Gender Issues in Developing Countries

Gender Issues in Developing CountriesEmpowerment of Rural Woman in Bangladesh through AgricultureIntroductionThe gender comeback in create countries again highlighted at the World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 (Hicks, 1997). Womens work in the productive and tender sectors is a key aspect of ontogenesis. E actuallyone has a unique classification of empowerment based on his or her life experiences, behavior, and ambitions, person has the power to decide more or less their things, their life, and their actions can be identified as empowerment. Rao and Kelleher stated that the capacity of women to be sparingally self-sufficient and self-reliant with control over decisions affecting their life options and license from violence (Rao and Kelleher, 1995). The disempowerment of women reflects upon their less education level income, control over their own income, bargaining power in selling their own produce and labor. This susceptible insure ended an overall dependency of wo men on their male congeners through their life cycle particularly in underdeveloped countries which lowers their value of life in the society.Bangladesh is a developing country, according to the United Nations Gender-related Development Index (GDI), Bangladesh ranked 105th out of a total of 177 countries worldwide (Grimm, Harttgen et al., 2008). A patriarchal social schema dominate the life of women in Bangladesh, controls a womens mobility, the roles and everyday jobs. In Bangladesh tralatitiously men dominate women in all spheres of life. The poor women in rustic aras having the least power, have few rights, little choice about their lives, and very few chances to modification their condition. Women in Bangladesh in country area are primarily illiterate and often have the least to eat.Though, despite all of the problems, women do play a strong role in agricultural activities in Bangladesh. verdant activities includes crop yield and impact, post-harvest operations, livest ock husbandry, aquaculture and agro-social forestry.Figure 1 The Ratio of economically industrious women working in agriculture, 1980-2010 Source FAO (2003)LIFDCs low income food deficit countriesLDCs least Developed CountriesThe female component part to the overall parsimony in developing countries have particularly 43% of the agricultural labor force in developing countries in the agricultural sector like Bangladesh but societal and economic constraints limit their further inclusion in this field. (Food and Organization, 2011). Around 84% of the total universe lives in rustic areas where agriculture plays alert role in the economy, this sector comprises crops, forests, tilteries and livestock, Womens involvement to agriculture considered as unpaid family labor, is grossly underestimated. Bangladesh is a traditional Muslim country where women are hardly participate in agricultural activities outside home (Hossain and Bayes, 2009). In Bangladesh the womens agricultural activit ies limited to settle turnout and post-harvest operations but in youthful years they are virtuallyly involved in livestock and fowl rearing activities besides crop production. In Bangladesh womens contribution to socio-economic development were not noticeable, beca expend of a set of social criterions which allowed men to dominate womenWomens contribution in agricultural production is processing and storage of grains and pulses with household based small-scale industry. Men specially worked in public space like the fields, roads and market place on the another(prenominal) hand restrictions prevent women from attending the market. The contribution of women re of imports socially invisible control over the proceeds of their labor is transferred to male hands.In the case of rice, which is the main crops in Bangladesh provides a significant example of this process. Main responsible for preparing the fields, sowing the seeds, weeding and harvesting are men also carried the harvest home and help in the threshing. Women indeed conquest the process the paddy into rice, includes parboiling and drying the paddy, and storing the grain. In Bangladesh women spent an average of 3.1 hours per day on agricultural work while men spent 5.1 hours (Zaman, 1995).In Bangladesh the parent technologies are not adequately developed to handle although participation of women in agriculture increasing (Jaim and Hossain, 2011). Womens role is changing from unpaid family worker to active worker which is called as feminization of agriculture in the absence of male members in the family. Contribution of women in the agricultural sector has increased over time. Womens work increased from 3.2 million in Survey 1985/86 to 21 million in Survey 1989 (Rahman and Routray, 1998). During 19992000 and 200506, the number has increased from 3.76 to 7.71 million (Asaduzzaman, 2010).Women more likely to be involved in the agricultural sector who has poor households and risk of being food-insecur