Abstract
The introduction of information communication technologies like mobile phones and radios as a form of agricultural extension has the capacity to alter household gender roles. The information access that was previously more available to men than women, has the capacity to empower farmers by improving their ability to turn food crops into market oriented crops. This implies that food crops, previously seen as women’s crops, also become cash crops, which were thought to be men’s crops. This change also leads to changes in agricultural gender roles. The anticipated increase in agricultural productivity also leads to men or hired labour participating in agricultural roles that were previously thought to be women’s roles, so as to meet the market demands in a timely manner. The dual purpose of the crops leads to more joint labour provision along the agricultural production process and blurs the gender divide. The study used a sequentially mixed methods’ approach among farmers belonging to five farmer groups in Apac district in Northern Uganda. The study indicated that the use of mobile phones in agricultural production altered agricultural gender roles, as well as the participation of women and men in the production of food crops and cash crops. The changes greatly benefited women farmers as they moved into commercial production alongside their husbands, which changed their socio-economic status. The use of mobile phones and radios is important in fostering the participation of both men and women in agricultural roles that they previously did not engage in, since there is limited monopoly of information once a couple navigates issues of power relations surrounding the access to and use of the technologies.
Highlights
Gender, as a powerful ideological tool, produces and reproduces roles performed by both men and women in different structures making social change either possible or impossible [1]
The study revealed that the access to and use of mobile phones and radios as sources of agricultural information empowered men and women to change gender roles in agricultural production
The change in roles is traced in the type of crops grown by men and women and the roles they perform in the agricultural production process
Summary
As a powerful ideological tool, produces and reproduces roles performed by both men and women in different structures making social change either possible or impossible [1]. Gender relations were organized in favor of men as the dominant category that controlled land as a productive resource [30], made family decisions on incomes, while women were responsible for domestic tasks like cooking, fetching water, and washing [31] It is on this land that the Langi in Apac adopted an agro-pastoral livelihood, keeping poultry and animals like cattle, pigs, rabbits and goats, well as crops like millet, sorghum, cassava, sesame, beans, groundnuts, maize, sweet potatoes, sunflower, and soybeans [32]. Agricultural production gender roles like land preparation, planting and weeding were jointly done by men and women, while women harvested most crops and handled post-harvest activities through colonialism and modern times [32]. The interest of this study was in the gender related changes that take place the gender roles performed by men and women as well as the changes in the production of food and cash crops
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