Person: Drucza, K.L.
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Drucza
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K.L.
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Drucza, K.L.
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- Gender norms agency and innovation in wheat-based systems and livelihoods: synthesis report of four community case studies in Afghanistan(CIMMYT, 2018) Tsegaye, M.; Drucza, K.L.; Subhatu, A.This report illuminates how gender norms and agency advance or impede capacity to innovate and adopt technology in agriculture in four wheat-growing villages from two provinces (Kabul and Nangarhar).1 The report covers perspectives and experiences of 132 males and 128 females from wheat-growing households.2 The norms surrounding agriculture provide women and men with different roles and opportunities in farming and often result in unequal access to and control over resources. This study is designed to show evidence-based relationships among gender norms, capacities for agricultural innovation and other key constraining and local opportunity structures that affect the achievement of the CGIAR’s3 development objective to achieve equitable improvements in agricultural outcomes. Gender segregation and strict gender roles exist although there are some variations in responses between males and females across the villages. It was noted that females are not expected to have productive roles on the farm, although many do especially if from a low socio-economic class. Females do all the household work and manage some post-harvest activities, such as cleaning wheat and vegetables inside the house, due to mobility restrictions. Women add value to agriculture products that men sell and yet, only men are identified as “farmers.” The results show that men and women benefit from development innovations differently. Women’s normative gender roles pose major barriers to their access to information that would help them contribute to agriculture. Women do not participate in agriculture meetings, training sessions and other public events that promote new technologies which limits their capacity to be good farmers. Whenever a husband is not around or is deceased, it would be the brother or oldest son who would then be responsible for all the farm work and for the family in general. Gender identity and social norms that govern this behavior result in whole communities policing women’s behavior and mobility. This inhibits women’s ability to access information and play more substantive roles in agricultural improvements. This research illustrates that, in many cases, male and female farmers require different forms of assistance to be productive and to innovate. The two most important factors that support innovation for men are improvements in the economy and larger farm sizes. Many men identified the lack of provision of improved seeds as a barrier to improving wheat yields. Women ranked financial support, education, consultations with elders and workshops as the most important factors that support innovation. Financial problems and poverty hinder innovation for both women and men. Additionally, women cited the lack of agriculture information and training as a barrier to improving their economic situation and hinted at their lack of mobility as a barrier. Innovation and getting agriculture information is considered a man’s role. Even though religious devotion is considered a contributing factor in poverty, barriers to innovation are associated with governance, gender norms and other cultural practices. Responses vary greatly among research sites, suggesting extreme heterogeneity across the country. Some women are ready to take on work to improve their households, and some men would be supportive. However, there is a lack of opportunity in these communities to earn an income. The barriers facing rural Afghans is a combination of a lack of economic opportunity and the lack of willingness to change traditional gender norms. A better understanding of these issues could help identify opportunities for expanding the benefits of wheat-related innovations to many more female headed and poor households. The findings show that norms governing household relations are opening slightly with rising access to information, more education and awareness of women’s rights. This is mainly attributed to improved governance and the Karzai government. However, these improvements aren’t enough to achieve gender equality nor to improve household wellbeing. Household decisions are mainly made by male elders, husbands, brothers or in-laws, depending on the issue. Female respondents generally emphasized that a woman’s freedom to make important life decisions depends on whether her husband would allow her to do so. Therefore, some females can hold decision-making roles, particularly around how much of the wheat harvest to allocate for household consumption versus how much to sell, but others cannot. Females generally feel that they do not have the rights and the confidence to make decisions while males have the full entitlement to make decisions on any household matter. Young males have more power and freedom to exercise decision-making than their young female counterparts. Young females and girls are under full control of their parents and brothers when they are single and remain under full control of their husbands and in-laws after they get married. If R4D programs continue to overlook gender norms then men will benefit more than women from innovations and thus, gender inequality will worsen. The findings indicate the need for creative solutions, collaboration with diverse groups of stakeholders and progressive opinion leaders to change women’s positions in society. When combined with the lack of economic opportunity, the perpetuation of gender norms provide a barrier to increased agricultural productivity and growth in wheat production. Future R4D programs should consider the following points: Mechanization is well received in the study communities and should be accompanied with new opportunities for women. Harvesting equipment has replaced women’s paid labor. Changes are observed in some communities highlighting the potential to change gender norms exists. Careful programing is needed, and this requires intensive male engagement strategies. Afghanistan’s development challenges require all its citizens to engage in productive pursuits. There is value in collecting qualitative data. Data can show how the social, cultural, geographical, economic and historical aspects of a community affect men’s and women’s opportunities to advance and improve agriculture productivity. It reveals how this all interacts with other statuses (age, religion, class etc) which can help to highlight entry points for each community. More context-specific data on women’s role in agriculture crops is needed to ensure tailored programming. • Collect case studies of villages where women report enhanced rights and mobility. Study the history of gender programming in those areas. Identify the appropriate, safe pace of change for men and women and successful interventions, and then, replicate. Acknowledge that men and women have different preferences, needs and interests - ask women and men from the same household about their preferences and crop/livelihood choices.
