Arid Environments Journal of Arid Environments Vol

Journal of 149 Volume 149 February 2018 ISSN 0140-1963

Arid Environments Journal of Arid Environments Vol. 149 ( 2018 ) Volume 149 February 2018

Special Issue on Women in Drylands: Barriers and Benefits for Sustainable Livelihoods Guest Editors: Dr Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder and Dr Avigail Morris Contents

Women in Drylands: Barriers and Beneﬁ ts for Exploring the potential of household methodologies to Sustainable Livelihood strengthen gender equality and improve smallholder Abu-Rabia-Queder, S. & Morris, A. 1 livelihoods: Research in Malawi in maize-based Vulnerability of women to climate change in arid and systems semi-arid regions: The case of India and South Asia Farnworth, C.R. , Stirling, C.S. , Chinyophiro, A. , Yadav, S.S. & Lal, R. 2 Namakhoma, A. & Morahan, R. 51 Women's food security and conservation farming in The connective strategies of Bedouin women Zaka District-Zimbabwe entrepreneurs in the Negev Hove, M. & Gweme, T. 16 Biernacka, A. , Abu-Rabia-Queder, S. & Kressel, G.M. 60 Purdah, purse and patriarchy: The position of women in the Raika shepherd community in Rajasthan (India) The suburbanization of rural life in an arid and rocky Köhler-Rollefson, I. 28 village in western Turkey Hart, K. 71 Warlpiri experiences highlight challenges and opportunities for gender equity in Indigenous The economy of survival: Bedouin women in conservation management in arid Australia unrecognized villages Davies, J. , Walker, J. & Maru, Y.T. 38 Abu-Rabia-Queder, S. , Morris, A. & Ryan, R. 78 Special Issue: Women in Drylands: Barriers and Beneﬁ ts for Sustainable Livelihoods

The Internet home page for Journal of Arid Environments can be found at: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv Abstracted/indexed in: Abstracts and citation database SCOPUS®. Full text available on ScienceDirect®. Special Issue Women in Drylands: Barriers and Benefits for Sustainable Livelihoods Guest Editors: Dr Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder and Dr Avigail Morris ELSEVIER

Printed by Henry Ling Ltd, The Dorset Press, Dorchester, UK 0140-1963(201802)149:C;1-H Journal of Arid Environments Editor Emeritus: Professor J.L. Cloudsley-Thompson Editor in Chief Professor Damián Ravetta Museo Egidio Feruglio CONICET, Fontana 140 Trelew (9100), Chubut, Argentina (Inquiries and submissions to: Elsevier Ltd., Stover Court, Bampfylde Street, Exeter, Devon, EX1 2AH, United Kingdom. Tel.: +44 (0) 1392 285800; Fax: +44 (0) 1392 425370 Email: [email protected])

Associate Editors C. Armas Estación Experimental Zonas Áridas, Almería, Spain D.Eldridge University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia L.K. Horwitz Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel M. Sternberg Tel Aviv University, Israel D.S.G. Thomas University of Oxford, Oxford, UK E.R. Vivoni Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA L. Wang Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Consulting Editors T. Luo Y. Bai Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China R. Boone M.E. Meadows Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa J.S. Carrion F.M. Padilla Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain University of Almería, La Cañada, Almería, Spain A. Cibils New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA F. Parrini N. Drake University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa King’s College London, London, UK B. Roundy J. Garatuza Brigham Young University, Provo, USA Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora, Cd. Obregon, Son., Mexico N. Lancaster S. Soliveres Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada, USA Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Editorial Board Dr S. Archer Professor C.F. Hutchinson University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA Professor R. Balling, Jr Dr F.M. Jaksic Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA Pontiﬁ cia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile Dr K.H. Berry Dr E.G. Jobba´gy U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Moreno Valley, California, USA Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Dr B.T. Bestelmeyer San Luis, Argentina New Mexico State University, La Cruces, New Mexico, USA Dr G.I.H. Kerley Professor J.N. Blignaut University of Pretoria, Derdepark, South Africa Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa Dr D. Burnside Professor K.T. Killingbeck URS Corporation, East Perth, Western Australia, Australia University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, USA Dr W.R.J. Dean Dr S.R. Morton Mendeley Institutional Edition University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa CSIRO (The Commonwealth Scientiﬁ c and Industrial Research Professor M.J. Delany Organization), Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia University of Bradford, Bradford, UK Dr M.K. Seely Dr D.L. Dunkerley Gobabel Research and Training Centre, Walvis Bay, Namibia Mendeley Institutional Edition is the enterprise edition of Elsevier’s leading Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Dr P. Shaw Ing. J.C. Guevara workflow tool with which 6+ million registered users engage to manage their University of The West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago research references, measure performance of their publications, showcase their Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas, Dr F. Tiver Mendoza, Argentina work, stay up to date on research trends and discoveries, store datasets and find University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, South Australia, Australia Professor H. Heatwole opportunities with the insights and management capabilities that Institutions need Professor W.G. Whitford North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA to help researchers progress their research achieve their and the institution’s goals. Dr J. Henschel New Mexico State University, La Cruces, New Mexico, USA South African Environmental Observation Network, Kimberley, Dr B. Wu Trusted and used buy 600+ institutions worldwide www.elsevier.com/ South Africa Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Beijing, China solutions/mendeley Professor M.T. Hoffman Dr X.P. Yang University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China

JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS: ISSN 0140-1963. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 1–3

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

Editorial ﬁ Women in Drylands: Barriers and Bene ts for Sustainable Livelihoods T

Arid regions are most often characterized as geographical areas which lack environmental resources for a secure livelihood. As a result, many communities living in the arid areas of the world suffer from conditions of poverty and economic crises. Women from poor and less developed countries are those who usually pay the price of unequal access to natural and economic resources. Their inferiority is not only manifested in economic marginality but also intersects with other aspects of inequality such as ethnicity, status, age, patriarchal order and state policies which consequently lead to multiple inequality and marginality in accessing resources for a sufficient livelihood (Figs. 1 and 2). The aim of this special issue is to highlight the livelihoods of women in arid regions focusing on both the social, political, economic and ecological barriers that women encounter and the strategies they use to overcome them. The eight papers presented in this Special Issue of Journal of Arid Environments,offer a variety of case studies from around the globe. Each article relates to different challenges/barriers that women face in providing for their families and offers a descriptive analysis of the strategies women use to adapt to and/or overcome these challenges in a changing society. A major theme which appears throughout all of the papers in this volume has been the variety of ways in which women who live in harsh arid environments rely on their cultural and ecological knowledge in an attempt to sustain both themselves and their families. Many of the barriers that they face are not only due to ecological factors but to social and political interventions such as development projects and state policies. In an attempt to improve the quality of life for women through promoting gender equality these programs and policies often misrepresent these same women and undermine cultural and ecological knowledge essential for maintaining a sustainable lifestyle. These women are frequently perceived in western literature, as culturally oppressed and as victims of patriarchy. As a result their traditional roles within their family and community are often perceived as oppressive rather than empowering. This western prism tends to place these women who practice very different lifestyles as farmers, pastoralists, and past nomads as one homogeneous group. The issue begins with Yadav and Lal’s paper which uses support from a wide range of literature to outline the severe impact of climate change on women in developing countries. Emphasis is placed not only on the hardships women face as a result of climate change but also on the ways in which many of these women are using their traditional knowledge, experience and expertise, to adjust to these ecological changes. Yadav and Lal suggest that NGOs, governments and other development organizations can and do encourage women to create “climate-smart households”, advance “eco- efficiency” through the development of traditional knowledge, reinforce social networking, and manage sustainable systems. Although social and political interventions by NGOs and development projects aim to benefit women by improving their economic, social and political conditions, the papers in this volume by Hove and Gweme (on the Zaka of Zimbabwe), Köhler-Rollefson (on the Raika of Rajasthan) and Jocelyn et al. (the Walpiri of Australia), illustrate how these same interventions can often clash with cultural beliefs and practices and thus serve as barriers for improving living conditions for women. Hove and Gweme describe how NGO initiatives to introduce conservation agriculture (CA) to the Zaka of Zimbabwe were faced with cultural resistance and as a result failed to reach more women due, in part, to the need for increased labor intensive work for women already burdened with a multitude of domestic obligations as well as the fear of jeopardizing their major staple maize crops due to a new need for crop rotation. Both Köhler-Rollefson and Jocelyn et al. add to this dialogue by discussing the gaps in the perception of women’s roles and gender balance which exist between development programs through NGOs and the women whom which they are attempting to advance. When discussing women and sheep pastoralism amongst the Raika of Rajasthan, Köhler-Rollefson gives examples of the ways in which NGO’s overlook the powerful roles Raika women play as the financial managers of the household business and how reliance on western notions of gender equality cause NGOs to often misinterpret gender divisions in public spaces. In doing so, Köhler-Rollefson highlights the central contribution that Raika women make to their families subsistence. Jocelyn et al.’s paper points out the ways in which gender and cultural blindness of non-indigenous government agencies marginalize Warlpiri women by overlooking cultural norms which advocate separate but equal gender domains. Non-indigenous government agencies failed to realize that these gender domains are highly significant in providing the means by which men and women act as partners in managing and conserving the land. Another theme emphasized in this Special Issue is the important productive role women occupy in the attempt to sustain their families particularly among indigenous women in arid regions. As opposed to western feminist viewpoints which often look at domestic/familial roles as oppressive and thus disempowering, the papers presented in this volume suggests a different look at women's domestic roles perceiving them as an essential part of the family’s subsistence way of life. In other words, women’s identity and traditional subsistence roles are not detached from their families or communities, but are inspired from and embedded in family and kin relations. This volume challenges western rigid binary oppositions which divide public and domestic domains in terms of work and instead suggests https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.11.009

