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Guidelines for Promoting
Gender Mainstreaming
[Agriculture]
—Understanding Gender-Responsive Activities:
Why and How—
February 2015
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
1
PART I Introduction
Understanding Gender-Responsive Activities: Why and How
Being gender-responsive is not for negative check but for achieving original project goals in a positive way.
The guidelines aim to explain the basics of incorporating gender perspectives in formulating
and implementing agricultural and rural development projects and facilitate their practice. But WHY
should gender perspectives be incorporated? Let’s begin with the reasons for that.
Section 1: Are Good Techniques Accepted by Anyone?
Let’s take an easy-to-understand example of agricultural technology development and extension.
There was a project to establish techniques to improve rice cultivation in a country where 80% of
people were engaged in rice farming. Methods used in general were broadcast sowing or transplanting
old seedlings randomly and deeply with brute force. Partly due to these methods, yield per unit area
remained at a low level. Therefore, the project’s experts and counterparts introduced a method to plant
young seedlings shallowly at regular intervals in a line along a rope, and taught the method to
extension officers, who spread it to farmers. The method was checkrow planting, which, as you know,
was the generally used method to improve yield before rice cultivation was mechanized in Japan.
General random planting Checkrow planting introduced
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
2
However, the checkrow planting did not spread much. Why? The project team asked farmers who
was instructed by an extension officer in an irrigation district as one of the extension targets. Many
farmers appreciated the technique, saying, “With checkrow planting, seedlings grow uniformly, which
makes weeding easier,” but some of them did not put it into practice. Why? An expert questioned the
counterparts, “Checkrowing definitely increase the workload but extension officers are supposed to tell
farmers that it would lead to greater returns.” Farmers agreed that they heard it during technical and
other training.
Then, one woman blurted: “That method not only takes time but also demands attention to
plant seedlings neatly. In the rice planting season, all households lack manpower and cannot
spend much time on a rice paddy. That’s why I didn’t do that. But I didn’t know that it makes
such a difference.”
In fact, transplanting rice seedlings has traditionally been assumed by women in that country, as
depicted in the photograph shown earlier (Did you notice that?), while weeding, which checkrow
planting makes easier, has been performed by men. If you take that into account, you will not be
surprised to hear the different comments on one technique. The project team had seen and known
gender roles in rice farming, but never directly listened to women who plant rice seedlings. It was only
then when the team looked at the faces of “farmers” who had attended gatherings and told stories to
realize that they were all men.
“I assumed that if I train heads of households, the technique will be spread to all family members,”
confessed the extension officer in charge. “I also thought that some technical issues may be difficult for
housewives to understand.”
Don’t You Have Expectations or Preconceptions?
This story suggests that you may have expectations (e.g., “If you develop a good technique,
everyone will accept it,” “If you train the head of a household, the information will naturally be spread to
other family members”) or preconceptions (e.g., “Technical knowledge are difficult for women to
understand so that it should be imparted to men,” “Training should be attended by heads of
households”). Not only the project team as a mediator but also the farmers as the project target might
have such expectations and preconceptions.
!!!!!
!!!!!
!!! ・・・。
!!!!
!!! Team members find themselves among men.
Where are women?
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
3
(By courtesy of Yoko Harada)
In the first place, any techniques, no matter how effective they are, will not be accepted if they
are not user-friendly, won’t they? The project was disseminating labor-intensive rice cultivation
techniques to increase yield while reducing fertilizer and agrochemical input for smallholders
under the motto of “pro-poor technique.” In other words, the project divided numerous rice farms into
multiple segments from an economic perspective, and disseminated selected techniques that seemed
the most effective and acceptable for smallholders. In that sense, the project team might have believed
that what they were doing was user-conscious technique development.
In this case, however, was it proper to assume that users of the technique were smallholders?
Although how and to what degree men and women are involved in agriculture differs between countries,
agriculture must be based on division of roles between fathers and mothers in most cases. When
identifying users of a technique, men and women are the most basic and clearest segments. These
segments are more basic than economic segments. That must be the case with everyday life. What
fathers do and think may be different from what mothers do and think in most cases, albeit some
exceptions. If you review your own life, you may also recognize gender roles. If you realize such
differences in roles and comments and respond to both comments from men and comments from
women or to comments of greater significance, you can make a technique more user-friendly and
acceptable, or in other words, have positive effect in achieving the goal of a project that intends to
extend techniques. Don’t you think that it’s matter-of-course as you hear that?
We must first get rid of our expectations and preconceptions. To that end, it is very effective to
think from the gender perspective.
How did the project turn out with gender awareness?
With the aforementioned argument about rice planting, the project focused on gender roles in rice
cultivation (Figure 1) and gender differences in comments on individual techniques.
As the head of my
household, I can’t say
that I don’t know.
The wife doesn’t seem to
be educated. I should
hear from the man.
Oh no! What my husband is
saying are all lies. He’s never
done the work and he’s not
interested in what I’m doing.
Do not make a judgement
based on preconceptions
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
4
Figure 1 Gender roles in rice cultivation
Task Men Women
Plowing ◎
Raising
seedlings
○ ○
Paddy
preparation
◎
Removing
waste
◎
Uprooting
seedlings
◎
Transplanting ◎
Weeding
(mechanical)
◎
Weeding
(manual)
○ ◎
Harvesting ○ ○
Threshing ◎
Post-harvest
processing
(winnowing,
hulling,
milling)
◎
Then, the project improved each technique by taking into account comments from the side as
the key performer of the task, as summarized in Figure 2. For instance, with respect for what women
said, line markers, which draw grid lines on rice fields in advance instead of pulling a rope for each line,
were introduced to save labor in checkrow planting. The new technique allowed anyone, regardless of
the individual speed of planting, to plant seedlings at his or her own pace, and complete checkrow
planting in less than half of the time required when all women line up side by side to plant seedlings.
