How male outmigration affects women’s roles in dryland agriculture
Photo: ICARDA
In a recent literature review focusing on agrarian societies in the drylands, ICARDA scientist Dina Najjar and Ph.D. student Jemima Baada at Western University in Canada investigate how outmigration of men affect women's roles in agriculture, as well as the wider effect in different contexts of the dry areas (rangeland, irrigated production and rainfed).
The study revealed that women are carrying out more labor, both on and off farms, and that feminization of agrarian labor may reduce women’s earnings at the detriment to household incomes and make them more susceptible to economic, social, and cultural marginalization.
The study results highlight the need for more studies in dryland areas on the effects of a migration-related feminization of rural labor on women's economic and psychosocial wellbeing. They speak to the importance of developing interventions specially tailored to mitigate negative effects on women while protecting women by leveraging the positive effects of feminization of agricultural labor.
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