Publication - Gender norms agency and innovation in wheat-based systems and livelihoods: synthesis report of six community case studies in Pakistan(CIMMYT, 2018) Tsegaye, M.; Drucza, K.L.; Hailemariam, M.This report summarizes the Pakistan findings from a global qualitative comparative research initiative called GENNOVATE. It covers perspectives and experiences of 351 respondents (174 female and 177 male) of different ages from wheat-growing households across six wheat-growing villages from two provinces (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan) in Pakistan. The research reveals that restrictive gender norms are one of the largest barriers facing effective innovation and engagement by women in the agricultural sector. However, women and men from different socioeconomic backgrounds and age groups can be affected by gender norms differently. Moreover, gender norms and expectations can be contradictory and difficult for community members to navigate. The intra-household decision-making dynamics are complicated in joint-family settings. Men are generally the decision makers, but not all men feel they have a high degree of power and freedom. Elders and khans have the ultimate decision-making power. The general perception is that women do not make any decisions except on household-related chores. However, the findings reveal that women are involved in joint decisions regarding subsistence crops and some livestock products. This implies that there is a certain level of negotiation taking place within households before making decisions. This requires further investigation. Moreover, women gain status as they age. Gender norms and women’s decision-making positions are determined by factors such as age and marital status. Gender differences were observed about expectations of a “good wife” and “good female farmer” and “good husband” and “good male farmer.” The qualities of a “good wife” mainly relate to women’s reproductive and household roles as well as socio-culturally “correct’’ and acceptable behavior. Men are reported to have no role in household chores which is commonly known as women’s work. Men are considered the sole provider for the household. Women are widely considered to have little role in bringing the family out of poverty, despite women’s involvement in several income-generating activities. The gendered dimensions of factors shaping socioeconomic mobility and poverty trends were explored. In most cases women did not perceive that poverty in the community was reducing as quickly as men. Female-headed households (FHHs) are said to be among the worst off in their wellbeing status, which is mainly attributed to women’s restricted mobility to search for a decent job and other economic opportunities. Men and women in all villages agreed that financial position is one of the major enabling factors for agricultural innovations and decision-making, but this is not true for women. Women from financially well-off families are less mobile, do not work for pay and feel powerless. Consequently, new infrastructure developments and the opportunities that result from them benefit women and men differently. Women’s and men’s innovation preferences and opportunities are also different. Generally, men are said to have more opportunities to innovate than women because of their physical mobility, which facilitates access to information, knowledge, skills and financial resources, essential elements for learning about and adopting technology. For men, class impacts a farmer’s ability to innovate. Rich farmers with larger land holdings are mainly at the forefront of agricultural innovations. Poorer farmers showed a level of precaution before adopting new technologies and follow the experiences of earlier adopters before they are comfortable adopting for themselves. Similarly, the factors hindering innovation and technology adoption reflect the gendered norms and expectations of women and men. Women from all villages insisted that the availability of women-only vocational training centers is crucial for them to try to innovate. Women felt they would be allowed to go to these places if they existed. Otherwise, for women, there is no way they can go into public places and learn in the presence of men apart from their relatives. The overall dynamics around enabling and constraining factors for innovation prove that gender norms inform opportunity structures for men and women. If R4D programs continue to ignore gender norms in programming then men will benefit more than women from innovations and thus, gender inequality will increase. The findings have indicated the need for collaboration with diverse groups of stakeholders across social, economic and political sectors and with progressive opinion leaders to change women’s positions in society. Future R4D programs should consider the following points: Women and men are not homogenous; therefore, gendered norms affect men and women from different contexts, class, marital status, and age differently. This signifies the need for additional gender analysis to understand contextually-embedded practices that determine women’s and men’s positions and opportunities in society. Effort to transform the strict and deeply-engrained gender norms require intensive male engagement strategies, including Imams. There is a long way to go before women are free to move around, engage in income-earning activities and decide on issues that matter to themselves and their family without men feeling “less.” Female heads of households (widowed and divorced), mobile women and educated women who joined the professional work force are positive role models and should be promoted as such.
