| ASSESSING
WOMEN & ENVIRONMENT |
|
Table
of Contents
Preface
Introduction
I. Recapitulating
the objectives and recommedations of the Dakar Platform and the
Beijing Programme
II. Commitments
III. Integrating gender in national environmental
plans of action
IV. Demographic factors
Some
data on urbanization and environmental problems
Urbanization, p verty, education and fertility
V. Gender
and environment: A methodology
The
importance of participation and strategic planning
Predominance of specialized agencies over the
national statistical offices
Issues raised by the integration of gender and
development
The Agencies
Joint financing and project effectiveness
VI. Results
of sectoral studies
Street
trading
Continental fisheries projects
Energy
Production of fatty foods
Working conditions and equipment of women w rking
in industrial plantaions
Women in industrial construction
Women in road construction and mending
Transport sector professionals
Women in the mining sector
Changes triggered by the Beijing Conference
VII.
Institutional support to women
Technological
support
Sharing and rural transport development
VIII. Sensitization,
training and research development
Research
development
Inf rmation netw rks on traditional
knowledge about the ecology
Inf rmation on women as consumers
Sensitizing the specialized
agencies to gender inequalities in population matters
Involvement of women and young
people in the implementation of Action
Involvement of women and young
people in environmental protection
Some data on the predominance
of women in natural resources management
Integrating gender in natural
resources planning and management
Support to traditional practitioners
Limitation of the analysis
of the traditional methods of natural resources management
Women and customary land law
Promoting social dialogue
on environmental questions
IX. Gender,
poverty and environment
X. Guidelines
and the limitations of current programmes
Combating
deforestation and developments in deforestation in Africa
Reforestation and agro- forestry
projects
Water projects
Combating pollution
Pollution of continental and
underground waters
Recycling of domestic and
industrial waste
XI. International
institutional support for environmental protection
The
Central African forest ecosystems programme
Contribution of the Global
Environment Facility
Contribution of the W rld
Fund for Nature and international organizations under the aegis
of the W rld Bank, UNDP and UNEP
XII. Economic,
social and legal problems of environmental protection
Impact
of foreign debt on environmental resources
Legal constraints
Ownership of biodiversity
Conclusions
Recommendations
Special
recommendation for the preparation of a statistical addenda
Conclusions and recommendations
of the Workshop
Annex
: Guide questionnaire for the workshop discussions
Boxes
Box
1: The need to integrate women in NEPAs
Box 2 : Conflicts and physical violence against
women
Box 3: Current limitations
in the application of gender analysis to environmental issues
Information
about this publication
Preface
After the
Rio Conference, many African countries prepared their National
Plans of Action on the environment with the assistance of specialized
agencies. While these plans make references to women, they hardly
indicate women s role in natural resources management and environmental
protection as recommended by Action 21, the Cairo Conference on
Population and Development ( ICPD) and the Dakar and Beijing Conferences
on Women. Generally, the institutions entrusted with the integration
of women and environment issues acknowledge the importance of
women s role in this regard, but they are unable to take necessary
action owing to the major constraints facing them, namely:
( a) Inadequate
implementation of the gender approach at all levels;
( b) Inadequate
conceptual and methodological frameworks for integrating women
and development issues;
( c) Insufficient
human, financial and technical resources for integrating both
issues which are learly ross- cutting themes, and for translating
them into concrete action on the ground;
( d) Lack
of up- to- date data broken down by gender and by geographical
area; and inadequate dissemination of existing data which are
themselves of limited scope;
( e) Absence
of monitoring and performance indicators;
( f) Insufficient scientific resear h and surveys to back up
the efforts which went into this study; and
( g) Inadequate coordination of the activities of various actors.
These constraints
are responsible for the fragmented nature of the subject of women
and environmental protection for sustainable development even
in the institutions specifically mandated to integrate these issues.
They also explain why the progress achieved in this area can only
be considered as trends. The present mid- decade evaluation report
on the implementation of the Dakar Platform and Beijing Programme
recommendations address these constraints. The report s objectives
are:
To assess
the progress made in this area since the Dakar and Beijing Conferences,
stressing the critical areas of environmental protection in Africa,
namely: women s participation in decision- making; poverty alleviation;
combating deforestation; water management; controlling the effects
of urbanization; management of biodiversity; regulating the management
of toxic wastes; strengthening the rights of consumers; involving
rural women in Africa in environmental protection; ratification,
by States, of the relevant international conventions; the impact
of the external debt on natural resources; and helping to lay
the foundations for necessary discussions on a methodological
approach, given that the integration of women and development
is a new subject. The bases for this subject have yet to be established
as shown in the debates of the workshop on the issue during the
Sixth African Regional Conference on Women.
