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In agriculture, many introduced technologies are targeted at men as they head the household and have access to critical resources. They often fail, however, as it isn't the men who do the work, it is the women. So Bhawana Upadhyay, of the International Water Management Institute-India (IWMI-IN) argues that a greater impact could be made by targeting technology at women.
Targeting women increases productivity, enhances their welfare and empowerment. Rural women know how to use traditional technology, but they have little knowledge about modern or improved technology that could benefit them at home and on the farm. When new technology is introduced women don't get involved nor do technology developers consider women separately. As a result, women experience unintended side-effects.
Technology development and dissemination is not gender-neutral, and can have a devastating impact on women's access to resources and income generation, as well as on their work load. In Asia, for example, mechanisation, introduced as part of irrigation schemes, has replaced female labour by male labour. FAO estimates that in Bangladesh mechanisation has displaced upto one million female working days per year.
Women's lack of access to appropriate technology will have an adverse impact on food security, especially as men migrate to seek work and women have to do all the farm work as well as managing their home.
It can be argued, therefore, that low-cost, reliable, less labour intensive, practical and socially accepted technologies can help reduce women's drudgery and meet their practical needs, improve health and save time. By adopting new technologies women will improve their income and therefore become a stronger voice in the family and in the community
To accommodate both male and female farmers' needs, it is necessary to identify who will be using the technology and for what purpose. For this reason, I argue that gender participation in technology...