Publication - Afghanistan: country study of anthropological gender and (wheat-based) livelihood literature(CIMMYT, 2016) Peveri, V.; Drucza, K.L.This review provides a synthesis of the literature on the links between gender and social relationships, livelihood choices, and wheat-based systems in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s recent history has been marked by extreme hardship and violence. The war economy has brought about a profound transformation in social relations and has dramatically undermined a rural economy based on subsistence agriculture and pastoralism. This scenario raises the complex issue of how to promote social cohesion and achieve land-based food security in a society devastated by suffering and loss. The introduction contrasts optimistic accounts about farming systems and livelihood options with a growing body of literature that clearly highlights a loss of confidence in farming as a means to generate a livelihood. The livelihoods that exist now are a result of the history of conflict and drought Conflict and drought have required households to implement flexible coping approaches. For a majority of poor households, non-farm labor, rather than agriculture, is the most important source of income. This has major ramifications for agricultural policy and programming, as it demonstrates that the needs of the rural poor are currently being missed due to the predominant (and misleading) focus on agriculture. With regard to development and empowerment, the literature shows that the process of reconstruction must take into consideration the gender dimension when serving the needs of women and men. Which are the areas where there is great potential to engage women and men? Which are the structures and narratives, both at the national and international level, that set out the constraints within which women and men must live their lives? Do those same structures also shape the possibilities for change and the form that this change is likely to take? Different framings of Afghan gender roles are juxtaposed and compared to highlight the complexities and negotiations that engage both genders in the process of decisionmaking. Given the present conditions of life in Afghanistan, punctuated by chronic crises and weak governance, religion and family may be perceived as the only force able to reinstate a sense of nationhood, solidarity between fellow citizens, and economic and political empowerment. In the fragmented landscapes of Afghanistan, the opportunities are limited, especially for the poor, and the need for income diversification is acute. This literature review shows that not enough is known of the extent to which men and women are able to access different livelihood opportunities, or the extent to which programs may impact on women and men differently. The references reviewed converge, however, when drawing attention to the diversity of livelihood strategies at inter- and intrahousehold levels, seeing this as a meaningful entry point into the processes of reconstruction, change, and resilience, and raising questions about assumptions linking agricultural growth, poverty reduction, and promotion of gender equality. In this highly complex politicized setting, it is crucial that strategies be explored with a view to supporting household livelihood diversification, rather than trying to move households to agriculture entirely.