Fig. 1. Raika shepherd women on migration (photograph courtesy of Ilse Köhler-Rollefson).

domesticity as an integral part of sustainable life, which is vital to the cooperative, joint and complementary roles men and women share. In this regard, this volume's vital contribution is to suggest replacing the term 'gender equality', 'empowerment' and 'power' with more culturally suited terms that reflect women's understanding of their own contributions to their family’s economic well-being. The separation between gender roles or gender spaces discussed in these papers, are not understood as hierarchical divisions where one role/space is inferior to the other, but as complementary to each other. Empowerment and power are not seen merely as an individual's goal, but are embedded in family and kin relations, and in some cases also in patriarchal agents. Cooperation, jointness and the complementary roles that men and women share is further examined in Farnworth et al.’s paper which analyzes how household methodologies (HHM) which promote joint decision-making and management of both wives and husbands, emphasizing partnership between the two genders, is seen as a way to foster equal gender relations with the aim of reaching higher agricultural yields when managing their plots of land. Economic endeavors which are embedded in family and kin relations becomes the central theme in Biernacka et al.’s paper which examines urbanized Bedouin women entrepreneurs in Israel and the “patriarchal connective strategies” which they perceive as key factors in their business success which is framed within scarce conditions for economic development. In this context, fathers and sons as patriarchs become protectors and agents for women entrepreneurs. The paper challenges the homogeneous definition of patriarchal society by highlighting the important roles 'patriarchs' have in promoting agency and being at the same time resources for agency. Another topic highlighted in this Special Issue is the negative influence of state policies on the choices (or lack of choices) women have for improving living conditions for themselves and their families. In Hart’s article on rural life in Western Turkey she describes how village women who turn to their nomadic heritage as an economic resource to sustain rural life, found it difficult to maintain businesses such as weaving cooperatives and cheese making workshops due to the failure of the government to provide services to rural regions such as running water, roads and other infrastructure. This along with lack of appropriate ecological conditions have over the years driven many women to abandon their cultural economy and migrate to the cities where they preferred to become housewives leaving their husbands to become the breadwinners. The negative impact of state policies on the social and economic welfare of women in minority/indigenous groups is also discussed in Abu Rabia- Queder et al.‘s paper which focuses on the economic plight of women in unrecognized Bedouin villages in southern Israel. Whereas women and their families in rural western Turkey have been driven by lack of infrastructure to abandon their nomadic heritage and turn ‘outward’ towards urbanized regions in the hopes of finding better economic opportunities for themselves and their children; in unrecognized Bedouin communities, state policies not only fail to provide people with an adequate infrastructure, but also deny them other basic political and economic rights such that women have been left with no choice but to rely on their traditional subsistence roles and look ‘inward’ towards their families and community turning them into a source of informal economy. The authors are careful to point out that although this informal economy, which is inspired from and embedded in family and kin relations, does provides economic, social and cultural benefits for poor families, it only enables a short term sustainable livelihood. Longer term solutions for economic development within unrecognized Bedouin villages are necessary and can only be achieved through changes in state policies towards these communities. In this volume we attempt to “unpack” the homogeneous category given to women in arid regions. We focus on their unique situations in terms of their geographic location, ecological conditions, role within the family unit, political status, subsistence patterns and economic status, educational background and cultural-ecological knowledge and practices in determining intervention among state policies and NGO's agencies. The choice of the Journal of Arid Environments for this Special Issue is also of importance since the topics raised here are generally not dealt with in such publications, whose major focus is the natural environment and ecology. It is hoped that this publication will serve to stimulate interest and

2 Editorial Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 1–3

Fig. 2. Bedouin woman weaving at the Sidreh-Lakiya association. The Lakiya Negev Weaving Initiative was established in 1991 and is a locally based enterprise managed by Bedouin women. It empowers Bedouin women of the Negev on a personal and economic level by applying their specialized weaving skills to produce products for both the local and international markets. (photograph courtesy of the Sidreh-Lakiya association). scientiﬁc investigation by a broader spectrum of researchers, on the status and role of women in arid lands. The guest editors thank Dr. Damian Ravetta - editor in chief, Dr. Liora Kolska Horwitz -associate editor and Mr. Shahid Hussain of the JAE oﬃce, for their assistance in seeing the papers through to publication.

Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder Ben-Gurion University Avigail Morris Science Center for the Dead Sea and Arava & The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

3 Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17

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Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

Vulnerability of women to climate change in arid and semi-arid regions: The case of India and South Asia

* S.S. Yadav a, b, Rattan Lal b, a Department of Botany, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, 124001, Haryana, India b Carbon Management and Sequestration Centre, The Ohio State University, Columbus, 43210, Ohio, USA article info abstract

Article history: This article is a collation and synthesis of the literature review with the focus on the vulnerability of rural Received 9 June 2016 women in developing countries to climate change on the one hand and being pro-active in adapting to Received in revised form climate change on the other. The geographic coverage of the literature is global but with speciﬁcex- 28 July 2017 amples from India. The information presented in this paper is derived from diverse sources including Accepted 1 August 2017 journal articles and thematic books, and indicates severe adverse impacts not only on women's liveli- Available online 10 August 2017 hood opportunities but also on exacerbating the workload and fatigue while decreasing their self esteem and forcing them to undertake some high risks and hazardous activities. The literature indicates that Keywords: Climate change poverty, gender inequality, insecure land rights, heavy reliance on agriculture, less access to education Arid environment and information are among the principal reasons for their vulnerability to climate change. The vulner- Women ability is also confounded by the meager asset base, social marginalization, lack of mobility and exclusion Vulnerability from the decision-making processes in response to a disaster. However, the literature also shows that Adaptation and mitigation women are not only the passive victims of climate change but are also pro-active and agents of hope for adaptation to and mitigation of abrupt climate change. They utilize their experience and expertise to reduce the adverse impacts by adopting prudent strategies. They are also concerned about environmental issues, and are highly supportive of policies regarding environmental restoration. Large knowledge gaps exist regarding the vulnerability of women to changing and uncertain climate especially in arid regions. Authors of this article suggest some action plans and strategies to minimize vulnerability to climate change such as empowering women economically and educationally, organizing training and outreach programmes, and involving them in formal climate change mitigation and adaptation policies and programmes. Authors also outline research needed in order to identify and implement strategies regarding climate change. Collective and continuous efforts are critical to ﬁnding the sustainable solutions for this global phenomenon which is adversely impacting the most vulnerable but critically important members of the society. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction drought and floods. Being a significant anthropogenic environmental challenge, it is a common topic of discussion, study and Climate change is defined as 'a change of climate which is research. Though climate change has occurred throughout Earth's attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the history, the recent rate of warming far exceeds that of any previous composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to episode in the past 10,000 years and perhaps far longer (Blois et al., natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods' 2013). The years 2014e2016 were the warmest since the records (UNFCCC , 2011). It refers to the long-term changes in the compo- were first documented in 1890. The recent anthropogenic emis- nents of climate such as temperature, precipitation, evapotranspi- sions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as CO2,CH4 and N2O are the ration along with intensity and frequency of extreme events such as highest in magnitude since approximately 800,000 B.C. (IPCC, 2014). Increased energy consumption driven by an affluent life style is believed by many to be primarily responsible for global * Corresponding author. climate change. Other contributing activities include cement E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S.S. Yadav), [email protected] manufacture, deforestation, expansion and intensification of (R. Lal). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.08.001 0140-1963/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. S.S. Yadav, R. Lal / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17 5 agriculture and numerous human developmental activities. resources. The water crisis will be exacerbated by the climate Global climate change has observable effects on the environ- change and women of the rural India will be worst hit (Lal, 2016). ment and its components. The atmosphere and oceans have India also provides an example where several initiatives have been warmed, glaciers have shrunk, and the sea level has risen (IPCC, undertaken to adapt to climate change. Thus, this article is also 2014). Deserts are becoming hotter and drier, extreme and vio- aimed at learning from past initiatives, identifying knowledge gaps, lent weather events are becoming more frequent and agricultural and describing the issues of climate change in the context of land is becoming less productive (Elsner et al., 2008; Christiano, women's vulnerability under harsh conditions of India and South 2014; Gentle et al., 2014). Since the 1950s, many of the observed Asia. It also deliberates the contribution of women towards climate climatic changes are unprecedented and have severe negative im- change adaptation and mitigation. pacts on all ecosystems, economies and enterprises (Dankelman et al., 2008; IPCC, 2014). Some of the most vulnerable sectors 2. Methodology include agriculture, forestry and energy (European Commission, 2009). Climate change also distorts natural habitats and is likely This article is based on literature review of peer-reviewed and to become the dominant driver for the loss of biodiversity and other generic literature. The information was taken from different sour- natural resources by the end of this century (WRI , 2005). Agri- ces such as a worldwide accepted scientific database (Scopus cultural production, fuelwood supply and water security is (http://www.scopus.com), Pubmed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ threatened by adverse impacts of climate change (Piao et al., 2010; pubmed), Science Direct (http://www.sciencedirect.com), Spring- Wheeler and von Braun, 2013). Climate change is also regarded as erlink (http://www.springer.co.in), Google Scholar (http://www. ‘the biggest global health threat of the 21st century’ (Costello et al., scholar.google.co.in) and Wiley (http://www.onlinelibrary.wiley. 