Thus, the project succeeded in gaining support for checkrow planting from women, who used to
consider it as bothersome.
Technique taking into account user needs
Wife:
This is easy. I think
I can carry it on.
Husband: Even I, who
usually don’t plant
seedlings, can do this.
Raising seedlings
Plowing
Uprooting seedlings
Paddy preparation
Weeding
Threshing
Harvesting
Winnowing
Who are doing
the task, men
or women?
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
5
Figure 2 Examples of techniques improved in response to comments from male/female users
Gender difference in comments on technique Technique improved in response to comments
Raiding seedlings with roll mats
Line marker for transplanting
Labor-saving weeder
Tilling green manure
Winnower for winnowing
1. Seedlings (Customarily, women uproot seedlings.)
- Men say: The PAPRIZ-method beds can produce better quality seedlings.
- Women say: It demands attention to uproot seedlings without damaging the roots. Seedlings with soil attached to the roots are heavy, so bringing them to the paddies is bothersome.
Consequently introduced technique: In response to women’s comments, roll mat beds, which are
lightweight, easy to carry, and won’t damage the roots, were introduced.
2. Transplanting (Customarily, women transplant seedlings.)
- Men say: With checkrow planting, seedlings grow uniformly, which makes weeding easier.
- Women say: It not only takes time but also demands attention to plant seedlings neatly.
Consequently introduced technique: Line markers, which allow anyone to plant seedlings neatly at a rate severalfold faster than when planting along ropes
3. Weeding (Men weed with a weeder while women weed manually.)
- Men say: Simple task. Just push and push with brute force.
- Women (widows) say: With no men in my family, I have to weed by myself when I can’t afford to pay for the work. It’s backbreaking and damages my back.
Consequently introduced technique: Weeders that even women can push effortlessly
4. Fertilizer (Men make and transport manure.)
- Women say: With manure, seedlings grow better. And it doesn’t take money. We should use it.
- Men say: Manure making is heavy physical work. It’s hard to find materials. It’s also difficult to transport the bulky stuff from my barn to my rice field.
Consequently introduced techniques: Legume green manuring in rice fields; Manure making beside the
field
5. Winnowing (Women winnow rice.)
- Men say: Winnowing with wind is easy. You don’t need a machine.
- Women say: Cannot finish winnowing if the wind doesn’t blow. Consequently introduced techniques:
Winnowers; fanning mills that separate the rice from husks, unfilled husks and waste
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
6
Additionally, the project promoted sharing of technique and knowledge by inviting both a man and
a woman from each household, including the head of each household and his or her spouse, parent or
child. In training sessions, all participants were instructed to perform tasks, regardless of gender roles.
That allowed both men and women to understand the meaning of the improved techniques, whether or
not they are in charge of the task that uses the technique, and consequently ensured that more farmers
than ever would practice the techniques. The project also received evaluation feedback from men and
women on usability of the techniques during training or in-the-field guidance to further improve the
techniques.
These efforts facilitated the achievement of the intended purpose of the project. Additionally,
some households saw changes; the traditional division of tasks between men and women was
reviewed to use manpower of the families more effectively. To take some examples, farmers came
to share the workload in transplanting that used to be performed only by women although
transplanting is one of the tasks requiring the greatest labor input in rice cultivation and men began to
perform winnowing, which women used to do little by little as they waited for wind, all at one time with
the introduction of a winnower as an agricultural tool for winnowing.
As men and women experienced all tasks in training, they realized the burden of tasks that they
used to leave to their partners. “My wife did such a hard labor. I should help her a little.” “I used to think
that it’s men’s work, but maybe I am more suited for it once I get the knack.”
Now, do you have better understanding of WHY the gender perspective is required for agriculture
and rural development? You can get much closer to the goal if you know the division of tasks and take
into account comments from men and women separately in the cases where both men and women are
clearly involved like the example of rice cultivation.
Husbands and wives receiving training and experiencing tasks together
Effective division of
tasks in a household
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
7
Section 2: What Is Control?
Next story is that even a project where involvement of men and that of women is not seen as
apparent as division of tasks can work out better if the project team become aware of their
involvement and accordingly take measures. The keyword is “control,” that is, the difference in the
scope of the decision-making power of men and women in agriculture or everyday life. Let’s start
with stories based on episodes from three real projects, and think about control.
Pitfall of featuring women
In an island state A, men mostly go out to sea for fishing or shipping to make a living while women
remain on the island to take care of the house. Under such circumstances, a project was set up to
increase household income by enabling women left on the island to cultivate vegetables. The project
creatively developed training contents and materials that were easy to understand for women, so that
the number of women engaged in vegetable cultivation increased. As the project aimed to increase
income, the project sold vegetables to hotels and the capital island with high needs for vegetables, and
the vegetables sold quite well. However, after a period of time following the launch of the sales, women
stopped growing vegetables one after another. Why?
What happened in the women agriculture project aimed to increase income?
Experts asked women the reason why they stopped farming, and all women said in chorus:
“Our husbands decide how to use the household income. If we sell vegetables and earn cash,
we cannot spend it as we like. So we came to find it ridiculous to continue it.”
As long as they don’t sell vegetables, they can use vegetables as ingredients for family food as
they like. Selling vegetables seems like using women as manpower. First of all, on the planning stage,
the project got an idea of letting women play a central role with the assumption that women remained
on the island to take care of the house, i.e., they had nothing to do compared with men. However,
experts visited the island as the project site to watch the lives of women and realized that they were
ceaselessly doing domestic labor. Women had difficulty making use of time, so that training sessions
and guidance were scheduled to suit their convenience wherever possible.
