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A woman's rightful place?


 Rural development projects in sub-Saharan Africa tend not to succeed because they do not consider women's role and their significance, even though women constitute 70% of agricultural workers, 80% of food producers, 100% of people who prepare meals, and 60-90% do food marketing. Development specialists ignore women because they are not involved in political activities and in decision making. As long as women and women's contributions are not considered, rural development projects will remain inefficient and development will not take place. Thus, projects must include women as agents and beneficiaries of development in key sectors of the economy. Rural development specialists must also consider the effect male labor emigration has on rural women. For example, drought has forced many men to leave their villages, leaving a work force consisting of 95% women to fight desertification. All too often, women have no or limited land ownership rights, thereby keeping them from improving the land, e.g., planting perennial fruit crops. They also tend to be hired hands rather than food producers. They cannot obtain bank loans because they do not own land, and because they are often illiterate (over 90% female illiteracy in 28 African countries), they can neither understand nor complete bank loan forms. Rural development projects further alienate women by aiming training programs to men or by using male agricultural extension agents. Women react to this alienation by rejecting projects that do not benefit them and follow more profitable activities which sometimes interfere with projects. Thus, rural development programs need to invest in women to ensure viable and efficient sustainable development.