2009). com)), theses, acknowledged books, abstracts, conference pro- According to the literature, the adverse effects of climate change ceedings and non-impact and non-indexed journals. The advance cannot be compartmentalized within the boundaries of a region, search option was adopted for the literature survey from web religion, caste, creed and gender. However, different stakeholders sources with keywords viz. ‘climate change’, ‘women vulnerability’ in different regions perceive the impacts of climate change differ- and ‘arid environments’. Specific emphasis was placed on studies ently. Furthermore, the extent of vulnerability depends on different conducted in developing countries in drylands in the 21st century. rights, roles and responsibilities. Indeed, climate change is not a The retrieved information is presented in form figures viz. con- gender-neutral phenomenon. Women of the underprivileged and founding effects of climate change on women (Fig. 1), women's role labour class living in arid regions, such as in India and elsewhere in in climate change adaptation and mitigation (Fig. 5). Social, eco- South Asia, tend to be more affected by the adverse impacts of nomic and cultural factors making women more vulnerable to climate change than men because of more poverty, less education climate change and some probable solutions to reduce women's and training, less access to institutional support and information, vulnerability and enhance adaptation are also presented. and less participation in decision making bodies (Goh, 2012). Further, diverse behavioral, customary, attitudinal, economic and 3. Factors affecting women's vulnerability in arid and semi many other socio-cultural prohibitions make their lives more arid region miserable during and after the climate change induced disasters (Nellemann et al., 2011; Yavinsky, 2012). It is recognized that women in general and those living in arid Literature shows that women are not only first observers but parts of India and South Asia in particular are disproportionately also among the first victims of adverse impacts of the climate more vulnerable to climate change and the ecological crisis because change by virtue of their roles in looking after the family and re- numerous interacting factors. Their heightened vulnerability is sponsibilities of collecting fodder, fuel wood and water (Nellemann rarely due to any single reason, rather, it is the product of diverse et al., 2011; Nwoke and Ibe, 2014). They are the first to observe the and interacting social processes that result in inequalities in socio- decreased productivity of farmland as crop yields decline, soils economic status on the basis of gender, class, ethnicity, age, and degrade, and water reservoirs deplete, contaminate or pollute. (dis)ability (IPCC, 2014). Socially, economically, culturally, politi- When the rural area is unsustainable, it is the women whose lives cally, institutionally, or otherwise marginalized women; are espe- are the most disrupted because of the scarcity of fuel wood, water cially more vulnerable to climate change. The confounding effects and fodder. None-the-less, women are also the effective agents of of climate change on women are depicted in Fig. 1 and described change as they often cope and adapt to climate change differently below. than men by using their particular knowledge and livelihood Workload and long working hours hinder education: Litera- strategies (Israel and Sachs, 2013). Alas, the tough life of women in ture shows that women in rural India and South Asia have low arid and semi-arid countries is getting tougher and more torturous education and high poverty. This is especially true for the teenage with every increment of anthropogenic climate change, with girls and young mothers of underprivileged classes. The female gender being a critical factor in women's vulnerability. Thus, it is literacy rate in rural India (%) was 4.9 in 1951,10.1 in 1961,15.5 in necessary to have a gendered focus to the global understanding of 1971,21.7 in 1981,30.2 in I991, 46.7 in 2001 and 58.8 in 2011 (Census climate change. of India, 2011). In 1991, less than 40% of the 330 million women The objective of this article is to deliberate the differential im- aged 7 and over were literate. It means that there were more than pacts of climate change on women living in arid regions, explain 200 million illiterate women in India, and most of these were in various causes of their vulnerability, and outline possible ways to rural areas. In six out of the 24 states in 1998, only 25% or less of the reduce their vulnerability. The literature is specifically focused on women in rural areas were literate (Velkoff, 1998). In the desert girls (10e15 year) and young mothers in the rural communities of state of Rajasthan, only 12% of the rural women were literate. As South Asia and other developing countries in general but of India in many as 45% of the girls dropout of the school between grades 1 particular. The rational for focus on India is because it represents a and 5. Thus, only 13% of all Indian women have more than primary region with a large population density and a complex social education and only1% have college education. A study conducted by structure where women are underprivileged and resource-poor. Kookana et al. (2016) showed that in Gujrat, 41% of the mothers of India, with 17.6% of the world population (1.34 out of 7.6 billion, interviewed students did not receive any school education, 38% had U.N, 2017) has 2.4% of world's land area and 4% of the fresh water received primary education, 18% had received secondary level 6 S.S. Yadav, R. Lal / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17