Women’s daily lives are in fact very busy
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
8
Experts and counterparts tried to convince men to secure as much interests of women as possible,
but men didn’t make a compromise, saying, “Men who have traditionally been the head of the
household have the decision-making power.” The project tried to invite decision-makers from the state
government and local office for public discussion, but women held their tongues out of regard for men
in such an occasion and the discussion didn’t go as hoped. Thus the income increase project featuring
women got derailed and ended without finding a solution.
Heads of households have complete control
over the use of household income
No women continued vegetable farming
Moms Are Strong, Too
Country B was implementing a project to develop and spread a simple manual agricultural
equipment. Originally, agricultural equipment had never been produced in the country. So, a project
provided furniture builders with technical training to produce wooden agricultural equipment, such as
winnowers and weeders, while providing blacksmiths with technical training on thresher, seed planter
or other equipment production involving metal processing. In the country of B that used to import
agricultural equipment of the same specifications, there was great demand for low-priced domestic
agricultural equipment, so the project introduced input companies that desired to place large-lot orders
and farmers associations to local craftsmen to whom technologies were transferred. In the apparently
seller’s market of agricultural equipment, however, production and sales didn’t grow. When introduced
the companies and associations, all craftsmen said uniformly, “We will make a lot,” with smiles on their
faces. Why?
Pressed a bit further, one of the craftsmen finally opened his mouth: “In my house, my wife and
other family members are opposing (agricultural equipment production).”
In fact, all craftsmen had the same reason. Then, the project team realized that most craftsmen in
the country worked on a cottage industry basis. Production for large-lot orders definitely requires
considerable funds to purchase raw materials, which place a great burden on craftsmen of a
small-scale shoestring operation. Reportedly, husbands and wives as equal business partners jointly
manage funds for studio in this country. The craftsmen confessed that their families challenged them by
saying:
“Who on earth is so stupid to invest money in making products that are unknown and totally different
from furniture that we have made.”
“Don’t you know how many closets you can make as you are away from home for training?”
Not enough to involve one side?
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
9
Eventually, some craftsmen who had money to spare in relative terms and could convince their
families managed to start a mass production system, but most craftsmen could not win approval from
their families so that their production and sales remained stagnant.
Two Wallets in One Household
In the country of C, there was a project that aimed to increase smallholders’ income with
vegetable cultivation and sales. Originally, in the country, both men and women had deeply been
involved in vegetable farming so that the project investigated gender roles and checked the differences
in the scope of the decision-making power in farm management between men and women.
As the project team visited several farms in rural areas of the target province and interviewed men
and women with regard to crop sales, a female farmer said, “When my husband was away from
home, looking for someone who would buy the tomatoes grown in our farm, a broker happened
to visit our house and said that he would buy the tomatoes for a good price. But I declined the
offer because it was my husband’s farm.”
Then the project staff heard from her husband. “I visited various places to look for purchasers
in vain. Eventually, most of the tomatoes got rotten in the field and we suffered a big loss. I
regret that my wife didn’t use her wit at that time.”
The team found out through investigation that typically, in Country C, both men and women in one
household manage their own fields separately and control income from the fields separately.
So the project encouraged farmers to think about farm management on a household basis while
respecting each other’s control under the slogan of “Men and women in a household are business
partners.” More specifically, the project suggested that husbands and wives discuss to make decisions
as to the types of vegetables to grow, sales, and cropping plan together and support each other even in
areas under their partner’s control. Consequently, farmers reviewed the division of roles in a household
as well as relationship between men and women, and became able to efficiently increase their incomes.
The project achieved results that exceeded the intended goal within the project period.
In light of how things are controlled in the target region in Country C, the project introduced a
mechanism for allowing husbands and wives to plan together. With the mechanism, men and women in
target farms shared and accepted the advantages of “building a win-win relationship between men and
women in a household” and “working together safe in the knowledge that the entire household would
be better off,” which contributed to achieving the goal.
Thinking about the Degree of Involvement and Control
From the three cases, could you understand the importance of focusing on control, or the
difference in the area or degree of decision-making power of men and women? Now let’s move on to
“Decision-making by men and women” contributed to
the success of the project
(Photo by courtesy of IMG)
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
10
summarizing.
If you examine the involvement (division of tasks) and decision-making power (control) of men and
women in the scope related to the project area/theme or possible intervention/activity, they can be
classified into four categories below:
Which of the four categories in the diagram do you think the situations of men and women in
aforementioned three cases fall under?
In the case of the first agricultural project for women, those who were involved in visible farm work
was 100% women but men had 100% control over incomes that the project intended to increase with
the farm work. In the diagram, the women’s situation falls under the category of “great involvement but
little decision-making power” indicated with the ★ (star) mark. On the other hand, the men’s situation
falls under “little involvement but great decision-making power.” When the situation of men and that of
women are opposite or very imbalanced, that is likely to prevent project results and impacts from being
achieved or continuing. In fact, in the project, women vented their frustration so that the efforts for
income increase were made only temporarily. If the mediator was able to notice the imbalance at the
beginning, some measures may have been implemented to take a turn for the better.
Now, please interpret the second case of craftsmen’s agricultural equipment production by
identifying an applicable category in the diagram based on the differences in the level of involvement
and control between men and women. Men seemed to be more visibly involved in agricultural
equipment production. Meanwhile, women’s decision-making power was as strong as men’s regarding
studio management and use of money. But the merit of agricultural equipment production was not
sufficiently communicated to wives. Put simply, it is a matter of course for women to fear to spend
money and manpower of their households on something unknown that they had never made
(agricultural equipment). How do you think you should approach and men and women to increase
production?