Publication - Scoping study: gender and social equity in wheat research for development (R4D) in Ethiopia(CIMMYT, 2018) Drucza, K.L.Agriculture is one of the main sources of income for women in Ethiopia; yet women are disadvantaged compared to men. According to the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey, more than half of women (56%) engaged in the agricultural sector were unpaid workers, and 65% of women were working for a family member.2 Traditional gender norms link women to household work, contributing to the general societal perception that farming is “a man’s job.” This cultural perception remains strong, even though numerous agricultural tasks, such as weeding, harvesting, grinding, and storing, are deemed “women’s work.” Consequently, women’s work in agriculture continues to be invisible to researchers and to the extension agents that deliver technical scientific knowledge. Unlike for other staple cereals, Ethiopia relies on a significant proportion of imported wheat to meet domestic demand.6 Wheat imports vary between 25 and 35 percent, depending on the size of the harvest and other factors.7 The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has announced its plans to become self-sufficient in wheat production and to stop importing substantial amounts of wheat by the year 2021. GoE has also committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have a number of gender and food security indicators, such as “zero hunger” and gender equality. All of the goals aim to “leave no one behind” and deliver more equitable development outcomes. The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) funded a research development project, “Understanding gender in wheat-based livelihoods for enhanced WHEAT R4D impact in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Ethiopia.” The aim of this research project is to help take stock of the current situation regarding the integration of gender and social equity in WHEAT research for development (R4D) in Ethiopia, and to identify and conceptualize opportunities for strengthening this integration. This scoping study report summarizes four outputs from this project and explores the following questions: How are gender and social equity issues around WHEAT R4D currently being addressed? How should gender and social equity issues be addressed in future WHEAT R4D in Ethiopia? The report begins with a summary of a literature review of 92 articles from peer-reviewed and secondary/gray literature. The following research questions are answered: How does the world look, and work, for men and women in households that rely predominantly on growing wheat? How do gender relations shape livelihoods in terms of nutrition, food security, and agriculture? Next is an overview of the policy analysis results. Seven pivotal policies were subjected to a critical feminist analysis while twenty-two other policies and legislation were reviewed along with regional and international commitments to contextualize the results. The policy analysis asks two questions: What is the quality of Ethiopia’s agriculture and gender policies as viewed through a feminist lens? How can the heterogenous needs of women working across the country in the agricultural sector be enshrined in policy? A data mining activity follows and explains that the reason the agriculture literature and policies fail to substantially address gender may be related to the way agriculture research is undertaken. The objective of the data mining component is to find out if identity (sex, religion, age, location, marital status, education level, and ethnicity) has any bearing on wheat productivity and efficiency; and how effectively is gender and social equity integrated into WHEAT R4D survey instruments? By considering the sampling strategy and size and the division of labor question from two surveys, recommendations are made for adopting an intersectional approach to survey development. The final section presents results from a country-level stakeholder analysis. In Ethiopia, stakeholders are defined as all those agencies that have a role to play in mainstreaming gender and social equity in WHEAT R4D (and therefore agriculture more broadly). The following questions guide the analysis: What is the current thinking and understanding by stakeholders about gender equality and social equity in R4D? Who are the main actors driving change? What promising practices and methodologies exist? The report concludes that there is a need, and plenty of scope, to improve gender and social equity in WHEAT R4D and in the agriculture sector generally.
Publication - Feminist policy analysis: implications for the agricultural sector in Ethiopia(CIMMYT, 2018) Drucza, K.L.; Rodriguez, C.M.This report provides a feminist analysis of seven policies, relating to gender equality in the agriculture sector of Ethiopia. Ethiopia has progressively expanded women’s rights and the enabling policy environment since 1994. Despite the strong commitment of Ethiopia towards gender equality and gender mainstreaming, many of the policies analyzed do not integrate gender equality as a priority for the growth and development of the country and do not adequately mainstream gender. At best, there is an emphasis on increasing women’s participation and integration, but little solid ‘gender’ targets are set. The analysis shows gender-specific policies have regressed since the 2006 National Action Plan on Gender Equality (NAP-GE) that proposed important gender-sensitive measures. The 2017 Women´s Development Package reduces gender objectives to the expansion of women´s access to certain services and benefits. Meanwhile, agriculture related policies have significantly improved in gender-sensitivity over the same time, culminating with the approval of the Gender Equality Strategy for Ethiopia´s Agricultural Sector (GESAS) in 2017. However, alignment across policies and implementation remains ad hoc.
