fishing community. Only household heads were consulted; no were women were met. No gender analysis was conducted

• the Livelihoods Programme field team consisted of six men and only two women.

• male field staff were uncomfortable working with groups of women

• the programme was also based on a Household Economy Assessment, which was not sex disaggregated, and an AusAid study which described Nias men as the ‘tree based’ farmers, particularly rubber and cocoa, and women as being focused on domestic activities, pig-rearing and growing vegetables.


Overall Context: Nias Island• Population: 715,000 people. 85% Christian, and 15% Muslim

• mostly rural: 91% of women and 83% of men involved in primary production activities: fishing, rice-farming, pig-rearing (in Christian communities), and cultivation of cash crops such as coconuts, cocoa and rubber


The programme• In December 2005, the Nias Livelihoods Programme was

established with two aims:

• to increase the incomes of 1,500 vulnerable rural households which were dependent on cocoa and rubber farming, through providing resources, including both direct inputs, and training;

• to enable women and men to access credit for small enterprise and farming businesses by establishing micro-credit groups.


The rubber and cocoa programme• programme support targeted household heads i.e., men.

They received almost all agricultural inputs and training.

• less than 5% of trainees, such as for grafting and caring for rubber and cocoa seeds/trees, were women

• some women reported that their husbands had passed on the content of the training; though this was an exception

• cocoa seeds and rubber grafts suffered from a high rate of fungal attack resulting in large failures in the programme


The Livelihood micro-credit groups• women were specifically targeted to join the groups based

on an assumption that women had restricted mobility due to childcare and domestic responsibilities, and only worked in and around the home.

• most women invested their loans in low-income activities e.g. cake making, sewing and embroidery (some women’s groups were advised that they could only choose between sewing and cake making).

• these activities did not provide enough income to allow the women to stop other income-generating activities, meaning women worked another 2-3 hours per day, on average, due to the programme


The Livelihood micro-credit groups• many of the women’s livelihood groups were not as

successful as the men’s groups in areas such as repayment of loans, record keeping and group management.

• men were able to earn more as they focused on higher paying livelihoods activities (e.g., fishing and fish selling) in which they already worked, thereby not increasing their workloads.

• support to purchase pigs and training in their health care was provided predominantly to men. Though women are traditionally responsible for pig rearing, they comprised only 14% of pig-rearing livelihood groups, with one group having no women members at all.

Documents

Case Study Gender Profile for Nias. Amsterdam, The Netherlands Agricultural/tree production and livestock women and men undertake a range of