Reducing the Gender Gap in Extension and Advisory Services

Agriculture is a fundamental driver of economic growth and poverty reduction, but past efforts have failed to address the role of women in the sector. According to The State of Food and Agriculture (FAO, 2011), women comprise 43% of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, ranging from 20% in Latin America to 50% in Eastern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Reducing gender inequalities in access to productive resources and services could increase yields on women's farms by 20-30%, raising agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5-4%. To realize these gains, men and women farmers need access to information, skills, and tools to improve yields. However, levels of contact between farmers and extension agents remain relatively low, especially among women. The strategies and institutions involved in the delivery of extension services must be reformed to offer a better fit for men and women farmers. This requires a deeper understanding of gender relations, as they relate to the content, delivery, and usage of extension and advisory services (EAS), the structure and policies of agricultural development institutions, and the benefits of agricultural growth. Historical Overview - How EAS Have Attempted to Incorporate Gender Issues Academic and development communities began to take notice of women's contributions to agriculture after Ester Boserup published her groundbreaking work, Women's Role in Economic Development, in 1970. Reports began to emerge, identifying past failures and exploring approaches that actually work. The World Development Report 1982 stated that extension services are often biased toward work with men and neglect the very important role of women as farmers in most parts of the world. This conclusion was supported by other studies and reviews of the period, which found that structural biases in the local selection criteria for extension services excluded women. The early 'Training and Visit' (T&V) extension systems in the 1970s-90s did not effectively reach all groups and viewed women as 'beneficiaries' rather than as actors in their own right. Although the development of the Farming System Research and Extension approach (FSR/E) initially ignored gender issues, this changed in response to a series of research activities and data-sharing opportunities during the 1980s and early 1990s. The Agricultural Knowledge/Information System (AKIS) approach, introduced by the World Bank in 2000, went a long way toward extending the inclusion of gender issues in the research processes and personnel policies. However, many of the constraints preventing women from accessing EAS remained overlooked. More recently, the Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) perspective on agricultural development has emerged, with a broad focus on stimulating innovative behavior and fostering "linkages and partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders along agricultural value chains, including the agribusiness sector." The AIS perspective is a departure from the simple 'best practice' or one-size-fits-all approach toward the customized 'best fit' application of service principles, based on assessment of contextual factors. Meanwhile, livelihoods approaches have integrated poverty reduction, natural resource management, and other rural development concerns into EAS, strengthening the impact. However, neither approach explicitly addresses gender dynamics, and women are viewed as critical actors in agricultural development. Addressing gender inequalities in EAS is essential for achieving more broad-based and sustainable outcomes. The business case for addressing gender issues in EAS includes improved efficiency and outcomes, while the development case emphasizes the importance of eliminating inequality. Addressing gender inequalities in EAS can lead to greater impact on skills and productivity, strengthen food security and poverty reduction, and create sustainable flows of quality goods. It can also remove discrimination, create new business opportunities, and improve household nutrition. To find the 'best fit' for men and women farmers, it is essential to understand the complex environments structured by gender relations. This requires a systematic gathering and analysis of information on gender differences and social relations to identify and understand the different roles, divisions of labor, resources, constraints, needs, opportunities, and interests of various groups, including men and women, girls and boys, and transgendered persons, in a given context. This process is known as gender analysis, and it aims to clarify how gender roles and relations create opportunities for or obstacles to achieving development objectives.