2. The Wider Context
2.1 Introduction
This section of the report outlines aspects of the wider context in which rural communities operate, and in which rural and farm women live and work. Broader developments that impact on rural women include the emergence of new ways of explaining and studying the world, such as ‘gender analysis’, the increasing recognition of indigenous people’s rights, sustainable development, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The position of agriculture in the New Zealand economy and developments within the agricultural sector are also outlined. This section then discusses the economic, social and policy changes rural people have accommodated over the last two decades.
2.2 Gender analysis
The term ‘gender analysis’ is used to describe a way of examining the world. Gender analysis simply means looking at how the area being researched or discussed is different for men and women, and understanding the outcomes of these differences. While sex differences are physical and biological, gender differences are socially decided characteristics. We are born with our sex, and we learn our gender. For example, women are capable of bearing children and men are not - this is a sex difference. Women are often expected to be responsible for rearing children - this is a gender difference. The attitudes and behaviours which create and maintain gender differences can be changed.
Our gender roles, responsibilities and expected characteristics mean that men and women can experience the world in different ways. We have different ways of understanding and making sense of what is going on. There are differences within, as well as between, gender groups:
| Gender roles reflect learned behaviour that conditions the activities, tasks and responsibilities that are considered to be male or female in any given society. These gender roles are affected by age, class, religion, ethnicity, regional origin and history (FAO, 1992b). |
Gender analysis is an approach that recognises that the experiences recorded are often the experiences and perceptions of men. Men have been the majority of historians and other scholars, administrators, policy and law makers. We are therefore only seeing part of the picture available to us. For example, historians describing the landing of the First Fleet in Australia have spoken of "celebrations of debauchery and orgy". Letters written by the women who were part of that first fleet have described the same events as rape (Gilmore, 1994). The published record of the events that took place has not included or acknowledged what the reality was for the women involved.
Gender analysis is also important because the productive, reproductive and community managing activities carried out by men and women differ. Women tend to combine the roles of family and domestic worker, community volunteer, and paid worker more than men do. Farm women have increasingly assumed a fourth role as they work on the farm as well as taking off-farm employment:
| The startling finding of our study is that these roles are not exclusive of, as suggested by the literature, any existing role. As the woman assumes another role, like off-farm employment, there is no indication that there is any abatement of any one of her existing roles. In the circumstances of taking up off-farm employment for instance, we might have expected that she abrogate an existing role, like community activity. There is no evidence of this and these women continue to play a leadership role in sustaining and developing the dynamics of rural communities (Taylor and Little, 1995:229). |
Gender differences matter. Mistaken assumptions about who does the most agricultural work in rural Africa have meant aid projects having far less impact than they should. An example is given by Gilmore (1994) of a rice-growing project which gave Gambian men agricultural advice and investment, and yet women were growing 84% of the rice. Rather than make the country more self sufficient, rice imports increased three-fold. If studies on Gambia had included gender analysis the situation could have been avoided.
The term used to describe the work men and women do is the gendered division of labour:
| In every society there is a gender division of labour that is considered appropriate from a traditional point of view: men are responsible for certain tasks and women are responsible for others, although these may overlap. However, nearly everywhere this gender division of labour is currently undergoing rapid change. The roles of men and women are in transition worldwide because of a number of macro-level factors, including economic crisis, fertility decline, increasing educational levels, family instability and the growing number of female-headed households (FAO, 1992b). |
Marilyn Waring (1988) has identified that gender-blind approaches are used extensively by economists. According to the 1993 United Nations System of National Accounts, domestic and personal services (such as cleaning, decoration and maintenance of the dwelling, cleaning, servicing and repair of household goods, preparation and serving of meals, the care, training and instruction of children, the care of the sick, infirm or old, and the transportation of members of the household or their goods) do not count when produced and consumed within the same household. These tasks do count if the service is supplied by the government or a voluntary agency, and if they are paid for (Waring, 1988). When the wealth of a nation is calculated a vast amount of work, most of it performed by women, is left out of the equation. The contribution to household work, to caring for old and young dependents, all the unpaid work which is traditionally undertaken by women, remains unacknowledged and invisible.
In short, gender analysis is an approach that does not assume that what is true for men is automatically true for women. It is used in studies of farm families by Shaw (1993), Taylor and Little (1995), and Anderson (1993), among others, which are discussed below.
2.3 Indigenous people’s issues
Indigenous people’s issues, particularly those in relationship to resource ownership, resource use and intellectual property are increasingly on the international agenda. The United Nations has been preparing a ‘Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ since 1982. When it is finalised the Declaration will not be legally binding, but it will have strong moral force. Member countries of the United Nations will be expected to comply with it fully.
The Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 1993 recognises that indigenous people are entitled to the restitution of the "lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, occupied, used or damaged without their free and informed consent". If this is not possible, they have the right to "just and fair compensation". It also recognises the right of indigenous people to determine and develop all health, housing and other social and economic programmes affecting them, and as far as possible to administer such programmes through their own institutions (Te Puni Kokiri, 1994a).
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs has noted in the New Zealand report on Forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women that Maori people are generating a strong cultural revival centred on retaining the Maori language. In particular the report notes that it was Maori women who led and implemented the revival of the Maori language through Kohanga Reo, which have in turn led to Kura Kaupapa Maori. This cultural renaissance includes endeavours to gain control over resources and therefore some control over the destiny of Maori people.
Despite their often disadvantaged position (in terms of education and access to resources) Maori women are increasing their rate of participation in business at a faster rate than Maori men, or non-Maori men or women. Maori girls are more likely than Maori boys to remain in school and to leave with a formal qualification. Maori women now outnumber Maori men in tertiary education. Maori women have also played a key role in establishing initiatives to deal with Maori health problems and to deliver appropriate services (MWA, 1994).
