[The role of national rural organization and agricultural extension services in relation to women]. / Le role des services nationaux d'animation rurale et de vulgarisation agricole aupres des femmes.

PIP: Rural extension services are designed to provide rural dwellers with information needed to further technical or social development and to solve problems. Extension agents should be fully aware of their responsibility for the advice they provide. The number of rural and agricultural development and extension agencies has multiplied greatly in the past 2 decades. Agricultural extension is the principal component of most rural development strategies. Training given to men is usually economic, while that for women is devoted to household and social functioning. Programs for women usually lag general development programs. Training of women is usually not included in agricultural extension programs, especially in countries practicing segregation of the sexes. Agricultural extension programs are generally limited to cultivation techniques and neglect transformation and storage of crops and seed preparation for increased production. Measures that could improve productivity of women's agriculture-related work are expected to be delivered through the intermediacy of their husbands, but the husbands may not appreciate the import of such messages if they are not familiar with their wives' work. Agricultural training should consider all stages of production, should be delivered to the individuals actually performing the tasks, and should be ecologically appropriate. The overall objective of agricultural extension is to increase production, but most programs do not specify who is to use the surplus or to benefit from it. The rural population or the urban population may be the prime beneficiary, or cash crops may be produced for export. Although increased production should benefit the rural population through a better food supply, in reality most extension programs are devoted to cash crops for export and are less than fully successful because of problems of crop distribution and marketing and other shortcomings. Where men and women perform the same agricultural work, it should be possible for training sessions to be held jointly for both sexes, but cultural tabus and sexual division of labor may be such that different programs and personnel are required for men and women. There are currently numerous limitations on the inclusion of women in extension programs, including official policies against female employment and ignorance of the contribution of female agricultural work and social customs which discourage female social participation. There may be few or no women extension workers, female extension agents may try to avoid fieldwork, they may spend most of their time training women in household management, or their mobility may be strictly limited by family responsibilities.^ieng

How and what rural women know: experiences in Bangladesh.

PIP: A study was conducted in Bangladesh to determine the contribution rural women make to the economic conditions in their country. The study was necessary because little research has been done into the working patterns of rural women and their economic contributions have often been overlooked because they do not produce actual income. This article is a discussion of the problems faced by field researchers in countries like Bangladesh. Certain types of questions cannot be asked of women in rural Muslim areas, e.g., questions dealing with acreage of property, supply and demand in the marketplace, and irrigated land. Secluded women would have no way of knowing answers to these questions. Observation had to be used for a study of time-use, since the women do not live by the clock. Questions on women's ages can never be asked. Questions to females had to concern themselves with activities of females and questions to males, with activities of males. Rural people in Bangladesh do not seem to think in terms of exact measurement; this must be taken into account when analyzing answers. Researchers have to adapt their interviewing to the socioeconomic conditions of the area.^ieng