In prioritizing
the methodological and conceptual frameworks as well as the institutional
mechanisms, the African Centre for Women ( ACW) is keeping up
the dialogue, under its terms of reference, with the actors concerned,
namely, African Governments, regional and subregional organizations
responsible for economic cooperation and integration, resear h
institutions, technical departments/ ministries responsible for
women and environment issues, specialized aid agencies and civil
society organizations, in order to speed up the implementation
of the Platform and the Programme and to assess actions to be
taken from now up to the year 2005.
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Introduction
The present
report is prepared in connection with the mid- decade review of
the progress achieved in the implementation of the Dakar Platform
and the Beijing Programme. It strives to assess the progress made
in the implementation of the recommendations of the said Platform
and Pogramme as relates to the critical issues of women and development
and the role of women in the management of natural resources.
The report is enriched by the discussions of the workshop on this
theme during the Sixth African Regional Conference on Women held
in A dis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 1999.
This report
tries to ad ress those women and development issues that come
under National Plans of Action, namely: food security, women s
economic empowerment, training and education, culture, socialization,
health, women s legal rights, gender- disaggregated data, communication,
information and research.
It also covers
the recommendations of Action 21 adopted in May 1993 by the Conference
of African Ministers of Economic Planning and Development which
defined the strategies for implementing the recommendations of
the Rio Conference on Environment and Development. The Dakar Platform
and the Beijing Programme drew inspiration from Action 21 which
stresses equal access to water resources as well as reproductive
health, population control and food security.
The report
also ad resses the theme gender and environment which links two
issues cutting across all the areas identified by the Beijing
Programme, particularly: poverty; education and training; health;
violence; impact of armed conflicts; economics; decision- making
power; institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women;
fundamental rights; the media; and the girl- child.
However, this
evaluation is not exhaustive for three main reasons. The first
is inadequate coverage of the women and environment issue by the
country reports submitted. The second is the non- inclusion of
the gender problem in the environment aspects of national plans
of action relating to women. The third is poor dissemination and
inaccessibility of gender- disaggregated data which are specifically
needed for assessing the women and environment problem. This report
therefore tries to a ress the relevant trends and new developments.
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of contents]
I. Recapitulating
the objectives and recommedations of the Dakar Platform and the
Beijing Programme
The objectives
and recommendations of the Dakar Platform and the Beijing Programme
are:
( a) To
ensure the participation of women in decision- making on environment,
at all levels, in order to integrate their needs, concerns and
opinions in sustainable development policies and programmes;
( b) To
strengthen or establish national, regional and international
mechanisms for assessing the impact of environmental management
and development policies on women;
( c) To
integrate gender, population, environment and poverty alleviation
in sustainable development policies and in policy and programme
planning;
( d) To
sensitize women to their dependence on the environment and the
link between the environment and natural resources; improve
women s contribution to natural resources management and sensitize
young people to the need to show respect for nature;
( e) To
establish, strengthen and maintain institutions concerned with
environment and with women s issues.
The recommended
measures are:
( a) To
integrate gender equality in mechanisms for natural resources
management;
( b) To
involve women in general, and rural women in particular, in
environmental decision- making as policy makers, planners, managers,
specialists or technical advisers and as beneficiaries of environmental
policies and programmes;
( c) To
facilitate women s access to information and education; and
strengthen their empowerment as consumers and producers;
( d) To
preserve local skills and traditional practices on biological
diversity and protect the intellectual property rights of women;
( e) To
reduce risks to the environment in accordance with the precautionary
principle adopted by the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development;
( f) To
involve social, economic, political and scientific institutions
in matters of environmental degradation and its impact on women;
( g) To
prepare projects for the benefit of women and projects to be
managed by women, funded under the Global Environment Facility;
( h) To
provide women working in agriculture, fisheries, animal husbandry
and education with access to training and marketing services
as well as to techniques for preserving the environment; women
should be given technical assistance in agriculture, fisheries,
small- scale enterprises, trade and industry;
( i) To
give value to the role of rural women in food collection and
production, soil conservation, irrigation, evelopment of river
basins, management of coastal zones and marine resources, soil
planning and use, forest resouces and community forest conservation,
fisheries, the prevention of natural disasters and new and renewable
sources of energy.
With regar
to research, the recommendations are:
1. To evelop
gender- sensitive atabases and information systems, monitoring
mechanisms, research and methodology and policy analysis based
on a practical and participatory approach.
2. To identify
women s knowledge and experience in the management and conservation
of natural resources for sustainable development.
3. To assess
the impact on women of environmental and natural resources degradation,
resulting, inter alia, from unsustainable production and consumption
patterns, rought, poor quality water, global warming, desertification,
rising sea levels, hazardous wastes, natural disasters, toxic
chemicals and pesticide residues, radioactive waste, and armed
conflicts and their consequences.