In addition to marking Suffrage Year, 1993 was the International Year of the World’s Indigenous People. In February of 1993 the International Conference for Indigenous Women of the World was held at Nga Hau e Wha Marae in Christchurch. Over 400 women from around the world attended, including Josie Crawshaw of the Gurindji people in Australia. She commented:
| My people in Australia still top the statistics. We are the least healthy, the least educated, the least housed, the most unemployed, the most institutionalised, the most imprisoned and we suffer the most deaths in custody. I know this is basically true for indigenous people all over the world... (Te Puni Kokiri, 1994b). |
The conference was hosted by the Maori Women’s Welfare League. Another activity during the year was the collection of the oral histories of older Maori women, and involved interviews with kuia from the Tauranga region. The project was developed to help retain the knowledge that ought to be passed down from older generations (Te Puni Kokiri, 1994b). With a high proportion of the older generations of Maori living in rural areas, and the younger generations more urban based, the transfer of knowledge can be problematic.
The Working Group of the United Nations commented in its Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that:
| respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional practices contributes to sustainable and equitable development and proper management of the environment (Te Puni Kokiri, 1994a). |
Recent acknowledgement of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi includes a recognition of the need to address past grievances arising from the loss by Maori of their economic base, and to help Maori re-exert tino rangatiratanga over the resource that they have or is returned to them. Government recognises that strong, self-confident, and self-sufficient Maori communities are essential for the achievement of New Zealand’s social, cultural, environmental and economic goals (MAF, 1996). The contribution of rural Maori women must be acknowledged, and their needs taken account of, for this to happen.
2.4 Sustainable development
Sustainable development is a concept which has been around for many years. Recently, concern over the misuse of the world’s natural resources has grown, along with a greater emphasis on environmental protection. As a result, an increasing emphasis has been placed on clarifying what sustainable development is and incorporating it into decision making processes and structures. Sustainable development has been defined as:
| Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (Brundtland Commission, 1987). |
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has a longer definition that includes the following:
| sustainable development ... conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable (FAO, 1992a). |
Sustainable development aims to ensure the well-being of all people and all nature by combining economic objectives (efficiency and prosperity) with social objectives (equity and social justice) and with environmental objectives (conservation of natural and physical resources).
The ‘Earth Summit’ (the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. One of the outcomes of the conference was a document called Agenda 21. This is a flexible plan to help nations establish sustainable development, while recognising that each nation will have changing needs and circumstances. While not legally binding, the 180 nations committed to it (including New Zealand) have a certain moral obligation to follow it (Mohamed, 1993). One of the topics covered by Agenda 21, on health, identifies four vulnerable groups, one of which is women. Considerable emphasis is placed on ensuring women can participate fully in decision making processes at both national and community levels. The section also identifies education and the monitoring of the impact of environmental degradation on women’s health as important (Mohamed, 1993).
In New Zealand women generally have a more direct involvement with child health, nutrition and safety than men do. Traditionally it is women who buy food on behalf of their families. As the bearers of children, women also experience the effects of environmental damage in miscarriages, birth defects and breast milk contamination (Dwyer, 1993). Women therefore experience the consequences of environmental damage differently from men, although women usually have less control over the decisions which contribute to environmental degradation.
In 1993 the Government released a position paper on sustainable agriculture prepared by MAF as an initiative leading to the development of a New Zealand Strategy for Sustainable Land Management. Among the outcomes desired was:
| the adoption of land management skills and the application of appropriate technologies to enable individuals and communities provide for their social and economic wellbeing. |
The direction of the Sustainable Land Management Strategy was further defined in the Ministry for the Environment’s Environment 2010, A Statement of the Government’s Strategy on the Environment. Included in the key elements of this strategy were:
| - | defining the nature and extent of land management problems (including physical, social and economic factors), or priorities, risks of irreversible damage and environmental bottom lines; | |
| - | establishing the primary responsibility of landowners, and the supporting role of communities... |
It has been argued that for development to be sustained the natural environment has to be viable, the economy must be healthy and the community must be able to nurture the sustaining. Sustainable communities are therefore important to sustainable development. Sustainable communities are those that can maintain ‘patterns of relationships’ over time, and maintain a degree of coherence despite changes occurring around them (Gibbs, 1994).
Following the development of its policy position on sustainable agriculture, MAF was given a mandate to:
| - | establish change management processes, based on local resources, through the facilitation of agriculture strategy groups; | |
| - | facilitate greater rural community involvement and consultation in identifying and overcoming rural service constraints, impediments and inequalities; and, | |
| - | encourage other government agencies to evaluate the impact of their policies on rural communities, and to modify their policies if this was found to be necessary. |
While change is nothing new for agriculture or rural New Zealand, the transformations which have occurred over the past two decades, and in particular since 1984, have caused concerns within rural communities about their ability to influence and manage change. The Ministry of Agriculture has approached these concerns by considering the whole system, particularly the relationship between agriculture and rural New Zealand, and is seeking to understand the drivers of change in this system, the impacts of change on agriculture and rural communities, and the social and economic policy implications of the changes.
It is considered that while rural women have a key role in the development and adoption of sustainable agricultural systems and rural communities, their contribution is not generally well recognised, and there are too many barriers to their effective participation. For example, while rural women have been active in promoting sustainability issues and Women’s Division Federated Farmers have developed a Landcare Scheme in conjunction with the Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture (Dwyer, 1993), women are still under represented in the more than 54 farmer-based community groups which have formed, even though the representation of women has been identified as important to the achievement of sustainable agriculture and sustainable development.
Contact for Enquiries
Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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