In the third case of vegetable farms, both men and women involved in visible farm work and
invisible control over income but they performed management separately. If you try to locate the case in
the diagram, you may think that the case is special. It is in fact often seen in rural areas in Africa. The
project recognized the situation and set out a concept of “two wallets in one household” and raised
awareness of partnership among male and female farmers. As the farmers accepted the concept, the
project creatively came up with “farm management strategy development” as a mechanism for joint
Involvement
Decision-making power
Great involvement but little decision-
making power
Great involvement and great decision-
making power
Little involvement but great decision-
making power
Little involvement and little decision-
making power
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
11
decision-making by men and women, which facilitated the achievement and continuation of the results
and impacts.
Conclusion: Gender Perspective Is Required as “Agriculture ≒ Life of Men and Women”
Needless to say, agricultural development rural development is directly connected to people’s
daily life. Then, who supports the life? Men and women do. The case of rice cultivation project in
Section 1 was relatively easy to see the involvement of men and women as gender roles in rice
cultivation. But as shown in the case, people do not necessarily recognize it even if they see it.
Meanwhile, control, which was mentioned in Section 2, is not visible. Gender perspective provides the
means of visualizing involvement and control, like the diagram shown earlier, and raising awareness
among mediators (e.g., those who formulate a plan, those who implement the plan, government
counterparts) and farmers as the target of the project. Based on that, you may creatively improve
efforts to make your cooperation better, or in other words, achieve the goal effectively and efficiently.
These are the reasons WHY gender perspectives should be incorporated. Now let’s go into the
main issue of HOW.
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
12
PART II Practice 1. What Is Gender Mainstreaming?
Gender mainstreaming is a process to identify development issues, needs and impacts from
gender perspectives at every stage of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
development policies, programs, and projects. Gender mainstreaming is recognized as an
indispensable means to achieve gender equality and female empowerment. Gender equality does not
mean that men and women become the same but aims to realize a society where equal opportunities
and life chances are provided to both men and women, so that everyone can achieve self-fulfillment
regardless of gender.
Then, what is the gender (equality) perspective? Gender perspective is a perspective that pays
attention to the fact that apparently rigid division of labor or power relations existing between men and
women are something socially constructed. Becoming aware of differences in roles, comments, and
scope of decision-making power between men and women as shown in the cases in Introduction is to
review, from the gender perspective, your preconception that you have never thought that difference in
the scope of decision-making power may have an influence on project results or farm management
activities.
2. JICA’s Activities for Gender Equality and Female Empowerment
JICA provides assistance to promote gender equality and female empowerment with the following
three approaches:
Approach Project details
Assistance for policies and
institutions for gender equality
Assistance for policy formulation and reforms aiming at gender
equality
Assistance for women as principal
target beneficiaries
Assistance for women as the principle target group to directly
benefit women, including girl’s education, maternal and infant
health, and vocational training for women
Assistance integrating
gender-responsive activities
Projects partly incorporating gender equality or female
empowerment (improving social and economic status through
women’s capacity development)
Agricultural and rural development projects as the target of the guidelines fall under the third
approach: assistance incorporating gender-responsive activities1.
3. Priorities in Implementing Gender-Responsive Projects in Agricultural and
Rural Development
It is difficult to incorporate gender perspectives at the implementation stage unless they are
incorporated at the project formulation and preparatory stages. Therefore, in implanting
1 Gender mainstreaming in JICA projects originally includes assistance for policies and institutions for gender
equality, assistance for women as principal target beneficiaries, and assistance integrating gender-responsive activities. These Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming in JICA Projects focus on development activities from gender perspectives which seem applicable at the stage of planning and implementation of projects, on the premise that they are used by JICA officials and other related parties who do not always have specialized knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
13
gender-responsive assistance in agriculture, it is necessary to fully understand the roles and
responsibilities and the scope of the decision-making power of men and women in farm management in
the target area. Therefore, these guidelines are created with a focus on the project formulation and
preparatory stages.
4. How to Use These Guidelines
You may use these six-step guidelines for your project by following the steps in sequence from
STEP 1 so that you will know what you should do to which extent. The overview of the six steps are
provided below, followed by the details of each step.
5. Flowchart for Using These Guidelines (Table of Contents)
Intermediate objective Intermediate objective STEP 1 1 Sustainable agricultural production All 2 Stable food supply All
3 Promoting rural development 3-1–3-4 3 Promoting rural development 3-5–3-9
STEP 5
Strategic Development Objective Strategic Development Objective
STEP 1 Your project
Gender perspectives are important but not the target of these guidelines.To STEP 2
STEP 2 Your project
Directly related to farmers
Not directly related to farmers(e.g., large-scale infrastructure
development, policy development or research support that is not
directly related to farmers)
OR
OR
To STEP 6
To STEP 3
STEP 3 Implement simple survey on gender roles and decision-making in farm management
Check if there are gender issues that may have impact on the project
STEP 4 Analyze the results of the simple survey
To STEP 4
To STEP 5
STEP 5 Example of efforts to incorporate gender perspectives(efforts common to all projects, efforts for each intermediate objective)
STEP 6 Gender-related checkpoints on the project implementation stage
(p.14)
(p.15)
(p.16)
(p.21)
(p.23)
(p.28)
・ Surveys on environmental
and social consideration
・ Human resource and
capacity development
When to usethese guidelines
Project formulation stage
Projectformulation stage
Detailed planningsurvey
Detailed planningsurvey
Project formulation, implementation,
monitoring, evaluation
Implementation stage
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
14
STEP 1: Check if your project is the target of these guidelines or not
The Thematic Guideline on “Agricultural Development and Rural Development,” developed in March
2011, presents the Strategic Development Objectives (SDOs) and intermediate objectives (IOs) shown
in the figure below. Out of the SDOs and IOs, these guidelines cover all IOs of SDO 1 that seems to
have greater needs for more gender-responsive efforts, as well as IOs 3-1 through 3-4 of SDO 3.
