by A.L. Makwavarara*
Problems of Rural Women
Women in less developed countries face formidable obstacles. Their multiple roles often mean long, hard working hours for very small returns. They are usually the worst-paid group in a country and the first to be laid off. They face shrinking energy sources and rising costs of producing food and they suffer the effects of a fluctuating economy they know little about.
To compound their problems, most third world women have little voice in deciding issues that concern them. In many societies they face legal disabilities that limit the extent to which they can improve their living conditions. Too often, development efforts have been planned without taking women's needs into account, with the well-documented result that women have found themselves worse off at the end of some development projects than at the start.
The United Nation's International Year for Women in 1975, which saw the unveiling of the World Plan of Action for the Decade for Women, attempted to address these issues. Unfortunately, though much attention was given to what ought to be done for women, not much was accomplished. Today's generation of Third World women is worse off, in many respects, than the previous generation was.
The plight of rural young women is particularly severe because of their generally disadvantaged and neglected environment. They rarely complete formal school. They have difficulty gaining access to tools of production, and few of them have the opportunity to market their produce. In many instances they are denied access to loans in their own right, and where loans are available they have difficulty providing collateral. Handicapped by illiteracy, lack of post offices, and poor roads, they are often cut off from the government services that have been set up to help them.
Within the family, rural women are often expected to reproduce, and their multiple pregnancies, combined with long working days in which they must fetch water and firewood by hand, pound grain, and do field work, jeopardize their physical well-being. Yet the health facilities available to them are usually inadequate.
To break the cycle of poverty and disease and to cure the problems that keep rural women from bettering their lot, action must be taken on several different fronts.
Education
Rural girls need to be provided with educational opportunities and encouraged not to drop out of school early to get married. An education will not only improve their chances for employment and therefore financial independence, but will help reduce the rate of population growth: experience has shown that where young women are financially independent, they tend to reach adulthood before becoming parents.
Sex education, including family planning, should be part of the school curriculum for both girls and boys. By cutting down on unwanted pregnancies, reducing the number of unwed mothers, and helping young adults determine their desirable family size, sex education can provide women with more control over their lives and improve the mental and physical health of families.
Adult education is needed to change attitudes toward women within the family circle. Conferences, seminars, and research can help identify ways to modify old ideas on the strict division of labor and relieve some of the anxieties resulting from challenges to the traditional family structure.
Family Planning
Governments need to establish population policies, provide access to sex education and contraceptive services, and support Integrated Child Spacing and related programmes. Religious and political barriers to the full participation of women in such programmes and in decisions about family size must be eliminated.
Employment of Women
One of the fundamental points in the employment of women is to avoid isolating them from the mainstream of activities within the region. The earmarking for women of low-status, low-income, high-drudgery jobs must end.
When rural community projects are planned, full consideration must be given to the effect on women's employment. Questions such as who does what, when and how, and using what implements must be resolved before the project gets underway. Planners must ensure that their projects do not double or triple women's tasks, or use women as paid slaves.
Young rural women must be trained in the skills and technology necessary to pursue employment opportunities, go into business for themselves, and do their own marketing. At a minimum, they must learn basic bookkeeping--enough to distinguish between gain and loss. The skills taught to rural women must be marketable within their communities.
Governments must establish policies of equal access to jobs and to job training.
Cooperatives should be encouraged as a means of generating income and promoting group employment. However, it is critical that women understand the basic principles for cooperative development before they begin.
Revolving Fund projects can help rural young women who usually do not have the collateral asked of them by commercial banks. Savings club movements, in which a small amount of money is regularly banked for the individual, can also help provide needed funds.
Food Production
Agricultural policies must be formulated at the highest levels to support fanning by women and indeed all rural participants. These policies must address the rising costs of implements, seed, and chemicals and their effect on food production in underdeveloped countries. They must also ensure that women have access to land and thus the means of producing food.
National governments and international agencies have roles in planning, monitoring, and evaluating agricultural activities. In the field, strong extension work is needed.
Group work or cooperatives can ease the physical burden of food production on women. So can the establishment of simple day care centers and pre-schools in the rural areas to relieve women of their child care responsibilities while they farm.
Instructions on the use of fertilizer, seed, and pest control chemicals should be distributed, in a language the farmers understand. This will encourage increased production and reduce dangerous misuse of chemicals.
Women also need training in food storage techniques to prevent insects, rodents, and careless handling of grain from significantly reducing the amount of grain already harvested. Local materials, properly used by knowledgeable participants, can go a long way toward combating this problem.
Recreation
As time-saving techniques are implemented, rural women will be able to budget some of their time for leisure. Recreational facilities should be built in rural areas so that women can take full advantage of this leisure time.
Security Benefits
Social security systems should be introduced so women are no longer obliged to rely only on large families to meet their security needs. Such systems can help slow population growth to the rate of developmental growth, reducing the burden of pregnancy and childrearing on women, and helping ensure that children receive the support they deserve.
Communication
Post offices need to be constructed in rural areas; new roads must be built and existing roads improved. Governments should make use of proven forms of communication such as mobile units that rely on visual aids to reach rural populations.
Research
This is a new enterprise in many developing countries because of lack of technical know-how and the costs involved. Nevertheless, research and evaluation efforts must be intensified to identify the successes and problems of development efforts and help plan new interventions. In some cases, pilot studies will be helpful.
CONCLUSION
There is a food crisis in underdeveloped countries. Women form the majority of the steady rural population in these countries, and their efforts will be critical in addressing problems of food production and economic development in the Third World.
Therefore, addressing issues that affect the inability of rural young women to become fully effective and productive member of their society is of paramount importance.
Currently, most rural women in underdeveloped countries are handicapped by disease, poverty, and ignorance, and are unequipped to enter the modern world. Development efforts must concentrate on improving their political, social, and economic conditions. In the final analysis, the development of a country will be judged not by the life offered to the urban poor,but to the rural poor, the women who form the backbone of the population.
*Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Community Development and Womens' Affairs, Harare, Zimbabwe.
