DUSHANBE, July 20, 2015, Asia-Plus — A new book from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reveals that rural women in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia often face the same hardships as their sisters in other regions of the world.
Rural Women in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
, published in hardcover this week and also available online, uses data to provide a better overview of the gender gap in agriculture and rural areas. Experts with FAO’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia carried out the study, using data similar to those used in the Organization’s landmark 2011 report,
State of Food and Agriculture: Women in Agriculture – Closing the Gender Gap for Development
.
For the 2011 report, FAO used empirical evidence to show that women still face a consistent gender gap when it comes to access to productive assets, inputs, and services related to agriculture. However, with the exception of Tajikistan, that report did not look at countries in Eastern Europe or Central Asia.
In the six countries examined in the book – Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan – it was found that rural communities face both hidden and open gender disparities that are deeper than usually acknowledged or felt by women and men.
For example, female land holders are in the minority, ranging from 5 percent in Albania to 36 percent in Moldova. Male-headed households in Albania and Bulgaria manage about 20-30 percent more land than female-headed households. Livestock holdings of male-headed households are 30 to 50 percent higher than those of female-headed households in Albania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Tajikistan.
Despite large differences across countries, about 65 percent of men and 35 percent of women on average are economically active in agriculture – that is, currently employed or looking for work. However, many of the so-called inactive women are in fact working as farmers on their own account or as unpaid family workers but do not declare themselves as employed in agriculture. As a result they lack access to income and social benefits.
Potential gains from closing the rural gender gap would vary by country depending on factors such as how many women are currently engaged in agriculture, how much production or land they control, and how wide a gender gap they face. FAO data show that closing the gap worldwide would result in a total increase in agricultural production of 2-4 percent, and that the number of people living in chronic hunger would fall by 12-17 percent.
The book is targeted for use by development practitioners working in the region, researchers, students, policy makers, journalists focusing on advocacy issues, and anyone interested in rural development topics.
