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Science
City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija—The Rice Science
Museum established in this city is honoring the women rice workers in
celebration of the 2015 National Women’s Month this March.
Following the celebration’s
theme, Juana, Desisyon Mo ay Mahalaga sa
Kinabukasan ng Bawat Isa, Ikaw Na!, a 10-paneled photo exhibit is showcased
to display how women help the other workers in rice. Titled, The Woman of Rice, the exhibit is based
on a 2008 study, Who are the Women in
Agriculture? by Maria Daryl L. Leyesa of the Centro Saka Inc.
The study showed that in
general, more women in the rice sector exercise decision-making in most
production concerns than men. Women decide matters concerning farm capital, on
growing and selling vegetables, and on raising and selling the livestock.
Study also showed that men in
farming communities depend on the women on household matters such as medication
in times of illness, what food to prepare or cook, what household appliances to
buy, whom to vote during elections, and where to get money in emergencies.
“Taking care or keeping an
eye on children is simultaneously done with whatever they are doing in the farm
or in the house. Off farm, the women prepare the tools for farm labor, does
gardening, food foraging, wood gathering, and poultry or livestock raising,” Ms.
Leyesa said.
Ms. Leyesa said that women
spend as long as 11 hours of daily work during the planting and harvesting
seasons and they spend longer times than the men in pesticide application for
snails, planting, and weeding.
“Women allot 2.33 more days
in harvesting than men and 2.75 more days in drying rice,” she said.
Moreover, the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) had emphasized the role of women in agriculture
as they comprise about 43 percent of the global agricultural labor force.
“Women comprise half or more
of the agricultural labor force in many African and Asian countries. The labor
burden of rural women exceeds that of men, and includes a higher proportion of
unpaid household responsibilities related to preparing food and collecting fuel
and water,” FAO reported.
FAO added that agricultural
development, economic growth, and food security will be strengthened and
accelerated if “national governments and the international community build on
the contributions that women make and take steps to alleviate these constraints.
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