Today we will focus on the dignified and hard working rural women of Zambia.
After so much concentration on the urban woman, it is a relief this week to recognise the worth of the rural woman.
Zambia’s rural women are not ‘Mumbwa Mumbwa’ as they used to be referred to in the past.
These are women who should hold their heads high with pride and dignity instead of brooding over the unguarded remarks of people who do not understand their worth.
These are the women behind the hard work in agriculture and the food security that Zambia has boasted about from time immemorial.
They leave behind their children, sick husbands, relatives and their old to go and till the land. In their own right they contribute to local, national and global food security, as well as agricultural and economic growth.
The recent announcement by the United Nations World Food Programme(WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that an estimated 14 million people in southern Africa are on the verge of starvation following prolonged dry spells that led to a poor harvest last year will adversely affect the rural women in agriculture.
According to the two UN organisations, the El Niño global weather event, which is leading to even worse drought across the region, is already affecting this year’s crop with little or no rainfall in many areas and the window for the planting of cereals closing fast or already closed in some countries. The outlook is alarming.
The WFP has fears that the number of people without enough food could rise significantly over coming months as the region moves deeper into the so-called lean season, the period before the April harvest when food and cash stocks become increasingly depleted.
Particularly vulnerable are smallholder farmers, mostly women, who account for most agricultural production.
According to global statistics, of the 1.1 billion people who are poor, about 70 per cent are women, and women account for two thirds of illiterate population in the world.
In Zambia, according to statistics, 71 per cent of people in rural areas depend on agriculture and live in extreme poverty.
The FAO says rural poverty is extremely high with 83.1 per cent of the population in rural areas living under the national poverty line, compared to 56 percent in urban areas.
According to the UN-Women organisation, rural women are vital to the success of agriculture and the goal to end poverty and hunger to achieve food security.
In order to achieve these objectives and promote nutrition and sustainable agriculture, gender equality and women’s empowerment in rural areas are vital.
Key findings from a study by UN Women, the World Bank, and the Poverty and Environment Initiative indicate that the gender gap in agricultural productivity ranges from 4-40 per cent depending on the country.
The UN Women organisation says that women in rural areas suffer limited access to credit, health care and education, which are further aggravated by the global food and economic crises and climate change.
Ensuring their empowerment is key not only to the well-being of individuals, families and rural communities, but also to overall economic productivity, given women’s large presence in the agricultural workforce worldwide.
Speaking on the International Day of Rural Women recently, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said “We must take every opportunity to ensure that rural women do not lag behind, but rather lead the way”.
Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka said it is important to recognise the key role rural women play in the food security, livelihoods, and incomes of households and communities, underpinning sustainable development.
She said it was important to highlight intersecting forms of discrimination for girls and women living in poverty in rural areas because these significantly affect their ability to attend school,plan their families and survive child birth, combine looking after the family and finding water and fuel with other tasks, as well as access basic services.To make the most of diminishing or changing resources, women need to be able to upgrade their skills, through access to agricultural extension services, technologies, training and financial credit.
She was concerned that where alternative sources of food and income need to be found, the additional work is often done by women.
“This “unpaid care burden” is compounded by climate-related health risks, water and fuel scarcity and intensified in contexts of economic crisis, environmental degradation, natural disasters,andinadequateinfrastructure and services,” she said.
Women’s participation in local institutions for governing natural resources is critical for sustainable land, forest and water management, as well as for building resilience and planning for climate change and adaptation strategies.
Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka laments that despite rural women comprising approximately 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, often without ownership of the land they work, or an authoritative voice in local government, rural women are deeply affected by climate change.
She says climate change exacerbates the existing barriers and risks faced by women farmers – such as lack of access to land and resources – and creates new ones.
Climate variability and uncertain weather patterns increase the risk of crop damage, lowering agricultural productivity and increasing food insecurity.
A report released recently by UN Women and partners shows that the evidence for the gender gap in agriculture is growing across
countries.
“Addressing the adverse effects of climate change through climate-resilient agriculture strategies and natural resource management is increasingly important for securing rural women’s rights, empowerment, and well-being,” she said.
However it is good to know that Agenda 2030 recognises the role of rural women and pledges to “devote resources to developing rural areas and sustainable agriculture and fisheries, supporting smallholder farmers, especially women farmers, herders and fishers in developing countries, particularly least developed countries”.
“As we launch Agenda 2030 globally and locally, we must learn from the lessons of implementing the Beijing Platform for Action and the MDGs.
We have an unparalleled opportunity and commitment to end poverty and hunger, achieve food and nutrition security, and guarantee sustainable livelihoods by investing in rural women andclimate-resilient agriculture,”
“Agenda 2030 envisages a “world in which every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality and all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed,” Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
According to FAO, the female share of those economically active in agriculture was 46.5 per cent in 2010.
The report states that women perform 65-70 per cent of all agricultural tasks in Zambia, and produce 80 per cent of the nation’s food stock (SIDA 2008).
In agricultural households, women are generally responsible for more chores (including weeding, harvesting, stocking, marketing and processing) than men who are largely involved in soil preparation and ridging.
Because of their gender, women in rural areas are disadvantaged with respect to human capital and bargaining power.
Prioritizing rural development is fundamental to the advancement of women.
According to reports, women farmers also usually bear the responsibility of cooking, heating and collecting firewood. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has brought an extra burden to many women in addition to working in their fields as caring for sick relatives is traditionally seen as a feminine task.
According to the UNDP, Zambia’s gender inequality index stood at 0.627 in 2011, ranking 131 globally out of 146 countries (UNDP 2011a).
The literacy rate for women is 64 percent against 82 percent for men.
Only 19 per cent of females have secondary or higher level education compared to 34 per cent of males and women’s average monthly income is around 55 percent of men’s (ZK 196 453 compared to ZK 354 988).
From the above, it is important to realise the worth of the rural woman and support her.
Zambia is signatory to numerous international and regional agreements related to women’s rights and gender equality so the call is on all citizens to join hands with the Government to promote gender equality in all sectors of the economy, including the rural women in agriculture, if the country is to attain meaningful food security.