guidelines for promoting gender mainstreaming [agriculture]...guidelines for promoting gender...

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


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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?


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(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


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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?


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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


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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


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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


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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?


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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)


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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


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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.


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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.


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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


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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.


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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.


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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].”


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.


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Target crop/theme



Men Women Men Women

Example: Vegetable

Tillage

Sowing

Fertilization

Watering

Transplanting

Weeding

Pest control

Training

Harvesting

Processing

Sales

Income

management

Other

Target crop/theme



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


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Target crop/theme



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



Men Women Men Women

Example: Farmers organization

Membership

Executive/

representative

Fund management

Work burden

Activity plan

Other


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Target crop/theme



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)


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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



Men Women Men Women

Example: Rice

Plowing ✓ ✓

Raising seedlings ✓ ✓

Paddy preparation ✓ ✓

(Interview with a man)

Target crop/theme



Men Women Men Women

Example: Rice

Plowing ✓ ✓

Raising seedlings ✓ ✓

Paddy preparation ✓ ✓

[Matrix of Women’s Role/Decision-making Power in Farm Management]

Involvement



making power


making power


making power


making power

STEP 4 Procedures

Paddy preparation

(women)

Paddy preparation (men)

Raising seedlings

(men & women)

Plowing

(men & women）


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[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



making power


making power


making power


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?


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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.


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.


25

Intermediate


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.


26

Intermediate


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.


27

Intermediate


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.


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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.

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