4. To analyse
the structural links between gender relations, environment and
development, tressing, in particular, sectors such as agriculture,
industry, fisheries, forestry, environmental health, biological
diversity, climate, water resources and sanitation.
5. To take
measures to develop and include environmental, economic, cultural,
social and gender- specific analysis, as an essential step in
the monitoring and development of programmes and policies.
6. To prepare
programmes for establishing rural and urban training, research
and documentation centres that will disseminate environmentally
sound technologies to women.
7. To ensure
compliance with international conventions on the environment,
relating to toxic wastes and radioactive wastes as well as the
import or export of such wastes.
8. To promote
the implementation of Agenda 21 taking into account the views
of the Commission on the Status of Women ( CSW) with regar to
women and the environment.
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II. Commitments
Responsibility
for the implementation of the Platform and the Programme s recommendations
lies mainly with Governments assisted by the relevant international,
regional, subregional and non- governmental organizations ( NGOs)
. The Dakar Platform recommended that these issues should be dealt
with by the subregional economic cooperation and integration organizations.
The countries which participated in the Rio Conference on Environment
and Development committed themselves to preparing national environmental
plans of action ( NEPAs) that take the gender problem into account.
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III. Integrating
gender in national environmental plans of action
At the time
of writing, 24 African countries had signed four of the five international
treaties on environment; seven were in the process of doing so;
twenty- two had prepared NEPAs.
Twenty- four
countries prepared reports on the situation of their environment.
Ten countries prepared official evaluation documents on biodiversity
as part of their strategic plans of action. These documents were
prepared during the period 1988- 1994, that is, after the Beijing
Conference on Women.
Box 1:
The need to integrate women in NEPAs
| Only
12 countries clearly affirmed that they had adopted
environment as one of the priorities of their national
plans of action. However, there is usually a gap between
intention and action. The areas named, such as water
and access to land , are those in which the disparity
between men and women in natural resources management
are most visible.
Moreover,
the NEPAs make references to women and development,
recalling that rural women are major actors in the
implementation of these Plans. The Plans stress the
importance of gender analysis and the need to develop
local knowledge about the environment, but they do
not establish the mechanisms for following up activities
on the ground. This is true for all the areas considered
by the Sixth African Regional Conference, but the
inclusion of environmental issues in macro- economic
decisions and activities was emphasized. |
|
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IV. Demographic
factors
The growth
of Africa s population is estimated at 3 per cent a year. With
the current trends, it was estimated that the population of sub-
Saharan Africa would reach 866 million by the year 2000. The degradation
of the environment in Africa has long been attributed to the high
fertility rate and poverty in the continent. To ay, this view
has changed as other factors are taken into account. The population
growth in the continent is not itself a problem. What is important
is the population distribution and the inadequacy of evelopment
and environmental policies and programmes. Indeed, Africa is far
from being overpopulated vis- a- vis its natural resources. There
are, however, instances of high population density in areas where
water shortage is combined with low proportion of cultivated land
and low density of basic services.
The most critical
environmental situations result from conflicts, displacement of
people, refugee situations and civil wars, particularly in Africa.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees ( UNHCR) , Africa currently has 6.5 million refugees,
that is, nearly one third of the refugees in the world. In 1988,
more than 11,000 people died as a result of armed conflicts in
Africa.
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Box 2
: Conflicts and physical violence against women
| Violence
against women has been increasing and has been better
taken stock of since 1995, particularly in countries
affected by political and institutional instability.
It is also a characteristic of countries with latent
or permanent con- flicts, and there are 21 such countries
in Africa. These situations are marked by the reign
of arbitrary acts and sexual violence against children
and adults ( Algeria, Angola, and Sierra Leone are
examples) .
In
Algeria, more than 2,000 women were raped during the
period 1993- 1998 and in Congo Brazzaville a report
of the International Committee of the Red Cross (
ICRC) put the number of rapes at 600 for July 1999
alone. |
|
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Some
data on urbanization and environmental problems
In the early
1990s, the urban population in Africa was 40 per cent of the continent
s entire population. It was expected to reach 55 per cent by the
year 2000 with the prevailing annual growth rate of 3.5 per cent.
Data on 1998 shows an unbalanced population distribution throughout
the continent:
Five of the
seven countries of North Africa account for more than half of
the region s urban population. The ratio of urban population to
total population per country is as follows: Libya 86 per cent;
Tunisia 63 per cent; Algeria 57 per cent, Mauritania 54 per cent
and Morocco 53 per cent. These are among the highest figures in
the continent;
In west Africa,
the urban population accounts for 30 per cent of the total population
on the average, albeit with considerable regional disparities:
Senegal 45 per cent and Nigeria 41 per cent, as against 17 per
cent in Burkina Faso and 19 per cent in the Niger;
Central Africa,
with an average of 45 per cent, is the second most urbanized subregion.