[SDOs and IOs]
These guidelines will not cover projects related to rural development for IOs 3-5 through 3-9 of
SDO 3 Promoting rural development. Although it is important to incorporate gender perspectives into
such projects, their perspectives are very different from those of agricultural development and they
sometimes require cross-sectoral initiatives.
1-1 Improving policy formulation and implementation capacity in agricultural and rural development 2-1 Formulating f ood demand/supply policy 3-1 Rural development in response to decentralization of authority
1-2 Developing, maintaining, conserving and managing production infrastructure 2-2 Improving import systems 3-2 Improving food distribution and sales
1-3 Securing and improving the use of agricultural production materials 2-3 Proper use of food aid 3-3 Promoting agricultural product processing industry
1-4 Enhancing R&D capacity 3-4 Enhancing export promotion measures
1-5 Promoting crop production: rice and other grain products 3-5 Increasing non-agricultural income
1-6 Promoting crop production: vegetables 3-6 Improving the rural living environment
1-7 Promoting the livestock sector 3-7 Promoting improvement of living
1-8 Enhancing extension of agriculture 3-8 Improv ing health and education standards of rural residents
1-9 Farmers’ organization 3-9 Participatory rural development
1-10 Agricultural finance
1-11 Addressing global environmental issues
Strategic Development Objective 1 Strategic Development Objective 2 Strategic Development Objective 3
Promoting rural development
Inte
rmedia
te o
bje
ctive
Sustainable agricultural production Stable food supply
All 3-1–3-4 Guidelines’ target IOs
STEP 1 Procedure
1. Identify SDO and IO applicable to your project.
2. Check whether these guidelines cover the SDO and IO or not.
3. If Yes, proceed to STEP 2.
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
15
STEP 2: Check whether your project is directly related to farmers or not
In the next step (STEP 3), implementation of simple survey on gender roles and decision-making
in farm management is planned for detailed planning survey. Therefore, in STEP 2, you should check
whether your project is directly related to farmers or not by referring to the table below so that you can
determine whether your project needs the abovementioned simple survey or not.
Criteria Project details
Directly related to farmers2 Project that plans extension service, farmer organization, or field
survey as part of the activities
Project in which farmers’ farm management activities are
anticipated to have significant impact on the achievement of
project objectives
Not directly related to
farmers
Projects other than the above, including:
Among projects related to production infrastructure development
and agricultural production materials, large-scale infrastructure
development (e.g. irrigation facility construction), or projects that
will complete within a research institute or the target organization
without involving extension service (e.g. setting up criteria for
proper use of agricultural production materials)
Among projects related to enhancing R&D capacity, projects that
will complete within a research institute without involving extension
service or field survey (e.g. project to improve productivity of
specific species)
2 “Directly related to farmers” in these guidelines means that the project include any activities that directly target farmers.
STEP 2 Procedure
1. Determine whether your project is directly related to farmers or not by referring to
the table above.
2. If Yes, proceed to STEP 3.
3. If No, Proceed to STEP 6.
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
16
STEP 3: Conduct simple survey on gender roles
and decision-making in farm management
Now, how simple survey on gender roles and decision-making in farm management should be
conducted and items it should cover will be explained.
Let’s first confirm the survey method. As introduced in Introduction, the purpose of simple survey
is to enable the planner to identify and become aware of the gender roles and decision-making in farm
management. Therefore, detailed research is not required. Group discussion and workshop are not
mandatory, too. At this point, it is enough to collect multiple samples through interviews with individuals
from the target group. However, it should be noted that when interviewing with men and women at the
same place, it is anticipated that either of them won’t say anything or will not speak frankly out of regard
for the opposite gender. Interviews should be conducted with men and women separately or other
measures are required. In interviews, you may ask not only about the interviewee’s role and
decision-making but also those of the opposite gender so that you can check whether issues such as
preconception or misunderstanding about opposite gender and lack of communication, exist or not.
On the next page, sample format for simple survey on gender roles and decision-making in farm
management is available. Please use the format to conduct simple survey following the procedure
below. The sample format is created to provide as many items as possible. You may make it simpler by
selecting survey items according to the content of your project, characteristics of the target area, and
time or physical constraints of the survey.
STEP 3 Procedure
1. Create a format for your project based on the simple research format on pages 17–20
(select or add research items according to the project details and characteristics of the target area).
2. Decide research method (e.g., individual interview, group discussion or workshop).
3. Conduct simple research.
4. After conducting the research, proceed to STEP 4.
Who will conduct simple research and analysis?
Simple research (STEP 3) and result analysis (STEP 4) are expected to be conducted at the time of detailed
planning survey. There are following two options as to who among specialists in the survey team sent for the
research would conduct simple research:
(1) Assign gender specialists.
(2) Evaluation analysis specialists will conduct the research.
In the case of (1), add “Conducting simple research on gender roles and decision-making in farm
management and aggregating the data collected by referring to Guidelines for Promoting Gender
Mainstreaming [Agriculture].”
