Technology*extends*farmers’*hands,*

Yet*gender*norms*remain*unchanged

Reflection*from*qualitative*studies*on*agriculture*innovations*and*gender*norms.

Khuat Thu Hong and Nguyen Thi Van Anh Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS)

Qualitative*studies*on*Global*Norms

1. Innovation and Development through Transformation of Gender Norms in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management, focused on Thai ethnic group in Chieng Chan and Muong Chan communes, Mai Son district, Son La province, December 2014 (Bioversity)

2. Similar research, focused on H’Mong ethnic at Thong Village, Muong Bon Commune, Mai Son district in Son La province (ICRAF), May 2015

3. Two cases studies under Enabling Gender Equality in Agricultural and Environmental Innovation”(GENNOVATE) in two communes of Ha Tinh and Quang Binh in March 2016 (CIP)

And DFAT Scoping study for GREAT in December 2015

Photos taken by Van Anh in a Thai village in Mai Son, Son La, 2014 and in Ha Tinh, 2016.

Agricultural*technologies*change*farming*

practices

New*varieties*and*crops

Save*time*and*energy

Photo taken by Van Anh in Thai villages. Muong Chanh, Mai Son, Son La, 2014

Photo taken by Van Anh in a Thai village in Mai Son, Son La, 2014

Connect*people

to*people*and*to*market

Shift*agriculture*

production*from*

subsistence*to*

commodity*production

Photo taken by Van Anh in a Thai village in Mai Son, Son La, 2014

Photo taken by Van Anh in a Thai village in Mai Son, Son La, 2014

Reduce*workload*and*time*for*domestic*tasks

Photo taken by Van Anh in a Hmong and Thai villages in Mai Son, Son La, 2014

• Gas/biogas or electric appliances save time for cooking and preparing meals

• Refrigerator saves food quality and time for buying food

• Clean water supply saves time for water fetching

Vegetable cutting machine and ready made animal food reduce women’s labor and time for animal feeding

Husking machine reduces women’s manual labor and time

Photo taken by Van Anh in a Thai Village, Mai Son, Sơn La, 2014

Photo taken by Van Anh in Thai villages. Muong Chanh, Mai Son, Son La

Moving*to*husband’s*house

Before (2009) Nowadays (2014).

Implications*to*gender*norms

Technology*and*agricultural*innovation*

change*men’s*and*women’s*life

More:- income - More opportunities for paid jobs- off-farm cash income activities- confidence- access to information and market- investment in children education- social participation, etc.

Increased productivity

Reduced heavy workload and time

for production

Reduced workload and

time for domestics tasks

Increased:- mobility

- communication

Positive*changes

• The boundary of the tasks commonly assigned strictly for one gender is fading:– Women can handle tasks that commonly done by men:

drive motorbike, running machines– Young men involve in housework and child care

• In some areas, women participate in planning activities

• Women form and lead agricultural co-ops, groups/clubs

The*other*side*of*story*...

• Technology and mechanization favor men more compared to women

• Technology and innovation have contributed to improve women’s practical needs but not yet their strategic needs:– Little change in gender roles and status

• Gender relations change but very slowly:– Women still have less access and control of resources than

men do– Men still dominate in decision making in the family– Men still hold important positions in community

Technology*and*mechanization*favor*

men*more*compared*to*women

• Men utilize and/or own valuable equipments (tractor, truck, car, motorbikes, ploughing machine and other machines/ equipment)

“A husband knows how to use machines more than a wife does. The wife can use it only when the husband is absent or sick.” (Middle-income women’s focus group, Muong Chanh)

Women*do*most*agricultural*production*tasks,*

incl.*manual,*tedious*and*time*consuming*tasks

Men*make*decisions

• Men decide important matters; both men and women take this for granted.Men are the ones who decide which livestock to raise, what crop to plant, how to fertilize. They also discuss with their wives but they are the ones who make the final decision. Men are the pillar of a family, so whatever they decide, the women have to follow.” (Middle-income men’s focus group, Muong Chanh)

Men sign the contract but women do most of the cultivation.(Consultation meeting with Traphaco Lao Cai)

Women*have*less*access*and*control*

to*resources*than*men*

• Only men’s name in LURCs• Women do not inherit land and family assets• In many households, the husband keeps money and

decides when and how to use it.• Men dominate in extension training courses• Dowry custom among H’Mong negatively affect

women’s status in their in-law family.

• Men keep the money in most households. Only aggressive women keep the money, but such a case is rare in this village. This happens in only one out of every ten families. (Group of Khang men, Van Chan, Yen Bai).

• “A husband is like an account holder. It is the son who takes care of his parents and his family so he should keep the money and give money for daily food.” (Poor women’s focus group, Muong Chanh)

• Husbands go to extension training courses, whereas women do most of the work. It’s quite often that in the last day of training men spend their perdiem on drink and forget all the things they learned. (DPC of Sa Pa, Lao Cai)

Gender*norms*and*stereotypes*persist

• Men do big thing• Men do heavy work• Man is the pillars of the

house - Men are leaders, men decide important things

• Men are bread winners

• women do small thing• women do light, easy

work• Women are followers -

Housework is women’s tasks

• women are money keepers;

“A wife earning more money than her husband is an odd thing.” (Middle-income women’s focus group, Mai Son, Son La)

Also...

• More cash-income opportunities + more time !women work more intensively, and have no time for themselves.– “The wife still has to spend time cooking meals for the

family, waking up earlier to cook the rice or coming back earlier to ensure that the meals for everyone are ready.”

• Technology and innovation “replace” men’s labour, leading to men’s outmigration ! accelerating feminization of agriculture.

• Not all men and women benefit from technology innovation and mechanization:– Poor and near poor families cannot afford to buy/or pay

for renting machine services;

Question

• With agricultural technologies, gendered division of labour is starting to change, but the power relations between men and women are lagging behind.

• What else is needed for women to be truly empowered?

• Or should concept of women’s empowerment be redefined in the context of Vietnam?