Senegalese women"s households and natural resources management : a gender analysis of USAID/Senegal"s 1992 "knowledge, attitudes and practices" survey data -- a discussion paper

Simple descriptive statistics are used to describe women-headed households" demographic composition, material resources, and agricultural production, and to compare them with that of households headed by men. The data are from the 1993 USAID/Senegal Agriculture and Natural Resources Office"s Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) survey. The survey included 102 women-headed households. Gender analysis shows that there are significant differences between women"s and men"s households in terms of material resources and use of NRM practices. Women-headed households control less land, own fewer livestock, and have less equipment for agricultural production than do households headed by men. Off-farm sources of income are more important in women"s household economies than in men"s. The data also show that women"s households depend less on marketing staple food grains and more on gifts from other households for their economic survival, which is a precarious position in Senegal"s marginal environment. Forty-three percent of women-headed households do not use any NRM practices at all. Women reported that cost is the major constraint on their use of NRM practices. The practices that they use most frequently are to enhance soil fertility and include crop rotation and use of manure, fertilizer, and pesticides. Their major reason for using these practices is to improve yields. A significantly larger proportion of men-headed households use these practices and men"s use has increased over time, unlike women"s use of these practices. These differences point to the need for further research to increase the understanding of Senegalese women"s management of their natural resources. (Author abstract)