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
17
[Sample format for simple survey]
Simple survey on Gender Roles and Decision-Making by Crop/Theme
Date of interview:
Place of interview:
Interviewee:
Target crop/theme
(followed by survey items)
Role/involvement Decision-making power
Men Women Men Women
Example: Rice
Plowing
Raising seedlings
Paddy
preparation
Removing waste
Uprooting
seedlings
Planting
Fertilization
Water
management
Weeding
(mechanical)
Weeding
(manual)
Pest control
Harvesting
Threshing
Post-harvest
processing
(winnowing,
hulling, milling)
Sales
Income
management
Other
How to Use the Format
Use one form per interviewee (Ask women as to involvement, use and decision-making power of
male and female, and ask men in the same way). If you compare the results, you may become
aware of preconceptions among male and female farmers.
Role/involvement means whether or not the gender has a role or responsibility for the item or can
use or participate in the item. Decision-making power means whether the gender has the power
to decide who will do what for the item and when.
Interview as to each item and check the applicable boxes. If you want to record the situations in
detail, you may enter the information.
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
18
Target crop/theme
(followed by survey items)
Role/involvement Decision-making power
Men Women Men Women
Example: Vegetable
Tillage
Sowing
Fertilization
Watering
Transplanting
Weeding
Pest control
Training
Harvesting
Processing
Sales
Income
management
Other
Target crop/theme
(followed by survey items)
Role/involvement Decision-making power
Men Women Men Women
Example: Livestock (goat, sheep)
Putting livestock
out to pasture
Cleaning livestock
barn
Collecting fodder
Feeding
Watering
Milking
Slaughtering
Processing
Sales
Income
management
Other
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
19
Target crop/theme
(followed by survey items)
Role/involvement Decision-making power
Men Women Men Women
Example: Irrigation
Joining irrigation
association
Association
executive
Water distribution
plan
Bill payment
Bill collection
Construction work
Maintenance
Use of
irrigation water
Other
Target crop/theme
(followed by survey items)
Role/involvement Decision-making power
Men Women Men Women
Example: Farmers organization
Membership
Executive/
representative
Fund management
Work burden
Activity plan
Other
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
20
Target crop/theme
(followed by survey items)
Role/involvement Decision-making power
Men Women Men Women
Example: Value chain
Procurement of agricultural materials
Procurement
Production (vegetable)
Production
Sales
Processing
Transport
Sales
Broker
Wholesale
Retail
Consumption
Purchase
Use (cooking)
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
21
STEP 4: Analyze the simple survey results
Once you collect samples of simple survey, you should analyze the results to find out in which survey
items there are differences between men and women in gender roles or involvement and
decision-making power, as well as which items require gender-responsive activities, and identify
issues.
1. Classify the results of the simple survey into four categories in the matrix below. At that time, write
the gender in parentheses so that it is apparent whether the classification is based on an interview
with a woman or man.
[Work example]
(Interview with a woman)
Target crop/theme
(followed by survey items)
Role/involvement Decision-making power
Men Women Men Women
Example: Rice
Plowing ✓ ✓
Raising seedlings ✓ ✓
Paddy preparation ✓ ✓
(Interview with a man)
Target crop/theme
(followed by survey items)
Role/involvement Decision-making power
Men Women Men Women
Example: Rice
Plowing ✓ ✓
Raising seedlings ✓ ✓
Paddy preparation ✓ ✓
[Matrix of Women’s Role/Decision-making Power in Farm Management]
Involvement
Decision-making power
Great involvement but little decision-
making power
Great involvement and great decision-
making power
Little involvement but great decision-
making power
Little involvement and little decision-
making power
STEP 4 Procedures
Paddy preparation
(women)
Paddy preparation (men)
Raising seedlings
(men & women)
Plowing
(men & women)
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
22
[Note]
Agricultural practice varies depending on the area or society, and therefore the matrix above may
not suffice in some cases. You should use the matrix according to the situation in the target area.
For example, when a man and a woman in a household are engaged in farming in different fields,
you should separately prepare a matrix for joint work in the household in addition to the above
matrix.
2. Based on the matrix, the survey team or the project office checks whether there are gender issues
that may have impact on the project.
[Work example]
3. Proceed to STEP 5.
Involvement
Decision-making power
Great involvement but little decision-
making power
Great involvement and great decision-
making power
Little involvement but great decision-
making power
Little involvement and little decision-
making power
Possible impacts on the project include not
reflecting the voice of women who actually
perform the task and women’s declining
motivation with no decision-making power
despite heavy workload.
Paddy preparation
(women)
Paddy preparation (men)
Raising seedlings
(men & women)
Plowing
(men & women)
Men and women have
different preconceptions and
perceptions as to gender roles
and decision-making power.
⇒ Need to promote mutual
understanding between men
and women on gender roles
and decision-making power.
Does women’s little involvement
and decision-making power have
any impact on the project?
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
23
STEP 5: Take gender-responsive measures
To address gender issues identified in STEP 4, you should consider following measures. There are
measures common to all projects and measures specific to intermediate objective.
1. Measures common to all projects
(1) Practicing gender-responsive measures
Practice gender-responsive measures in the project by referring to the examples of
gender-responsive measures specific to intermediate objective on the next pages. In doing so,
it is effective to gain cooperation of local resources that understand the complicated
socio-cultural structure in the local community (e.g., the nation’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs,
female organization, NGO).
(2) Using knowledge of gender experts and senior advisors
In carrying out projects that highly need aggressive gender-responsive measures, short-term
input of gender experts, who may concurrently undertake other task, is desirable. Even when
input of gender experts is impossible, practice gender-responsive measures in the project by
referring to the examples of gender-responsive measures by IO as necessary and by gaining
cooperation of senior advisors and the Office for Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction.
