Empowering women for development

By JAMES LARAKI
ANY hopes for women representation in parliament were shattered last week when the government failed to muster the required votes to pass the bill on the reserved seats.
It was a moment of disappointment for women leaders and supporters who have been pushing for the bill. More disappointing was not only the outcome of the vote but the conduct of many MPs who decided to walk out when the bill was being introduced.
While politicians may have their own reasons, we are of the view that such behaviour against women is not only on the political front but a clear indication of what could be happening in all fronts of development.
What is missing here is that we fail to understand that men and women are equal partners in development. This simple truth continues to be ignored.
This scenario is also true for the agriculture sector.
In our rural areas, women contribute a significant portion of the total labour requirements for agriculture-related activities. Yet, women face unnecessary restrictions on their ability to buy, sell or inherit land; open a savings account; borrow money or sell their crops at the market. Their ability to produce food is further hampered by the lack of access to basic requirements such as fertilisers, transport and extension services to name a few.
We may argue that in our culture, men are the head of everything and women only contribute, especially to labour. No, this should no longer be the case and we need to move away from this mindset.
We should ask ourselves what would be the case if women enjoyed the same access to productive resources as men.
Studies have indicated that, if given the same access, women could boost yield by 20-30% and contribute to the overall agricultural output by 2.5-4%.
The United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) noted that this gain in production could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12-17% besides improving women’s well-being and income.
As farmers, agricultural workers and entrepreneurs, women form the backbone of our rural economy and yet, together with children, they remain one of the most vulnerable groups. Limited access to education and other vital services is having an adverse impact on the lives of women, especially in rural areas and settlements. Growing pressure on land, urban migration and stresses associated with climate change are already proving to be unfavourable to women in agriculture. They are denied the opportunities from new technologies and markets despite the many policies being put in place to recognise women as equal partners in development.
It is already a concern that gender issues are not receiving the attention they deserve and the current situation has to change immediately.
We need to address gender-related issues to achieve more sustainable and broad-based agricultural growth. We are not alone here as it is a global concern and efforts are already being made to address the issue.
FAO and other international organisations such as Global Forum on Agricultural Research, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and many national agricultural research systems are already taking steps to overcome the existing gaps and to face the emerging challenges of sustainable development and livelihood of resource poor smallholder farmers, especially women.
It is, therefore, timely for us to see the initiatives undertaken elsewhere and use any useful evidence to refocus our own policies, institutions and programmes to empower women.
With sweeping changes in agriculture and other sectors, gender issues are becoming more important and dynamic. It is necessary for us to understand these issues and explore options available to enhance the capability of women who play a vital role in agriculture.
It is time for us to work together to close the gender gap and have in place workable policies and reforms to empower PNG women to improve agricultural productivity and nutrition and reduce hunger and poverty. We must note that our effort to achieving these is slim without women.
We need to do what is necessary to ensure women are empowered to play their roles in development. There is a need to change our mindset and accept the fact that women are important partners. We have to learn to work together with women and value their contributions in development.
We cannot continue to ignore and walk away from these issues as was the case in parliament last week.
The actions of MPs were unacceptable and had set a bad precedence. We hope their conduct was in line with their political reasoning and convenience and not an act against our efforts to empower women.
It is now becoming necessary for all of us; policy-makers, development professionals and the civil society to understand the role of women in development and see how we all can work together. We need to assess the role of women and efforts should be made to redesign policies and reforms that would empower women in the country.