Fig. 1. Confounding effects of climate change on increase in drudgery, health risks and breakdown of social fabric.

Fig. 2. Women carrying water from long distances in arid parts of northern India in 2014. education and only 3% received tertiary level education. In Rajas- 2010-11, it was found that 21 out of 44 lakes in Delhi were gone dry than, 58% of the mothers did not go to school, 26% had received due to rapid urbanization and falling water tables (Singh and primary education, 14% had received secondary level education and Bhatnagar, 2012). In the 19th century, the Madras area had at none had received tertiary education. Therefore, it is the illiterate least 43,000 functioning water tanks. It was also estimated that just rural women in India who are responsible for household work (i.e., two decades ago, there were at least 650 water bodies. But, today cooking, cleaning, washing, collecting fuel wood, fetching water). only a fraction (less than 30) of them remain. Like these, there are Rural women in India are also involved in harvesting and carrying endless examples in India which show the sorry state of water fodder for cattle. This workload is in addition to farming and related bodies (Times of India, 2013). activities such as seeding (i.e., transplanting of rice), weeding, Under the climate change scenario, nearly half of the world's harvesting and threshing. Increase in frequency of extreme events population will be living in areas of the highest water stress by (i.e., drought and heat wave) are likely to exacerbate women's 2030 (UNCCD). All Arab countries are considered water-scarce. The workload, speciﬁcally in water fetching, and fuel wood collection. region has less than 500 m3 of renewable water resources available Carrying of heavy loads on their heads or on their backs (Fig. 2, per person annually. About 66% of Africa is arid or semiarid, and Fig. 3a and 3b) can cause severe backaches and spinal injuries. more than 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live on less Water collection: Arid regions in India and South Asia are prone than 1,000 m3 of water resources each (WWAP, 2012). India is also to chronic water shortages and climate change is decreasing the one of the most water-challenged countries in the world. 54% of availability of clean water for drinking and other household uses. India's total area is facing high to extremely high stressd putting Worldwide, women in almost two third of the households, are almost 600 million people at higher risk of surface-water supply responsible for collecting water for drinking, cooking, sanitation disruptions. Women in rural areas often rely on common water and other productive tasks (FAO, 2003). Most countries in the Near resources such as small water bodies, ponds and streams to meet East and North Africa suffer from acute water scarcity, as do their water needs. However, in many regions these sources have countries such as Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, and large parts of been eroded or have disappeared due to changes in land use, or China and India (UN-Water, 2007). But the majority of traditional have been appropriated by the state or industry for development water reservoirs in arid and semi-arid regions of the world either needs or to supply water to urban areas. have disappeared or are degraded beyond repair, and many of the Literature shows that the groundwater in the Indo -Gangetic existing ones are heavily polluted and unﬁt for use. For example at Plains is falling at the rate of > 1 m per year (Kerr, 2009; Pathak the beginning of 1960s, Bangalore (India) had 262 lakes but now et al., 2014; Biswas and Tortajada, 2017) and will have severe im- only 10 lakes hold water. Another example is Delhi. In the year pacts on women and small landholder. Sometimes, women lift S.S. Yadav, R. Lal / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17 7

Fig. 3. (a) Women carrying fodder in district Jhajjar of Haryana state in India in 2016. (b) Women carrying fuelwood in district Rewari of Haryana state in India in 2016.

Fig. 4. Women labourers working at a brick kiln in outskirts of Delhi, India in 2015. water from wells, where the water table is low and rapidly falling, Guinea, women spend more than twice as much time fetching making the task even more tedious (Sharma et al., 2012). In general, wood and water per week than men, while in Malawi they spend girls under 15 are in-charge of water collection (Fig. 2). In search of over eight times more than men on the same tasks. Girls in rural sufﬁcient and clean water, young girls and women have to walk Malawi also spend over three times more time than boys fetching longer distances and spend more time purifying water (Mitchell wood and water (UNIFEM, 2009). In arid regions of South Asia and et al., 2007). World Bank (2004) reported that rural women Africa, girls and children walk about 6 km per day to fetch water, spend about 1 h per day fetching water. For example, in villages of and it is estimated that as many as 40 billion working hours are Northern India, women and children walk 4e8 km to fetch drinking used every year to collect water in Sub Saharan Africa and 150 water from the government-managed tanks. In rural areas of million work days every year in India to fetch and carry water (U.N., 8 S.S. Yadav, R. Lal / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17

Fig. 5. A conceptual outline of women's role in climate change adaptation and mitigation. The authors of this article propose the strategies for NGOs, governments and other development organizations to create climate-smart house-holds, improve eco-efﬁciency, strengthen social networking, and manage critical operations. These proposed strategies will lead to improved resilience, enhanced use-efﬁciency of inputs, strengthened selfehelp capacity, and increased adoption of innovative options. Examples of technological options to implement these strategies are outlined within the circles and quadrants in the schematic. Arrows indicate strong interactions among variables.