Here also, the imbalance is considerable: the Congo 60 per cent
and Gabon 52 per cent, as against 23 per cent in Chad;
East Africa
has the lowest rate of urbanization in the continent with Rwanda
and Burundi recording 6 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively;
Kenya has the highest urbanization rate in the region with 30
per cent;
The percentage
of urban population in Southern Africa ranges from 30 to 40 per
cent, with the exception of Botswana which has 65 per cent and
South Africa 50 per cent, as against Malawi s 14 per cent and
Lesotho s 26 per cent.
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Urbanization,
poverty, education and fertility
From 1990
to 1993, social programmes were reduced throughout the continent
owing to budgetary constraints caused by structural adjustment
programmes. However, efforts have been made to reduce maternal
and infant mortality which had remained high all over the continent.
There has been a significant reduction in both phenomena since
1994. NGOs have been actively involved in programmes concerning
reproductive health, family planning sexually transmitted diseases
( STDs) , the struggle against physical violence, particularly
female sexual mutilation ( FSM) and female genital mutilation
( FGM) . They ( NGOs) have also been very active in combating
sexual violence against women and young girls. Their activities
have been facilitated by the favourable climate created by the
Action 21 programme, even though opposition to contraception has
remained strong among communities where various pretexts have
been used against it. Disparities in the situation and the responsibilities
of men and women with regar to health, family planning and the
choices of spouses are not always included in health programmes
owing to the general insensitivity to gender concerns. Furthermore,
the recommended follow- up of the relationship between health,
education, food, agriculture and environment is uncoordinated.
Women are
often prevented, by various constraints, from participating in
reproductive health, family planning and information programmes
on the sexual lives of young people and adults. Their role in
population control can be very important, but depends on the actual
importance given to this role in the community and society. Although
the gender disaggregated ata currently available are not sufficient
for adequately analysing the condition of women, women s involvement
in remunerative trading and professional/ vocational activities
and the schooling of young girls seem to be the major factors
for changing their situation. It has been established that the
assumed age of marriage or first pregnancy increases with increase
in the level of women s education.
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V. Gender
and environment: A methodology
Evaluating
the outcome of actions taken to apply the gender approach to environmental
issues requires paying particular attention to the basic procedures
and instruments. The first thing is to identify the forms of social
differentiation, be they discriminatory or not, and to analyse
power relations. The second thing is to break down the data by
sex and age which makes it possible to analyse discrimination
based on such factors as poverty, ethnic affiliation, culture
and geographical location. The gender approach is used to analyse
and measure the relations and differences between men and women
with regard inter alia to their functions, quality of life and
legal status.
Analysis of
environmental problems on the basis of the responsibility of economic
actors and of consumption modes shows women to be actively involved
in the reproductive, productive and community economy but absent
from the bodies that take decisions on resource allocation for
environmental management. Gender- disaggregated data has been
used to show women to be indispensable in matters relating to
environmental management. Women distinguish themselves by their
professionalism and increasingly use their time for monetary gains
. Access to natural resources is the dominant theme emerging from
the quantitative and qualitative analysis resulting from the application
of the gender approach to environmental matters . More relevant
strategies for action can be drawn up by linking access to natural
resources, as a driving force, to the specific dependant variables.
Conclusions
drawn from analyses of gender and environment have not been widely
disseminated. Country reports fail to mention sectoral analyses
carried out through the approach. The qualitative observations
made are not clearly stated in the statistics of countries; nevertheless,
the few studies conducted on these issues reveal that women are
the main managers of the survival systems of the greatest number
of people in the towns and rural areas. These provisional results
are enough to start compiling information, establish training
activities, guide policies and ask specific questions. Efforts
should therefore be made to define policies based on real economic
situations and community initiatives and capable of bringing about
effective change through open and democratic strategic planning.
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The
importance of participation and strategic planning
Participation
in strategic planning is an essential instrument of persuasion
and negotiation which enables rural wellers, marginalized communities
and women to express themselves. This approach, whose vital importance
has long been acknowledged, is har ly used. The participatory
approach should enable all actors to discuss their points of disagreement
and contradictory interests and to arrive at decisions acceptable
to all. Very often, environmental protection policies are detrimental
to women s interests. For example, biodiversity protection programmes
have prohibited women from going to places where they collect
plants for traditional medicine and which serve as major sources
of protein for sale and for domestic consumption.
Analysis of
gender and environment should therefore entail defining what is
prejudicial to each specific group and by type of resource use,
highlighting the power relations and the discriminatory factors.
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Predominance
of specialized agencies over the national statistical offices
The institutions
responsible for the integration of gender and environment build
their cases on information obtained from advisers and trainers
in gender analysis, workshops, discussions, assistance given to
a particular sector and gender- disaggregated data collected.
