(The Nationalist, 2 March 2007)
About two decades ago, a report was published on farming in sub-Saharan Africa under the title, The African farmer – and her husband. It was well named. The typical African farmer is a woman. A rough estimate, which could be too high or, more likely, I think, too low, is that two-thirds of food production in Africa is by women and girls, and two-thirds of food consumption by men and boys.
A more dramatic picture emerges when it comes to capital borrowed for investment in agriculture. A study of the agricultural Lima Bank in Zambia showed that, in one year, only 4% of male farmers repaid their debts, while, in another governmental lending institution, it was even lower, at 2%. In the same year, a group of women who had borrowed from a credit union comprising no more than 100 members had a 100% repayment rate among its borrowers. Very few women could borrow from commercial or state banks, mostly for cultural or social reasons, even though they were the backbone of the farming industry. When they set up their alternative system they made a success of it. There is a message there.
Trócaire estimates that women make up 70% of those living in poverty world-wide, and 75% of illiterate adults. I remember meeting a local headman when visiting a village in Zambia. He called a boy to him and gave him a message, ‘Go and call a man, or a woman with intelligence, if you can find one’. His attitude would not have been exceptional. In view of the above, it’s like throwing dirt in a person’s face, and then blaming them for having a dirty face.
In the last forty years or less, women have taken much of the world by storm, moving into every branch and aspect of life, including all the professions, often leaving their male colleagues behind in the competence and professionalism league. If I go into a business premises, and there is a choice of going to a male or female staff member, I go to the female, because I have learned from experience that they are more likely to do a job capably and quickly. I find it often the case that where men seek excuses, women find remedies.
I don’t like being critical of my half of the world’s population, but it’s hard not to be if you look at the evidence. Men vastly outnumber women in criminality and violence; women outnumber men in caring and healing. Are men genetically programmed in this way? Is it the fault of God, or nature, or evolution? Or is that idea just a mentally lazy cop-out that is unwilling to look at issues?
More likely, I think, the situation described above is the result of human decisions, made over a period of millennia, mostly by men, and now, seemingly, inscribed on our mental horizon as part of “the natural order of things”. Men think, or at least used to think, of women as “the weaker sex”. What a joke! Men are the weaker sex.
But things are changing, and I believe the result will be better for men and women alike. The feminist movement seems unstoppable. Feminism is about freeing all of life from the scourge of domination. It is opposed, not to masculinity, but to machismo. That would benefit everyone.
In their Lenten campaign this year, Trócaire are trying to do something for the status of women in Africa. It’s needed. Will you help?