2013). In rural Rajasthan and Gujrat, water access can influence for cooking and heating. On average, women in India spend 374 h schooling opportunities for girls. Kookana et al. (2016) reported collecting fire wood or animal dung and 1460 h cooking every year that in Rajasthan, the frequency of female students missing schools when using a traditional stove (Alliance News, 2015). Thus, 80% of for 5 or more days per month was on average 2 to 10 times greater rural women in India are exposed to smoke from traditional stove than that for males. The ground water scarcity in the study area and (U.N, 2010). Similarly, World Bank (2004) reported that women in the consequent demand on their time for fetching drinking water India spend 40 min per day collecting fuel wood (Fig. 3b). A survey are the contributing factors for their absence from school. Indian conducted by the Global Alliance for Clean Cook stoves in South women are worst hit by the water crisis (Lal, 2016). Asia indicates that women spend >20 h per week in collecting Fodder and Fuel-wood collection: Fodder and fuel wood scar- traditionally used fuels (wood and dung) and 4 h per day in cooking city has vitally affected the lives of millions of women economically, (Bloomfield, 2014). As much as 80% of rural women in Asia, 60% in socially and physically especially in arid and semi-arid regions of Africa and 40% in Latin America are affected by a shortage of fire- developing nations (Waris and Antahal, 2014)(Figs. 3a,b). Fuel- wood (UNDP, 2009). They are forced to go to rough, remote and wood accounts for between 50 and 90 percent of the household unsafe places to collect fuel-wood, and gather fodder at odd hours fuel used in developing countries (FAO, 2010). About 70% of the (Figs. 3a &b). When they carry heavy loads from long distances, households use traditional energy (fuel wood, dung, crop residues) they become more prone to spine injury, pregnancy complications S.S. Yadav, R. Lal / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17 9 including miscarriage, and maternal mortality (Huyun, 2005), and 23.1BCM or 25.1 cubic meter per year or about 70 L per day for face increased risks of sexual harassments including rape (UNDP, bathing, drinking, washing and sanitation. Even the best-case sce- 2005). nario is not adequate by international standards. The water crisis India has 17.7% of the world population (1.34 billion out of 7.55 will exacerbate the health and environmental sanitation (Kumar billion; UN, 2017), of which 68.8% lives in rural areas. Yet, India has et al., 2011). Less than 60% of the rural households have individ- only 2.4% of the world's total land area and 4% of the world's fresh ual household latrines (Mandal, 2009), and more than 500 children water resources (Pathak et al., 2014). Climate change will adversely under the age of 5 die each day from diarrhea and other water affect the fresh water resources, both the surface and ground water borne diseases. Climate change, aggravating food shortage and (NIC, 2009; Biswas and Tortajada, 2017), and rural women in India water crisis, will exacerbate malnutrition and lack of sanitation and will be the most adversely affected by the growing water crisis. expose women and girls to severe health hazards. For example, 16 million (50%) Kenyans do not have adequate sanitation; more than 4. Health and mortality 90% of the water and sanitation related disease outbreaks occur in the rural areas; 50% of rural households have no toilet facilities at Climate change puts at risk the basic determinants of human all, and where they exist they are generally unhygienic (UNICEF). Of health, and is regarded as the biggest challenge to global health the 1.1 billion people in the world who do not have toilet facilities, (Costello et al., 2009). Extreme weather events (i.e. heat waves, 626 million people in India defecate into open space every day and droughts and windstorms) disproportionately affect women are prone to several health hazards (Lu, 2017). In Odhisa, India, (Kovats and Hajat, 2008; Pascual et al., 2002). The declining natural Sahoo et al. (2015) conducted a survey to assess the sanitation- resources have serious adverse impacts on women's health, and the related psycho-social stress. They observed that sanitation prac- climate change will worsen human health conditions, especially in tices encompassed more than defecation and urination and the tropical regions. Heavy workload, early childbearing, high included carrying water, washing, bathing, menstrual manage- fertility, increase in climate-related disease outbreaks and absence ment, and changing clothes. It is during these activities that rural of health and family planning facilities make them weak and highly women encounter three broad types of stresses; environmental, vulnerable (WHO , 2010). Indirect effects of climate change on social and sexual. These stresses may be exacerbated by climate- women's health may arise from the disruption of natural systems, induced increase in water scarcity. causing infectious diseases, malnutrition, food and water-borne Severe water stress fosters a range of long-term public health illnesses (Nwoke and Ibe, 2014). In India and Africa, global warm- challenges to rural women and girls facing water shortages (Kovats ing signifies an increase in mosquito populations, thus escalating and Hajat, 2008; Alston, 2013). Globally, 15% of all maternal deaths the risk of malaria, dengue fever and other insect-borne infections are caused by infections in the six weeks after childbirth (Kasotia, 2007). Increase in temperature and scarcity of clean water (Schechtman, 2013). Similarly, neonatal causes account for 44% of for drinking purpose is