Thes institutions need to examine different documents dealing
with various sectors in search of rules, frequency, indicators
and quantifiable assessment of paid or unpaid activities. Organizing
workshops for development professionals and technicians is generally
useful for evaluating the models currently in use or for consolidating
actions being carried out. These institutions also prepare guidelines
for monitoring activities and for analysing pogramme strategies.
Such specialized
agencies of the United Nations as the United Nations Environment
Programme ( UNEP) , United Nations Development Fund for Women
( UNIFEM) , International Research and Training Institute for
the A vancement of Women ( INSTRAW) , United Nations Development
Programme ( UNDP) , United Nations Population Fund ( UNFPA) ,
International Labour Organization ( ILO) , United Nations Industrial
Development Organization ( UNIDO) , UNHCR, and Worl Meteorological
Organization ( WMO) like the cooperation agencies of some countries
( the Netherlands, Canada, France, Germany, USA, Italy, Belgium,
Japan, Luxemburg, China and the Middle- East countries) and subregional
and continental financial institutions have rough or complete
documentary data which can be used for the analyses. In fact,
most of the currently available data have been collected and analysed
by institutions, particularly United Nations agencies, for their
own use since the 1992 Rio Conference.
It is to be
noted that the situation with regar to national statistical offices
is completely different: These offices are undertaking less and
less training and data development programmes even though responsible
for national coordination of statistics. At the moment, they are
not given priority in national policies and budgets.
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Issues
raised by the integration of gender and development
The cross-
cutting nature of gender and environment issues explains why the
problem of integrating the gender approach into environmental
cooperation programmes arises right at the programme definition
phase. It even creates additional work for the teams doing the
planning, evaluation and identification of the performance and
follow- up indicators. This challenge is not new; it has helped
to keep on the sidelines an area that has for long been considered
unimportant.
[Table
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The
Agencies
During the
Dakar and Beijing Conferences, donors pledged to support the promotion
of the gender approach at all stages of the process, from the
policy- making stage at the level of ministries, through the utilization
of resources to the exchange of experiences gained in the field.
The coordination stage is therefore compulsory for harmonizing
the strategies and activities of the various actors. However,
the main problem has been insufficient background data, approach
and non- mobilization of the additional funds required. This issue
which was discussed at the Beijing Conference remains unresolved
for it is difficult to mobilize funds to train staff and produce
the necessary support materials for data collection.
Furthermore,
the institutional partners acknowledge the need to integrate gender
concerns in development and environmental cooperation programmes.
They stress that the approach is challenging and difficult. In
fact, no institution or institutional mechanism has been specifically
mandated to handle these two problems together. The sections responsible
for gender matters in cooperation agencies are usually not responsible
for environmental matters or vice versa. The expected skills shortage
has made some agencies to set up working groups to further examine
the issue of gender in their specific fields. The Club du Sahel
is an example.
Other development
agencies have set up units within their operational divisions
or have allocated additional resources to existing divisions specifically
for dealing with women s issues. The Food and Agricultural Organization
of the United Nations ( FAO) and ILO have also restructured many
of their divisions and established new units or strengthened existing
ones for this purpose. With the modest success of their strategies
for integrating women in development, these institutions now consider
training in gender analysis indispensable, and that such training
needs to be conducted with the aid of computer software and tools
in order to make the actors involved in the plans and programmes
to understand the stakes involved. Integration of the gender and
environment issues requires better understanding of household
and production structures. The sectoral ministries/ departments
responsible for social affairs are best equipped to handle both
the gender and social issues.
Furthermore,
information gathered from gender- disaggregated data on time series
budgets and incomes from the informal sector have made it possible
to move beyond subjective and qualitative evaluations and to recommend
specific support measures to be used in preparing national accounts
and guidelines for national planning departments.
Many international
institutions have prepared consultation frameworks for discussions
with Governments on the preparation of strategies and policies
and the commitment of funds for each sector. These mechanisms
have acquired the skills to undertake gender and environment analysis
and there is a consensus on these issues. An examination of the
reference documents of these mechanisms show that they tend to
prioritize disaggregated data on women s contribution to the manufacturing
sector. Furthermore, it would be advisable to start from these
data broken down by sex and age to try to find the gender disparity
in each country. This will enable decision makers to prepare reports
on the progress made in integrating the gender and environment
issue, to put the relevant projects and programmes carried out
in a legal framework and to better coordinate actions at all levels.