e, because theres earnings are important to their families survival.Limited use of ownership, and control of productive physical and human capital emphasis on womens ability to generate income in the agricultural sector. The disadvantage of Bangladeshi women relative to men with respect to assets brought to marriage, and human capital (Quisumbing, 2003). Women in Bangladesh lag behind in terms of education and the lack of education in adult women in Bangladesh live below half a dollar a day make them very poor (Ahmed, Hill et al., 2007)Development in poultry created many another(prenominal) employment opportunity in poultry industry and poultry related products. The revolution in poultry industry has achieved more than 200 percent evolution last 5 years because of new technology.(Shamsuddoha, 2005) fowl rearing can be considered as an alternative income generating activity for the development of rural women of Bangladesh.Poultry domain is mostly homestead-based and contributes a n important role to the agricultural sector in Bangladesh. Poultry rearing generates extra income for these families which is a part of agro-rearing practices of the village community of Bangladesh. Around 89% of the rural house-holds rear poultry (Fattah, 2000), mainly operated and managed by rural women on a small scale. Furthermore 70% of rural landless women are without delay or indirectly involved in poultry rearing activities.Family restrictions, social and traditional barriers keep rural women unable to work outside their home. For these difficult circumstances, homestead poultry rearing is considered the best way to add contribution to the household. It requires least land, small amount of investment and traditional k forthwithledge. Now a days one of the main sources of income for the rural women of Bangladesh is home-based poultry. They have the opportunity to spend the earnings for children, special occasions even educating their children. extra income from home-based po ultry rearing provides the survival of rural families which empowered by decision making process and gos them freedom to absorb part in making family decisions. (Hadi, 1997).By increasing the food consumption and nutrient intake poultry projects help rural women (Nielsen, Roos et al., 2003). Now a days the growing awareness in Bangladesh is rural women can play a vital role to the socio-economic growth of the country and provide their families with a higher standard of living (Alam, 1997). In this way poultry rearing can provide significant benefits to rural women in Bangladesh which lead to better empowerment.Bangladesh is the most promising countries for fresh water aquaculture industry which is second only to agriculture in the overall economy for its easy water resources and sub-tropical climate conditions. Women are involved in various aspects of freshwater aquaculture activities like fish feeding, on-farm feed preparation, pond fertilization, stocking and harvesting. Women s participation in the fish industry the production has increased by up to 20% (Ahmed and Toufique, 2014). Aquaculture related activities are very important for the empowerment of rural women in Bangladesh. Most rural women have the absence of technical knowledge in aquaculture, heavy household tasks and socio-cultural constraints such as mobility restriction keeps out womens participation in aquaculture activities. For this contribution in aquaculture by women is under expectation. Economic, nutritional and social benefits are interlinked in order to empower rural women in Bangladesh. Women have generally improved their standard of living, purchasing power and ability as an economic actor which enhance their position in families. Womens participation in aquaculture improve empowerment which give them greater equity, mobility, more control over resources and political awareness helps to reduce incidents of domestic violence .The expansion of small-scale aquaculture in rural Banglade sh, the women are now breaking through the traditional norms and able to come forward for participate in the development activities outside their homesteads.Several rural women in Bangladesh have successfully adopted and developed with aquaculture production. They feed and harvest fish, also raise fry to yield fingerlings for stocking ponds, they are mainly responsible for the skilled and time consuming tasks that take place on-shore like making and mending nets, processing and marketing fish.Women are previously engaged in coastal area of Bangladesh where shrimp farming is a dominant occupation. Nearly 85% of the women are involved in fry collecting which does not interfere with their day-to-day household work, and helps addition the household income.(Shelly and Costa, 2002).Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh works upon addressing poverty as well as rural development, gender equality, environmental preservation, tragedy management, human rights and other social issue s. It also support common and financial empowerment of the poor, microcredit, agriculture and related activities, water supply and sanitation, women entrepreneur development and other areas.Bangladesh is the most active NGO sector in the developing world, over 6000 registered NGOs are active and about 10 percent play a major role. (Rahman, 2006)The NGOs works on many programs to develop women development and sustainable development in the society, raise the capacity of the women to participate in national, social and democratic processes and to participate in national and local business activities. Most of the sectors are agro based due to most of the women are still engaged with the agro-based sectors like paddy production, poultry farming, dairy farming etc.ConclusionIn recent year a great percentage women in Bangladesh are both directly and indirectly involved in agricultural activities . In crop production activities women involvement is mostly related to managerial activities. Women friendly pre-harvest as well as post- harvest technologies for crop production and processing. Participation of women in Livestock and poultry production activities as well as in homestead gardening has gradually increased to a substantial extent. A women in Bangladesh feel more comfortable in agricultural activities. If a woman achieve capability in 80% or more of the weighted pointed as empoweredWhen economic activities incise the rural women benefit most in Bangladesh. Socioeconomic conditions rise within the households with increased participation in aquaculture, which give her increased decision-making power on household management and income making activities. Poverty is the main cause of difference in a rural phenomenon, for the impact of fisheries and aquaculture gender equity become very high. Most prominently visible economic benefits were able to originate from various activities has gained them suitable place in the decision making process.ReferencesAhmed, A. U., et al. (2007). The worlds most deprived Characteristics and causes of extreme poverty and hunger International Food Policy Research Institute. Washington, DC 145.Ahmed, N. and K. A. Toufique (2014). Greening the blue revolution of smallscale freshwater aquaculture in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Aquaculture Research.Alam, J. (1997). Impact of smallholder livestock development project in some selected areas of rural Bangladesh. Livestock research for rural development 9(3) 1-14.Asaduzzaman, M. (2010). The next agricultural changeover in Bangladesh Which transition, why and how? conference on Understanding the Next Generation in Asia, Bangkok, April.Fattah, K. A. (2000). Poultry as a tool in poverty obliteration and promotion of gender equality. Frands Dolberg and Poul Henning Petersen (eds.) 10.Food, U. and A. Organization (2011). The State of Food and Agriculture 20102011 Women in Agriculture Closing the Gender Gap for Development. FAO Home, http//www. fao. org/docrep/013/i2050e/i2050e 00. htm (accessed 1 November 2011).Grimm, M., et al. (2008). A human development index by income groups.World development 36(12) 2527-2546.Hadi, A. (1997). The NGO intervention and womens empowerment--the Bangladesh experience.Hicks, D. A. (1997). The inequality-adjusted human development index a constructive proposal. World development 25(8) 1283-1298.Hossain, M. and A. Bayes (2009). Rural economy and livelihoods Insights from Bangladesh, AH Development Publishing House.Jaim, W. and M. Hossain (2011). Womens Participation in Agriculture in Bangladesh 1988-2008 Changes and Determinants. pre-conference event on Dynamics of Rural Livelihoods and Poverty in South Asia seventh Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (ASAE) International Conference Hanoi, Vietnam.Nielsen, H., et al. (2003). The impact of semi-scavenging poultry production on the consumption of animal source foods by women and girls in Bangladesh. The journal of nutrition 133(11) 4027S-4030S.Quisumbing, A. R. (2003). Hou sehold decisions, gender, and development a synthesis of recent research, International Food Policy Research Institute.Rahman, S. (2006). Development, democracy and the NGO sector theory and grounds from Bangladesh. Journal of developing societies 22(4) 451-473.Rahman, S. and J. K. Routray (1998). Technological change and womens participation in crop production in Bangladesh. Gender, Technology and Development 2(2) 243-267.Rao, A. and D. Kelleher (1995). Engendering organizational change the BRAC case. IDS bulletin 26(3) 69-78.Shamsuddoha, M. (2005). Poultry rearing-an alternative income generating activity for rural women development of Bangladesh.Chittagong University Journal of Commerce 19.Shelly, A. and M. Costa (2002). Women in aquaculture initiatives of caritas Bangladesh. Penang, Malaysia, ICLARM-The World Fish Center 77-87.Zaman, H. (1995). Patterns of activity and use of time in rural Bangladesh class, gender, and seasonal variations. The Journal of Developing Areas 371-38 8.