THEME: In addition to gender-based division of labour, three other sets of factors aggravate women’s workloads. 
An IFAD study undertaken in 1999 found that women in the hill districts of Nepal had heavy workloads and a high level of physical vulnerability, but with class/caste differences. Women were found to work around 16 hours a day, compared with the 9 to 10 hours men worked. Many women were hungry as well as overworked – often at the same time. Apart from culturally based division of labour, women’s workloads are increased by three factors:
Geographic and infrastructure factors. These are primarily:
Collecting fuel wood, water and fodder becomes much more tiring and time consuming in the mountainous areas. Women’s difficulties are compounded by large family sizes (80% have 4–9 members). In several cases, the study found that women expressed a preference for living with the smaller nuclear family, rather than the extended family. They argued that it would lower their workloads because of having to cook for fewer people, requiring less collection of fuel and water. Male out-migration. Male migration to India or the plains, either to operate small microenterprises or for wage labour, has made women’s de facto heading of families quite common in the hills of Nepal. For poorer (lower-caste) households, migration becomes a survival strategy. For those who are better off (upper-caste such as the Brahmin or Cheetri), remittances from the migrant member provide capital for the purchasing of more land or other assets. A study undertaken by the Asian Institute of Technology in 1999, in the context of a technical assistance grant from IFAD, in three villages in Kavre Palanchok District found that male migration doubled women’s physical work burden and also increased women’s community activities, especially where there were no sons. Women heads of farm households have a particularly hard time when male labour is not available for such tasks as ploughing, which is apparently taboo for women. Remittances from absent husbands tend to be intermittent. There is a reported high rate of desertion of rural women by their migrant husbands, leaving the women and their dependents particularly vulnerable. Development projects. Project-supported promotion of livestock activities and forest management has also increased women’s workloads. In the case of livestock, the amount of extra work involved was, in fact, a consideration in the women’s selection of activities. Women often preferred larger animals such as buffaloes, but, in practice, selected goats, as they involved less work. In the case of forest management, it was found that women were doing the pruning and thinning of trees and were also involved in the raising of fodder species, because men were often absent. Some of the results of workload increase for women were found to be:
In the poorer and women-headed households in the hills of Nepal, women often have a heavy workload. Thus, while a new income-earning activity for women can benefit the household, it may make life even harder for women, particularly if men are absent. In this type of situation, basic infrastructure or labour-saving technology to help reduce the time women spend on domestic tasks can be a useful addition. It is also important for development projects to distinguish between ‘participation’ and ‘benefit’ in project-promoted activities. Women may indeed be participants, but the impact of the activity may be mixed – personal satisfaction and empowerment versus less time and energy. Adapted from: Nandini Azad. 1999. Engendered Mobilization – the Key to Livelihood Security: IFAD’s Experience in South Asia. Rome: IFAD. Siddiqur Rahman Osmani. 1998. Food Security, Poverty and Women: Lessons from Rural Asia, Part I. Rome: IFAD/TAD. February. |
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