10.11.2013 Women at work
Despite being a significant part of rural agriculture, women are deprived of
economic autonomy
By Altaf Hussain
Women are a significant part of the rural agriculture in the agrarian societies like Pakistan, particularly of Sindh where their role is stretched from cleaning seed, to cultivating field crops, harvesting, livestock rearing, home gardening, managing household responsibilities and looking after children. They are prime victim of societal-cum-cultural and political customs and taboos affecting their very wellbeing and the existence. They are also deprived of their due rights including economic autonomy or control over livelihood resources.
According to some estimates, women produce between 60 and 80 per cent of the food in most developing countries and are responsible for half of the world’s food production. Yet their key role as food producers and providers, and their critical contribution to household food security and control over resources, is yet to be acknowledged.
In Sindh, though women have a major share in the agriculture and food production, they are the most vulnerable, marginalised, illiterate and politically excluded section of the society. Women’s limited access to resources and their insufficient purchasing power are products of a series of inter-related social, economic and cultural factors that force them into a subordinate role, to even their own development and that of society as a whole.
About 70 per cent population derives its livelihoods from agriculture as a sole source in Sindh; women constitute quite a significant proportion of that population but continue to be deprived of basic rights at societal as well as household level. According to Labour Force Survey of Pakistan 2010-11, “Rural women’s share in rural labour force of Sindh is 16.9 per cent.” However, it is important to note here that a large number of women, who are unpaid family workers, are not listed or counted in the labour force surveys or statistics.
According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), while women in agriculture-based countries are the mainstay of small-scale agriculture, the farm labour force and day-to-day family subsistence, they have more difficulties than men in gaining access to resources such as land, credit and productivity-enhancing inputs and services.
Looking at the predicament of rural women in Sindh, it is imperative that the reasons behind women’s social, political and economic exclusion be explained. Lack of control over livelihood resources steams out of significant void created between men and women where males dominate social, political, cultural and financial matters at household level. Such type of domination has given birth to restrictions on women’s mobility, right to utilise money both given and earned, and right to education. A woman has to seek husband’s permission in most of the cases, even if she has to seek treatment for health.
Even the persistent efforts by the planners, social welfare agencies and women’s organisations have failed to provide them their rightful place in the society. There are many interrelated factors including biological, socio-cultural, psycho-social, economic and the prevalent work preferences which have prevented women from attaining their due place in the society.
Likewise, the human development indicators vis-à-vis women in Sindh are not encouraging. Education is directly proportional to the access to skills and knowledge.
Lack of access to education has correlation with under-development, social and political exclusion of marginalised communities, particularly women. According to Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (2010-11), only 22 per cent rural female in Sindh have ever attended schools, while only 16 per cent rural female have completed primary education. Net enrollment at primary level for the girls is considerably low at 39 per cent.
Suleman G. Abro, Head of Sindh Agriculture and Forestry Workers Coordinating Organisation (SAFWCO), laments over the precarious situation of women and their lack of control over resources, saying “it is extremely important that women are given the place they deserve as equal citizens.” He says that unfortunately women in rural areas have never been given social-political and economic autonomy.
However, Abro notes that feudal system in Sindh has been the main reason behind women’s marginalisation. For sustainable livelihood, it is important that women have equal access to livelihood assets. This notion includes women’s access to education, health, skills and opportunities so that they can be brought at par with the males as enshrined in the constitution.