This past week I spent observing farmer field school trainings in the town of Choma. On the last day the facilitator conducted an exercise on gender differences on farms. Two of the four groups drew pie charts of an average male and female day; what activities they performed at each hour during the day. The other two groups wrote a list of all the assets that an average farm in Zambia has and whether the male or female uses it, and whether the female or male controls it.
For someone who has studied the challenges of the developing world, the results were not a complete surprise, but shocking and sobering all the same. Men worked less than the women (on average) and men spent a fair amount of time ‘thinking,’ ‘socializing,’ and admittedly drinking.
The second exercise found females and males both using most of the assets of a farm; ploughs, animals, equipment, etc. However, on the matter of control, males were in charge of almost all assets (chickens being one exception.)
Something that appears strikingly un-equal to a westerner was defended by a room full of Zambians, male and female, as ‘not right or wrong, but how society is.’
The facilitator asked the audience, ‘why?’ Why the men worked less, used assets equally or less, and yet controlled most of the family property. The audience had no conclusive answer besides, ‘that is how it is, and society doesn’t change.’ Lucky for me the facilitator decided to motion toward me stating that things are completely different where Dave is from, and no-one dies. He told the group that norms change, and no-one dies.
Some in the group later stated that this is the way things are, but things are changing. Looking at the pictures I have posted here, how do you think this information informs interventions NGOs are making to combat poverty?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Catholic Relief Services, farm, gender, roles, rural, Zambia
