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Invisible women

Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed Khan
***Of late, a degree of change has been noticed' in the way our society views women's work. This change essentially remains limited, and only a small part of the country's female population, primarily concentrated in the urban and suburban areas, benefit from it.***
WOMEN are often termed as "invisible workers" in academic discourses. Indeed, women's diverse and substantive contributions to day-to-day resource use and management are rarely understood - let alone duly recognised or appreciated.
1 - There is still a perception*that women''dre not "fit? 'for labour intensive work related to natural resource management, including forestry7 or agriculture.This myopic and fundamentally flawed view persists in most societies of the developing world, and often suggests women to choose some "lightweight" and "soft" professions such as teaching, nursing and
(more recently) banking.
Recent research, however, reveals that in most parts of the developing world, a considerable portion of women, especially in the countryside, are not only involved in forestry and agriculture practices. but are also the sole breadearners in their families.
Practically, forests are more relevant and salient for women than
-men,-- where Ulmnm perform a (number-of crucial roles — as farmers. harvesters, users of firewood, collectors and sellers of minor forest products, and tenders of livestock Women also make up a growing proportion of the paid-labour-force serving the forest industry and informal sector enterprises.
To realise their full potential as
agents of development, women need some control over the natural resources that they use, access to better time and labour-saving technologies that will improve their productivity, and solutions that will lighten their traditional burdens and ensure that women's vital cash income needs are met.
Forestry has changed dramatically over the last three decades or surlri addition-to- protection and management of trees forestry now takes on a holistic perspective and approach to resource use, which addresses the human and social problems associated with forest and land use.
Now forestry emphasises the need for the active involvement of local communities in all aspects of project design and implementation. Largely through this approach, the contribution of women, as a distinct social group in the forest sector, is gradually coming to the forefront of international academia, and the need for attention to gender equity is being increasingly argued.
Recent United Nations (UN) estimates indicate that up to 70% of the world's poor are women, and women in developing countries constitute the majority of the labour force, playing a key role in managing community resources and helping to protect the environment.
Much of their work is unpaid and informal, and remains unacknowledged. In areas with longterm human habitation, women have historically possessed a strong working knowledge of forest products, and served as the main transmitters of this knowledge to successive generations.
Constituting half of Bangladesh's population, women’s extensive work and their dual responsibilities of farm and household productions have remained outside the ambit of
formal recognition and attention, especially in terms of economic valuation. They play the central role in home gardening and homestead food production.
However, the share of women in the total economically active population is 39%. Most often, caring of livestock and poultry, vegetable growing, post-harvest processing and preservation, usually done by women in the farm households, are considered uneconomic.
Women traditionally undertake home gardening. Farm activities in the homesteads, ranging from selection of seed to harvesting and ^loiingolcjopp, .nvpiidunpj^antiy managed by women.
Despite women's important role in agriculture, traditional social norms, religious extremism and patriarchal social order deprive them of equitable economic opportunities and access to resources, especially in the context of natural resource management in the countryside.
Rural women use forest products for food and fuel as well as for handicrafts. They collect firewood and dung for fuel from the forests, which are used as pastures for cattle.
Sectoral research reveals that women's participation in small-scale fisheries has been particularly impressive in Bangladesh. Typically, they carry out such tasks as drying, curing, and marketing of fish. Besides, women constitute the majority work force in the shrimp processing industry — the second largest contributor to our export economy.
In weaving, pottery or production of oil or syrup, women have specifically earmarked responsibilities in relation to the finished product. In weaving, women undertake all the activities prior to loom work
In pottery, women are responsible for pitching pots and handling the drying process. Additionally, women are involved in initial processing and preparation of jute before forwarding to the market outlets.
Women earn income as agricul-
rural wage labourers, especially in the northern Bangladesh. They have the main responsibility in post-harvest processing of rice and other agriculture commodities. In sericulture, silkworm rearing and cocoon reeling are the two critical activities exclusively carried out by women. They are also extensively involved in mulberry planting7and associated processing activities.
Women have important responsibilities to ensure household food security. They ensure protein supply through rearing livestock; and contribute to the household diet by producing various vegetables and fruits in the home garden. Here the issue of intra-housenold allocation of food is also very important — especially in context ofits gender dimension.
Food insecurity is a critical concern for most poor households in the country, and one major manifestation of the phenomenon concerns widespread child and maternal malnutrition. Although women are the "managers" of household food security, they are "victims" of inequities of family food distribution -- where the male members have the "right" to consume the best portions of the food, and the females have to content themselves with the left-overs.
Women adopt diverse and intense household resource-use strategies to cope with food deficit situations -- especially during lean seasons and natural disasters. They intensify their efforts in homestead production and seek non-farm production options for the wellbeing of the family.
Recent studies reveal that women contribute up to 20% of the household income through collecting non-wood forest products (NWFPs). Global literature, in recent years, convincingly argues that forest protection should not be seen as a matter of conflict between reservation (and exclusion) of forest boundaries and local people's access and rights on forests, but as a mode of consulta tion and negotiation among all stakeholders - ultimately respecting the marginalised communities'
(including women) struggle for survival through their forest dependent life-style and livelihood.
In Bangladesh, the latest Forest Policy (1994) contains some reflection of the above perspective. It emphasises equitable distribution of benefits among the people — especially those whose livelihood depend on trees and forests. Examples of the "people-centred" provisions of the policy are: creation of rural employment opportunities and expansion of forestbased rural development sectors; and prevention of illegal occupa-, tion pf forestlands and other forest offences through people's participation.
Of late, a degree of change has been noticed in the way our society views women's work This change essentially remains limited, and only a small part of the country's female population, primarily concentrated in the urban and suburban areas, benefit from it
This has practically no implication or effect on the overwhelming majority of rural women and their day-to-day struggle for survival -- pivoting around natural resource manage-
mainstreaming the work and associated contribution of these toiling and caring women, the oft-quoted "women empowerment" campaign has hardly any realistic chance of transcending beyond mere rhetoric or lip-service.
Such "mainstreaming" initiatives should be geared towards increasing access for rural women to the formal sectors of economic activities and facilities, recognising their role and work through monetary valuation, and institutionalising a process of ensuring their voice in the central policy arena. It is the need of the time that the historical neglect and associated "invisibility" of women's work and contribution are reversed.
Mohammed Abdul Baten is pursuing higher studies in the University of Stockholm. Sweden; and Or. Niaz Ahmed Khan is Professor of Development Studies at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.