(3) Setting gender-responsive monitoring indicators and conducting monitoring based on the
indicators
Set the following gender-responsive indicators and conduct monitoring to check how gender
roles and decision-making power in farm management changed with the start of the project.
<Examples>
Participation by gender in training programs provided by the project
Participation and level of participation in farmers’ organizations by gender (e.g., simple
service or participation in decision-making)
Proportion of labor burden, including productive activity, reproductive activity (e.g.,
domestic labor and childcare in the household)
Changes in awareness among household members
In order to apply lessons learned from successful cases to other projects, it is important to
record the results of monitoring from gender perspectives.
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
24
2. Examples of gender-responsive measures specific to intermediate objective
Gender-responsive measures, which you may referred to when you launch a project in line with an
intermediate objective, include the following:
Intermediate
objective Example of gender-responsive measures
Effect/impact on
project
implementation
1-1 Improving
policy
formulation and
implementation
capacity in
agricultural and
rural
development
Analyze whether or not existing policy, development plan,
institution or system is making efforts to bridge gender gaps
or expand women’s involvement in resources and women’s
decision-making power in agricultural and rural
development. When efforts are insufficient, consider the
following measures:
Examples:
Support revision of existing policy or development plan, or
institutional reform.
Raise awareness of gender among officers of the target
organization.
Analyze whether or not new policy, development plan,
institution or system may have significant negative impact
on either men or women. If yes, analyze whether there is
any measure to mitigate the negative impact or not, and
reflect analysis results in the formulation process.
Example: Analyze whether or not a policy that promotes
cultivation of non-traditional export crops has significant
negative impact on either men or women. If yes, analyze
whether there is any measure to mitigate the negative
impact or not, and reflect analysis results in the formulation
process.
Promote participation of Agricultural Ministry’s
women-related bureau, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, or
women’s associations of the target country or community,
which have knowledge of gender issues in rural areas, in the
formulation process.
Promote collection of statistics by gender.
Development of
gender-responsive
policy,
development plan,
institution or
system promotes
women’s active
participation in
agricultural
activities.
[Issues related
across IOs
below]
Promoting
mutual
understanding of
men and women
on gender roles
and
decision-making
power
Promotion of mutual understanding as to gender roles and
decision-making power in productive activity, such as agriculture,
and reproductive activity, such as domestic labor and childcare,
will promote more active participation of male and female farmers
in productive activity. Measures to review gender roles and
decision-making power include the following:
Examples:
(1) Provide men and women with training opportunities
where they can experience agricultural tasks that are not
their normal roles so that they will deepen their
understanding of the opposite gender’s tasks.
(2) When women’s participation in existing organizations is
difficult due to social norms, support creation of women’s
organization separately from existing organizations.
(3) Ensure that project activities will not increase women’s
labor burden as introduction of new production
technology or service may lead to an increase of
women’s labor burden.
Develop and extend technologies that help women
save energy, time or labor.
Concurrently carry out activities that can reduce
time required for fetching water and gathering
firewood.
Provide gender awareness training to promote
men’s participation in domestic labor.
(4) Raise awareness of men’s and women’s participation in
the activity among locally influential persons and
religious leaders, if necessary.
As male and
female farmers
acceptably review
roles and
decision-making
power, they
become able to
perform productive
activity more
efficiently.
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
25
Intermediate
objective Example of gender-responsive measures
Effect/impact on
project
implementation
1-2 Developing,
maintaining,
conserving and
managing
production
infrastructure
1-3 Securing and
improving the
use of
agricultural
production
materials
1-10 Agricultural
finance
Ensure that women can use capital for production to be
introduced by the project to the extent socially and culturally
possible.
Example: Introduce agricultural machines or equipment that
women can use easily and introduce microcredit that does
not require collateral.
Ensure women’s participation in training programs related to
capital for production.
Notes:
Women must acquire proper knowledge with the
increase of women who perform tasks that used to be
considered men’s tasks, such as spraying of
agrochemicals, as men in their households become
migrant workers.
In planning training, set time and place accessible for
women. Provide day care service for children when
necessary.
Improvement in
access to capital
for women’s
production is
expected to
improve
agricultural
production.
Water management under 1-2 Developing, maintaining,
conserving and managing production infrastructure, for which
many projects are ongoing, in particular, include the following:
Normally, participation in an irrigation association is often
connected to land ownership so that women who actually
perform agricultural activity in the field may not be able to
participate if they don’t have land ownership. Therefore,
encourage irrigation associations to exclude land ownership
from participation requirements.
Encourage women’s participation as irrigation association
executives are predominantly male (e.g., allocate a certain
proportion to women).
Help women participate in decision-making process at
irrigation associations by encouraging women to participate
in technical and leadership training so that they can
demonstrate leadership.
When wage is paid to labor for irrigation work as a resident
participation activity, ensure equal pay for equal work,
regardless of gender.
1-4 Enhancing
R&D capacity
Develop and spread species based on the understanding
that needs and preferences differ between men and women.
Opinions of women as consumers are important because
women cook in many societies.
Develop and spread species that require little initial
investment, which can be used by women who own limited
resources, such as land and funds.
Develop and extend technologies that help women save
energy, time or labor.
Provide researchers with gender awareness training so that
they can conduct research from gender perspectives.
When either male researchers or female researchers are
small in number, proactively promote the gender small in
number.
Development of
agricultural
technologies and
species according
to needs and
preferences of
women who
perform many
agricultural tasks
increases the
probability of
spread.
1-5 Promoting
crop production:
rice and other
grain products
1-6 Promoting
crop production:
vegetables
1-7 Promoting
the livestock
sector
Secure women’s access to extension activities and services.