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Joint
financing and project effectiveness
Through cost-
sharing with beneficiaries it has often been possible to incorporate
environmental action in development programmes in spite of the
problem of meeting institutional demands that implementation deadlines,
list of activities and the evaluation time- frame should be adhered
to. Joint financing of activities has made it possible to highlight
women s role as actors in environmental management. It is however
regrettable that this only concerns micro- activities and locally
based projects. Analysis of some projects jointly carried out
and jointly financed have shown some very important practices,
for example, the sustainable action programme of the System Approach
to Developing Information Systems and Networks for the Private
Sector in Africa ( ASDI) which participated in funding the Gender
Action Programme initiated by the National Economic and Development
Authority ( NEDA) . This programme aims to analyse the relationship
between gender and environment. Joint financing increases the
room for manoeuvre, allowing for the introduction of new strategic
elements into programmes and, consequently, for removing obstacles
which remain even after environment agencies have changed their
working methods.
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VI. Results
of sectoral studies
Ecosystem
analysis has changed tremendously since it started being done
by geographical area and since the adoption of a structural and
functional approach to problems. The gender- disaggregated data
used are often based on surveys limited to project areas and which
can only be used to determine trends. Structural analysis improves
understanding of the importance of women and their strategies
and confirms the fact that the relationship between women and
the environment in African countries is a daily phenomenon, and
is vital.
In establishing
priorities using quantitative indicators of effects and impact,
the most recurrent critical issues are water resources, land resources,
energy resources, transport, toxic wastes and such cross- cutting
themes as population and family welfare.
The need for
studies on women producers and for widely disseminating their
successes in the rational use of resources is acknowledged. The
actors of these successes ( people, technicians, donors) are also
important channels of information and training on new approaches,
methodologies and alternative technologies.
The recommendation
to undertake structural analysis of gender inequality concerns
not only domestic but also community activities. Economic surveys
should also be conducted on activities carried out by people and
Governments in natural resources management, and on the successes
achieved in this connection. Current studies are mainly on trading
activities and on formal and informal sector salaries. These analyses
reveal the following:
( a) The predominance
of women in the small- scale food commodity sector in both the
rural and urban areas ( oil, flour, semolina, sweets, small- scale
brewing, dry or smoked fish) . They produce 80- 100 per cent of
the local agricultural, livestock, harvested and fisheries resources;
( b) In areas
close to markets, cooperatives are active and equipment is developing.
The productive women are those who process agricultural or gathered
food products into semi- finished products. To be competitive
they sell primary products at low prices or set up family networks
to sell the products in urban areas. They increase their income
by processing ( smoking, drying, salting and cooking) products.
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Street
trading
Street trading
which develops in response to the urban demand for goods and services
has been analysed in detail. The studies on the phenomenon have
particularly helped to demonstrate informal sector contribution
to the local wealth, apart from the contribution of the public
and official credit systems. They have also exposed the work of
children as retailers, and have increased the list of establishments
necessary for the preparation of national accounts.
Studies have
been conducted on trading and street hawking in Cote d Ivoire,
Benin and Guinea revealing the numerical preponderance of women
in the informal sector, without the gender issue arising. The
studies have shown that more women than men are involved in this
rapidly developing sector. These women use rudimentary technology
and, frequently, alternative modes of financing such as tontines,
loans and borrowing. Women working in this area control social
relations and interdependence in the community.
In Cote d
Ivoire, the national Committee on food and development, in cooperation
with FAO, has trained people on hygiene, and food security and
has conducted sensitization campaigns on the rights of street
vendors. Institutions like ILO, INSTRAW and UNIFEM or projects
like the Women in Information Employment: Globalizing and Organizing
( WIEGO) have been working to strengthen activities in these areas
since 1996.
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Continental
fisheries projects
The continental fisheries
projects have received funding for storage and processing operations.
Owing to certain taboos, women are often not involved in the catching
stage of fishing, except the catching of small shellfish.
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Energy
With regar
to energy, it has been observed that the more the processing technologies
use expensive energy, the more they are controlled by men. Evidence
of this is in the mixed or male operations studied in Zimbabwe
and South Africa. Most women work with equipment that use natural
energy, such as sun, wood and wind
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Production
of fatty foods
The production
of fatty foods from such products as palm- nuts, karité butter
and cow fat as well as the production of smoked or dried meat
are largely dominated by women whose productions are either domestic
or commercial. Competition in the production and marketing of
oil products meant for foreign markets has become stiff. The production
of oil products is poorly organized in Africa, with the exception
of the former colonial industries which produce oil from groundnuts,
or cottonseeds. Oil continues to be produced from palm products,
copra and karite mainly by women. This production is however less
done by village community networks, unlike with other products.
Worthy of note is the fact that these products ( karité, cocoa
and others) compete with other similar products in international
markets.
