The Crop Divide: Gender Disparities in Pakistan’s Agricultural Frontline Amid Climate Crises
Muhammad Umar Bilal Rathore
International Women’s Day was celebrated this month on 8th March to appreciate the contributions and sacrifices of women in our societies. Women play a pivotal role in the development of community and the socio-economic progression of the state, and this is especially true and important in Pakistan as 50% of the population is female. The female population in Pakistan as of 2023 is more than 119 million yet Pakistan has failed the largest portion of its population in terms of equality, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Pakistan ranks 142nd out of 146th in the World Economic Forums’ Gender Parity Index, making Pakistan the fifth worst nation to be a woman globally. Females in Pakistan face an array of social and economic issues such as rampant illiteracy rates, underage marriages and honour killings to name a few but according to the International Monetary Fund, bridging gender gap can boost the Pakistani economy by more than 30%. It is important to point out that Pakistan is an agrarian economy with nearly 70% of the population directly or indirectly dependent on the agriculture sector and half of all employed labour force works in the agricultural sector. Out of the half employed labour force working in agriculture sector in Pakistan, 65% are females, making the agriculture sector the largest employing sector for women. Thus this gives the Pakistani state the opportunity to socio-economically uplift a vast portion of the female population and contribute to agricultural progress simultaneously with proper initiatives and programs targeted towards females-led agricultural revolution.
As of now, women in agriculture sector in Pakistan are massively shunned and ignored by the state which has caused Pakistan’s agriculture industry to become discriminatory and promote gender inequality. Compared to men, women are less likely to own assets that might generate revenue, including land, machinery, or equipment, and they do not have the same effect on financial or economic choices. Pakistan’s agricultural sector is dependent on women participation yet overwhelmingly rural women in Pakistan do not have ownership of agricultural land. According to a 2017-2018 report and survey data, 99.5 percent of women in rural Balochistan, 96.7 percent in rural Punjab and 98.7 percent in rural Sindh did not own any agricultural land, even the land they worked on belonged to men. Women in agriculture face additional hurdles due to limited access to cutting-edge technology and agriculture practices, inadequate extension assistance, and rampant rural female illiteracy. Women-managed farms are up to 30% less productive than farms managed by men. However, closing the gap could boost agricultural production by up to 4%.
With more than 7.2 million women working in agriculture, it is the largest employer of Pakistani women. However, their effort is frequently unappreciated, undervalued, and underpaid. Gender inequality and inflexible gender standards make them more vulnerable to climate hazards. Floods of 2010 are testimony of this imbalance. Women made up 49 percent of the 1,500,000 internally displaced people in Sindh province at the time. In a ranking of 87 poor and middle-income nations on a ‘climate-agriculture-gender inequality hotspot index’ produced by the experts at Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research; Pakistan is rated fourth globally. These hotspots are regions where climate hazards, women’s exposure to climate hazards as a result of agricultural participation, and women’s susceptibility as a result of gender inequities meet. Climate Change exasperated calamities disproportionately affect females and children especially those females working in the agricultural sector as evident from the 2010 and 2022 floods.
A province-level study stipulated Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan as hotspots in the country. Female farmers and agriculturalists in these areas are actively involved in the cultivation of rice and oil seeds, as well as pruning, seed purification, crop storage, and livestock farming. As a result, they are in danger of distress as a result of current floods and future climate calamities. Women in these three provinces are particularly susceptible due to considerable gender inequities, which are exacerbated by restrictive societal, cultural and economic standards. Women farmers are not reimbursed for crop losses during a catastrophe or climate calamite since they do not own the land on which they work. The Pakistani government established a crop insurance programme in the wake of the 2010 floods, but it was only available to farmers with up to 25 acres of land. Women therefore had nothing to gain from the alleviation provision as almost all agricultural landowners are males. The capacity of female farmers to deal with climatic events such as floods is also dependent on their reach to financing, expertise, and skills. Only 5.3 percent of rural women in Punjab, 1.6 percent in Sindh, and 0.9 percent in Balochistan possess a bank account, and they seldom acquire loans through conventional channels since they have little to no wealth to provide as security. The technology and literacy barrier rampant in females in Pakistan also possesses a major hindrance in the socio-economic growth of women in the agricultural sector as less than 48% of women receive any formal education and less than 36% literacy rate in rural areas for women.
Extreme weather occurrences affect not just rural women, but also women who reside in more populated areas. One example is the Karachi heatwave of 2015, which killed over 1,200 people due to heat strokes and dehydration as blistering weather blanketed the city for a month. Heatwaves are expected to hit Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab again year after year with more intensity due to rising global temperatures exasperated by climate change. Studies were conducted in Sindh’s disaster-prone areas by the Social Policy and Development Sector, focusing on rural women’s sensitivity to changes in weather patterns. The study demonstrates how the women of Dadu district, who once worked in fishing, net weaving, and other fishing-related industries, no longer have such economic prospects, supporting the plight of rural Sindh women. The report also describes how female farmers in Khat Lashkar village once worked in agriculture alongside men, but that as agricultural output has declined as a result of changes in weather patterns, their responsibilities have shrunk. Their economic freedom has been impacted by meteorological conditions. The study also highlights that the women in Tharparkar area walk long distances to get drinking water from wells, which takes them an average of five hours every day. Because of the regular water contamination, both women and children are more likely to contract water-borne ailments. Female hair loss has resulted from carrying large pots of drinking water on their heads.
Agriculture, the sector that contributes approximately 23 percent of the GDP, remains particularly exposed to extreme weather events and their aftermath as the recent 2022 floods killed over 1000 people and displaced millions internally. One third of Pakistan was submerged under water during the floods and it contributed to the increase of inflation as wheat, edible oil, milk and meat hold 18 percent weightage in the Consumer Price Index basket and any disruption in the supply chain will risk food insecurity, gender inequality and socio-economic regression. Women in Pakistan have always received the short end of the proverbial stick in all matters of equality but the women most vulnerable in Pakistan reside in rural areas as they are working women stuck in a form of bonded labour for their entire lives just to live their lives on a day to day basis. The state needs to make the women of Pakistan a priority, especially women living and working in rural areas as their contribution to economy and society outweighs the prejudice they face and have faced for decades. Women are as much a shareholder in the future of Pakistan as men are and if the state wants Pakistan to progress, it cannot ignore the cycle of inequality and 21st century slavery subjugated on women in rural Pakistan.
About the Author – M. Umar Bilal Rathore is a socio-economic and political analyst and has recently completed his bachelor’s degree in International Relations from National Defence University.
Email – rathore.umarbilal@gmail.com