Publication - Gender norms, agency and innovation in wheat based systems and livelihoods: synthesis report of four community case-studies in Ethiopia(CIMMYT, 2019) Drucza, K.L.This country report is a summary of the Ethiopian findings from a global qualitative comparative research initiative known as GENNOVATE. This report examines how gender norms and agency shape, and in turn are shaped by, local benefits from agricultural innovation and NRM. This study, conducted in late 2014 and early 2015, aims to build greater knowledge about the connections between gender equality and agricultural development. In Ethiopia, 138 women and 137 men from wheat-growing households participated in this research across four villages.
Publication - Gender norms and agency in the Afghanistan agriculture sector: policy brief(CIMMYT, 2018) Drucza, K.L.Women seem to play a bigger role in farming decisions than is generally assumed. For example, women make food, nutrition and budgeting choices, including how much of the wheat harvest is consumed versus sold. Women are not considered farmers and yet tend to livestock and crops close to the household, help with post-harvest handling and processing within the household, and perform any on-farm activities allocated by the household head. Women do more of the on-farm work when living in poor households. Yet, gender norms and sex segregation mean women do not have the same access to technical agriculture information. The adoption rates of new agricultural practices would increase if extension services could reach more women in a culturally-appropriate, heterogeneous manner. For example, some women prefer to learn as a group through consultations and workshops. More research on gender inequality in agriculture could help identify opportunities to expand the benefits of wheat-related innovations such as new methods of planting and growing crops, for more women and poor households.
Publication - Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research: gender audit: may 2018(CIMMYT, 2018) Drucza, K.L.; Tsegaye, M.; Abebe, W.; Giref, D.; Abebe, L.The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) was established in 1966 to nationally coordinate agricultural research and advise the Ethiopian Government on agricultural policy formulation. EIAR is comprised of 17 different centers spread across the country’s regions and agro-ecological zones. This participatory gender audit was undertaken to examine gender in EIAR’s workplace; gender in research; and capacity for gender. A mixed methods approach comprising key informal interviews, focus group discussions, online surveys, bibliometric analysis of peer reviewed Scopus indexed publications, and a documentation analysis of grey literature was conducted. EIAR has made efforts to mainstream gender. Each center has a gender focal person, led by a senior gender officer in Addis Ababa. Gender training has been delivered in different projects and affirmative action is implemented. This audit highlights the need to build on these past efforts because mainstreaming requires thought, effort, commitment, budget, policies, and guidelines. Enabling staff to better mainstream can be clearly articulated in a gender policy, through budgeting, and by establishing minimum standards. In particular, removing the unhelpful association of gender equality with women’s participation should be a priority. Efforts to integrate gender into research projects have been observed across all directorates. However, the standard response to incorporating gender in research is to count the number of women participants and consider the gender work complete. The way women are included and how consistently this is attempted requires improvement. One common false assumption is that if invited women do not turn up to meetings then there is little else the researcher can do. Researchers are not aware that they should uncover the barriers to attendance first and reduce them through additional effort. Gender analysis is a crucial aspect of gender-responsive research. It can illuminate gender-related barriers that may not be immediately obvious to the researcher and leads to more gender-responsive research and projects. However, most researchers interviewed have never conducted a gender analysis. This means that most projects run on assumptions and gender-blind facts. It is not surprising that researchers have trouble accessing women’s needs when they do not understand the gender basics of a community or sector. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is a critical factor for ensuring gender concerns are captured during research projects. It enables sex disaggregated data to be systematically collected and analyzed. It also helps to measures program progress and learn what works. Yet, EIAR’s capacity for gender responsive M&E is currently low. Annual performance reports inconsistently report sex disaggregated data and under-report gender-related work and achievements. There is a tendency for all gender reporting to be done by the gender directorate, rather than all directorates having to do their own gender reporting (which would be in line with mainstreaming gender). All government ministries, including MoANR, are mandated to report on gender budgeting to the Ministry of Finance, however EIAR has not been asked to report their gender budgeting to MoANR. Many respondents raised the lack of resources for gender as a barrier to mainstreaming and some had never considered reserving budget for