Women entrepreneurs
are generally constrained by lack of access to sufficient loans,
the dearth of appropriate technology for food. processing and
inadequate support from Governments. Women consider the support
given them insufficient to enable them to take off and that such
support is less than their national share. Moreover, the stakes
of trade globalization requires that women producers have information
on potential markets. The local competition trend also needs to
be studied in order to avoid improper actions that are prejudicial
to the environment and to local employment. Such actions could
strengthen the efforts of subregional economic integration organizations
considering that the subregional common markets, with the exception
of the Community of Eastern and Southern Africa ( COMESA) and
the Southern African Development Community ( SADC) , do not give
sufficient support to professional organizations , in spite of
the importance of such support.
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Working
conditions and equipment of women working in industrial plantaions
The working
conditions and equipment of women working in medium- or large-
scale individual farms or in agro- industrial complexes are more
rudimentary than those of most of their men counterparts. These
women are generally unschooled, often illiterate and have little
prospects for advancement. Unlike the men who are accommodated
in camps built in their places of work ( Eastern and Southern
Africa) , women live outside and are not specifically organized
professionally to be able to defend their occupational rights.
Often not provided with protective clothing as stipulated in the
regulations, they are therefore subjected to various health hazards,
including inhalation of chemical and toxic substances. They are
usually the last to be supplied with equipment. They work in unhygienic
conditions and are even more vulnerable to violence associated
with the search for employment in an environment of stiff competition
for unskilled job. There are hardly any incentives for salaried
women working in farms.
Erosion of
professional rights: Legally, women working in all sectors are
only theoretically covered by the minimum wage regulations and
the official working hours stipulated for the public and private
sectors. The working hours are generally longer in the private
sector which has the largest number of female workers. During
the past five years, the rights of women have been diminishing,
especially as regards maternity leave. In practice, the relevant
laws are not always respected by their employers. Women employees
are not given flexible time for breastfeeding their babies. In
Egypt, a new law has even been promulgated reducing the maternity
leave period in the public sector.
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Women
in industrial construction
According
to ILO and the World Food Programme ( WFP) , a growing number
of women now work in work sites and in labour intensive programmes
which usually recruit the most needy people. These activities
are in the construction industry, dam construction, forestry and
road mending. Women work particularly in road infrastructure and
are interested in the Food For Work Programme since food is one
of their areas of specialization and to which only a few men are
attracted. Men prefer wages for their work.
Work sites
using low technology ( housing programmes for middle- income earners
or for resettling migrants) also employ a growing number of women
in projects involving the direct beneficiaries of the housing
schemes as in South Africa.
In Lesotho,
more than 60 per cent of the workers in the Food For Work Programme
are women, compared to 43 per cent in Burkina Faso and 50 per
cent in Uganda. These women usually work in the road infrastructure
sector and in irrigation projects. Women s participation tends
to be high in integrated programmes that enable them and their
families to have access to forestry resources, health and education
services and to nearby markets.
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Women
in road construction and mending
Road construction
and mending programmes offer temporary employment to communities
and are financed with government funds and loans granted by such
institutions as the World Bank, the African Development Bank and
the Food For Work Programme. These programmes change the local
environment and need to be carefully monitored because of their
long- term impact on the environment caused by such factors as
induced consumption, income from employment and dependence on
external decision- making centers.
Transport
policies focused on road construction and rehabilitation could
provide an overall approach, particularly in countries that plan
to privatize road works, like Uganda and Burkina Faso, which would
want to increase the involvement of communities in improving rural
roads between and within villages in accordance with decentralization
policies.
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Transport
sector professionals
The ECA Regional
Cooperation and Integration Division ( RCID) assists countries
in the areas of transport, communication and tourism, and has
qualitative indicators on women s participation in the sector
which remains dominated by men. The number of women involved here
is on the increase and their effectiveness has been acknowledged.
Women work in the infrastructure sector as salaried workers or
as volunteers in community work sites where they are sometimes
chief supervisors in inter- regional road projects. This sector
is organized by mixed trade unions which control the profession.
Women are under- represented in these institutions.
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Women
in the mining sector
The privatization
of small- scale mining, particularly gold washing, provides the
rural people concerned with an alternative means of survival.
The number of women in this sector is increasing. In West Africa,
there was an increase in the wave of begging caused by the agricultural
crisis of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since 1995, there have
been many gold mining activities in this region in which women
and families have been highly involved. However, the professional
a vancement of women in these activities is difficult as they
have to struggle against the myths and prejudices which disqualify
them, among which are claims of mineral deposits drying up because
of the presence of menstruating women in the mines and workmen
s refusal to obey women. These problems are widespread particularly
in Zimbabwe where 300 women hold mining licenses.
In large mining
areas in Angola, Mozambique, Botswana, Mali and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo women who are not involved in mining take
up petty trading or run leisure spots. Their initial capital comes
from gifts or family loans. Mining is usually harmful to the environment,
and the existing laws are not applied. Measures are not taken
to repair the environmental damages done by soil destruction and
the product residues which are dangerous to humans and wildlife.