Ensure that project activities will not increase women’s labor
burden as introduction of new production technology or
service may lead to an increase of women’s labor burden
(For a specific example, see [Issues related across IOs
below] Example (3) on page 24).
As male and
female farmers
who actually
perform tasks
receive services,
production
activities will
become efficient
and effective.
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
26
Intermediate
objective Example of gender-responsive measures
Effect/impact on
project
implementation
1-8 Enhancing
extension of
agriculture
When the number of female agricultural extension officers is
small, proactively promote female extension officers.
Conduct gender awareness raising for extension officers.
Note: Gender awareness raising seems highly needed
when extension activities are conducted on the assumption
that if they teach techniques and knowledge to men, men
would tell what they learned to women; or when extension
officers do not seem to understand women’s needs.
In areas where mobile phones are widely used, information
provision using mobile phones helps women obtain
information even where they have difficulty having contact
with non-relative men.
Take measures that help information reach even illiterate
women, such as using a lot of pictures in handouts.
In planning training for extension, set time and place
accessible for women. Provide day care service for children
when necessary.
As women who
actually perform
tasks receive
services directly,
extension activities
will become
efficient and
effective.
1-9 Farmers’
organization
When there are existing organizations, check the
participation requirements of the organizations. When
participation of either men or women is limited, check the
background factors.
After checking the above, examine measures to promote
women’s participation.
Example: When excessive workload of women is the factor
that limits women’s participation, provide men and women in
the households with an opportunity (e.g. workshop) to
review their gender roles and promote men’s participation in
domestic labor and childcare.
Example: When payment of membership fee is the
constraint, encourage the farmers’ organization to discuss
measures, such as membership fee discount/exemption for
a certain period.
Example: When there are is a gender gap in participation
requirements (e.g., When members are supposed to be men
as the heads of households, women may not be able to be
members when the men as the head of their households are
working away from home, or few women as the head of
household may participate), give guidance to bridge the gap.
When women are not participating in the organization’s
decision-making process, provide women with technical and
leadership training or encourage them to participate in such
the training so that they can demonstrate leadership.
As farmers’
organizations
meet women’s
needs, women’s
productive
activities will
become active.
1-11 Addressing
global
environmental
issues
As there may be various activities as climate change adaptation
and mitigation measures, conduct activities by referring to
measures related to the specific project among the measures
above.
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
27
Intermediate
objective Example of gender-responsive measures
Effect/impact on
project
implementation
3-1 Rural
development in
response to
decentralization
of authority
Conduct activities by referring to related measures, such as water
management under 1-2 Developing, maintaining, conserving and
managing production infrastructure related to the specific project
among the measures above and 1-8 Enhancing extension of
agriculture.
3-2 Improving
food distribution
and sales
Check gender roles and constraints in food distribution and
sales, and incorporate activities that eliminates barriers to
women’s entry.
In areas where mobile phones are widely used, information
provision using mobile phones helps women obtain
information even where they have difficulty having contact
with non-relative men.
As women spend a lot of time on domestic labor and
childcare, they sometimes cannot harvest crops at the
proper harvest time so that crop quality deteriorates.
Examine measures to reduce women’s domestic and
childcare labor to enable women to participate in productive
activities (For a specific example, see [Issues related across
IOs below] Example (3) on page 24).
As gender roles
are reviewed and
food distribution
and sales is
improved,
household income
will increase.
3-3 Promoting
agricultural
product
processing
industry
Conduct activities by referring to related measures, such as 1-9
Farmers’ organization above.
3-4 Enhancing
export promotion
measures
Conduct activities by referring to related measures, such as 1-1
Improving policy formulation and implementation capacity in
agricultural and rural development above.
Guidelines for Promoting Gender Mainstreaming Agricultural and Rural Development
28
STEP 6: Gender-responsive checkpoints at the project implementation stage
Gender-responsive checkpoints at the implementation stage of a project include the following:
1. Gender perspectives in surveys on environmental and social consideration
In conducting surveys on environmental and social consideration, you should collect and analyze
following information by gender and examine, as needed, measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate
their impacts.
Example of impact to
be surveyed/examined
Example of key gender-responsive
survey item
Example of measure to avoid,
minimize, or mitigate impact
Relocation of population,
including involuntary
resettlement / utilization
of land and local
resources
Who is the land owner? (Including
common law)
Status of land/resource usage by
gender
Means of livelihood and income by
gender
Is it possible for women to become
eligible for compensation, without
discrimination against sex? / Is it
possible for women to receive
compensation for loss of their
livelihood means, separately from
that to men? (Legal grounds, etc.)
Ensure that women are
entitled to compensation as
men are. / Ensure that
women can receive
compensation for loss of
their livelihood, separately
from that to men
Encourage the authority to
enable married couples to
jointly own the land where
they resettle.
Regional economy,
including employment
and a means of
livelihood
When residents are required to
relocate their economic base, is it
possible for women to become
eligible for compensation, without
discrimination against sex? / Is it
possible for women to receive
compensation for loss of their
livelihood means, separately from
that to men? (Legal grounds, etc.)
Ensure that women are
entitled to compensation as
men are. / Ensure that
women can receive
compensation for loss of
their livelihood, separately
from that to men.
HIV/AIDS or other
infectious diseases
Are sexually transmitted diseases
spreading?
Provide parties related to
construction work with
preventive education for
HIV/AIDS or other infectious
diseases.
2. Gender perspectives in human resource development and capacity building
To facilitate gender mainstreaming at the target organization, you should examine measures to set
the gender ratio of staff members who participate in training and encourage women to participate
in technical and leadership training so that women can demonstrate leadership. Additionally, you
should also promote collection and maintenance of gender-segregated statistics at the target
organization when necessary.