gender activities. This lack of gender budgeting makes it impossible to account for spending on gender equality, or to re-allocate funds within budgets for gender-focused activities. The under-resourcing of gender signals its low priority within EIAR. While some projects refer to gender as a cross-cutting activity, it is rare to have gender appear in publications or comprehensively in reports. The knowledge management/communications department organizes, designs, and records publications, yet their expertise in supporting projects to communicate gender results to a wider audience is underutilized and needs sensitizing using a gender lens. EIAR should consider producing more glossy publications on gender. These take less time to produce than journal articles so are a quicker way to disseminate gender results. Part of the challenge facing EIAR researchers who wish to publish in peer reviewed journals on gender is that they are not able to access literature on gender that has been published. The fees for journal access is higher than the EIAR budget allows. The capacity assessment component of the audit indicates an absence of capacity to adequately mainstream gender. There is a tendency for EIAR to recruit internally for gender positions and the people appointed are not adequately trained or resourced, and yet are expected to train others. Gender experts should be recruited for these roles, even if this means externally hiring gender experts without agricultural knowledge and/or significant research experience. Despite numerous gender trainings, few staff feel that they have the knowledge or skills to implement gender tools. This illustrates the inadequacy of training in isolation. The institution must change for gender training to have relevance or they will continue to waste funds. An organization’s commitment to gender equality is not just reflected in the programs and projects it implements, but also in its internal processes and culture. EIAR’s Human Resources (HR) department has reached a stage where they can refine policies to make them more effective, but they acknowledge that they need more support to make EIAR a gender friendly workplace. A common belief among male employees is that women are favored in recruitment. As such, women are judged more harshly on other matters, such as taking time off for child care needs and for illnesses. This emphasizes the need to discuss gender more frequently with staff to build familiarity and understanding with the issues and to hold units accountable for recruiting diverse teams. Leave approval and grievance claims require review with a gender lens. The supervisor role has enormous discretionary power, which can lead to bullying, harassment, and a poor work-life balance. EIAR’s culture is masculine; the male attributes of working hard (without care responsibilities) and being a joker are the norm. Discrimination and harassment is evident across EIAR’s research centers. However, there are a range of attitudes and beliefs within EIAR that work for and against gender equality. Within EIAR’s leadership, those with the greatest influence are the leaders of large portfolios in terms of budget. They have the power to block or champion the implementation of policies that would improve gender equality. These leaders must therefore be held accountable for leading the way on gender reforms. If leaders are not aligned with the need to change behavior, attitudes, and norms then EIAR will not mainstream gender. Engaging leaders is therefore of utmost importance.
Publication - Gender norms and agency in the Pakistan agriculture sector: policy brief(CIMMYT, 2018) Drucza, K.L.Investment and robust studies are needed to strengthen the body of evidence and facilitate gender mainstreaming in agricultural development; Women’s contributions to the agriculture sector (e.g. home based livestock rearing and vegetable farming) are devalued by extension workers and often not considered ‘agriculture’; Rural women are shut out of decisions, consultations, and research at the local and national levels; Household resources and information are not equally shared; Women must seek men’s permission to be economically productive and mobile, which reduces their opportunity to capitalize on market dynamics; Existing gender inequities put women in a disadvantaged position in the agriculture sector and hampers their economic contribution to the household and nation.
Publication - Gender norms and agency in the Ethiopian agriculture sector: policy brief(CIMMYT, 2018) Drucza, K.L.; Tsegaye, M.Investment and robust studies are needed to strengthen the body of evidence and facilitate gender mainstreaming in agricultural development; Restrictive gender norms remain one of the most significant obstacles for women’s agricultural innovation. Moreover, inequitable intra-household resource allocation affects food security at the household and national level; When women try to innovate they are watched more keenly and judged more harshly than men, and are less likely to be reached by extension workers due to social norms; Transformative methodologies such as Community Conversations create more egalitarian gender relations and social harmony and should be used in the agriculture extension system; Strengthening women’s ability to make effective choices and transform those choices into desired outcomes will bring positive changes to household food security and agricultural productivity.
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