The physical well- being of women is often threatened in these
insecure areas where they are indispensable both as workers and
as service providers.
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Changes
triggered by the Beijing Conference
Zimbabwe and
Burkina Faso have established local support structures, such as
that of the Canadian International Development Agency ( CIDA)
in Zimbabwe which has facilitated the admission of young women
into the professional mining school of that country. The school
had hitherto been reserved for men with prior working experience
and salary. The 1988 session had eight women in a class of 70
students.
In SADC member
countries women in the mining sector have significantly organized
their activities since the Beijing Conference with the assistance
of a special support programme for small- scale mining activities.
With the support of SADC and UNIFEM, the Women in Mining Trust
Association, the first association of women working in this sector,
was established. This step has made it possible to change women
s representation in the sector at the regional level.
The document
Small- Mining Gender Issues prepared by UNIDO in 1997, in cooperation
with ECA, is part of the advocacy activities undertaken on behalf
of women in small- scale mining activities. UNIDO and ILO provide
support for activities to create dialogue involving representatives
of associations, Governments and large- and medium- scale private
sector enterprises.
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VII. Institutional
support to women
Rural women
take into consideration the reproduction cycle of the natural
resources they use. They select seeds and know what is to be eaten
in its natural state and what is to be processed or sold, based
on a specific timetable. They know how to evaluate the quality
of products and plan their activities bearing in mind the opportunities
and the constraints. This is why they are receptive to their invitation
to rationalize the use of natural resources even with the financial
and time constraints caused them. However, a few women work in
public seed- selection institutions. The seed- selection activities
carried out by women in the Congo and in Rwanda have been supported
by FAO which has established programmes on maize, beans and soja.
These institutions
give priority to the seeds of cash crops for large farms, including
the varieties and species cultivated by women. Women are producing
many more seeds than men for financial reasons and in order better
to control the cropping conditions, given that technical assistance
for agriculture particularly favours improved species which often
require large quantities of water ( irrigation) and fertilizer.
Research on
agrarian systems have endorsed the fact that men s farming systems
and modes of use of natural resources are often very ifferent
from those preferred by women farmers.
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Technological
support
Women are
highly under- represented in those sectors where advanced technology
is used, such as fishing, industrial processing of oil, mechanized
agriculture and transport. They form local associations or national
and regional networks using information from within. They are
given more of technical than technological training to enable
them to better harmonize their knowledge and their financial situation.
The technical projects are limited to projects that receive micro-
financing, and women s associations in this area are given training
support.
The contribution
of United Nations agencies, particularly FAO, UNIFEM and UNEP,
is principally in the use of information for the preparation of
gender- disaggregated data for training on gender and environment
( issues of plot management, water resources and renewable energy,
among others) . These activities are mainly for use by development
partners and officials of ministries involved in local development
programmes.
Private organizations,
supported by the above- mentioned agencies or bilateral and multilateral
cooperation agencies have also conducted training through national
or regional networks or subregional organizations whose mission
is specifically to ensure environmental protection. These training
activities hard y include the prob ems of urban consumption patterns.
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Sharing
and rural transport development
The aim of
rural transport is mainly to facilitate access to markets, schools,
health centers and similar places. Although its importance for
agricultural production is well known, rural transport attracts
little attention in the national policies and regular budgets
of countries. Recent studies have shown that the major transport
problems faced by families is the conveyance of their productions.
Studies on transport problems are increasingly taking the gender
aspect into account
having confirmed
that the transport needs of men are different from those of women
and that the disparities in access to transport technologies and
services are considerable. Even in countries like Zimbabwe, Uganda
and Cameroon where women use animal- drawn carts, animal production
and trade is controlled by men.
Currently,
assistance is only given to solving the problem of transportation
of commercial goods and supplies. Domestic products and goods
such as wood and water are not taken into account as they do not
directly generate income. This situation puts an ever- increasing
burden on women who do most of the human porterage which is very
harmful to their health, especially in places with serious shortage
of water and food resources. Women s porterage burden increases
as they attempt to save on transportation costs. When markets
are far from production points, men market women s productions,
thus making the latter to lose control of the sale of their own
goods.
Rural transport
programmes are beginning to give more attention to environmental
concerns and natural resources management, particularly the way
people perceive the changes taking place in their environment.
These are measured in terms of the resources and services they
can obtain. The differences in perception, whereby the priorities
vary depending on the group and the period concerned, have made
the promoters of these programmes to set up integrated time- saving
programmes such as the construction of nearby social structures
like schools, health centres and pipe- borne water, as in Uganda
and Zambia. The next thing is to analyse the impact of these operations
on the target communities, particularly women and marginalized
groups.
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