becoming a leading cause of kidney stone all deaths of children under five. The reduced availability of clean problems (Tasian et al., 2014). water results in urinary tract infections, diarrhea, skin problems Climate related drought or famine disrupt the social structure, and issues related to menstruation (Nwoke and Ibe, 2014). All these leaving women and children unaccompanied, separated or factors lead to increased mortality of women in disaster prone areas orphaned (Nellemann et al., 2011), leading to the loss of financial of the world. Women and girls are more likely to die than men security. The loss of household dwellings, security, safety nets, and during and after climate-related and other natural disasters the aftermath of the disasters increase the economic pressure on (Enarson, 2009; Harris, 2010; Lambrou and Nelson, 2010; Neefjes women (IPCC, 2014). Climate change also breakdowns social fabric, and Valerie, 2010; Odigie-Emmanuel, 2010; Vincent et al., 2010; increases unrest, and exacerbates women's vulnerability. In some Tovar-Restrepo, 2010; Alston, 2011; Resurreccion, 2013). The cases, women's greater vulnerability to climate change may also gender gap in mortality is worse when the drought-flood syndrome relate to her basic physiology. For example, many women may be and the heat-cold wave are more severe and people are poor pregnant at any given time and less physically able to escape or (Neumayer and Plümper, 2007). For example, the death rate for survive during and after disasters (Mutunga and Hardee, 2010; women was almost five times as much in the 1991 cyclone in WHO , 2010). Bangladesh as that of men (Rohr,€ 2007; Newman and Stephenson, Decreasing food production and high food prices lead to insuf- 2010). ficient intake and less nutritious food (ADB, 2013). Though women The literature indicates that women and girls are also vulnerable prepare food for the whole family, they are often the last to eat to gender-based domestic violence and sexual harassment during whatever remains. Because they prioritize food for the family, they and in the aftermath of climate-related disasters (Nellemann et al., often have to forgo meals (Tirado et al., 2010). Such ‘food hierar- 2011; Uji, 2012). There are approximately 800,000 people trafficked chies’ exacerbate protein deficiencies in women, decrease immu- across international borders annually and, of these, 80% are women nity and increase susceptibility to diseases (Haigh and Vallely, or girls (Doyydaitis, 2010). According to the United Nations Office 2010; Newcourse, 2010). Pregnant and nursing women face addi- on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the greatest numbers of traffickers tional challenges. While their mobility is limited, they have an are from Asia. In the Asia-Pacific region, women are particularly at increased need for food and water (Nwoke and Ibe, 2014) and the risk of sexual violence following a disaster (Alston, 2013). Increased access to food is limited by scarcity and hierarchy in priority. levels of intimidation, sexual assaults and rapes occur in temporary In most of the arid regions of the world, little water is available shelter camps (Bartlett, 2008). During 1996, 1997, approximately for cleanliness and hygiene. The problem is especially dire with 90% of the reported rapes in northeast Kenya's Dadaab refugee pending water crisis with the projected climate change. Surface and camps occurred while Somali women were gathering water, fuel- ground water availability is around 1869 billion cubic meter (BCM), wood and livestock grazing (UNHCR, 2001). A survey conducted in of which only 60% (1121 BCM) is available, and only 3% (33.6BCM) is Bhopal, India, showed that 94% of women interviewed reported used for domestic sector (Khurana and Sen, 2017). India has a rural facing violence or harassment when going out to defecate, and population of 920 million spread over 15 diverse ecoregions, many more than one-third had been physically assaulted (Schechtman, of these in arid and semiarid climates. Even if 33.6BCM is distrib- 2013). Thus, under the Swachh Bharat Programme, India has uted evenly among rural and urban population, which is unlikely, made toilet construction as among its highest priorities (Lu, 2017). total available water resources for 920 million rural population is 10 S.S. Yadav, R. Lal / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17

5. Gender inequality and social wellbeing conditions for pregnant women are particularly bad, as they do not have access to medical facilities, and are forced to work well into Girls are always the first casualty of the school dropout syn- their pregnancy (Chandran, 2016). Women lacking sufficient food drome, and the drop-out rate for girls increases during and after have 80% higher probability of selling sex for money or resources, a disasters (Brody et al., 2008). Following a long periods of drought in 70% higher probability of engaging in unprotected sex and a 50% Malawi, more girls dropped out of school to save money and to higher probability of intergenerational sex (Actionaid, 2008). assist with household tasks than boys (Valentini, 2005). Increased Women and children from violence and famine-hit Somalia are workloads also forces girls out of schools to help in domestic and being trafficked into Kenya and sold into prostitution (Kahare, agricultural tasks (Brody et al., 2008; Baten and Khan, 2010). In 2011). Many underage girls are also trafficked for sex tourism in Rajasthan, the desert region of India, 61% of the farm women are these regions. Poverty and lack of economic independence puts illiterate (Sandhya and Dashora, 2003). Indeed, the lack of educa- women in a weak social position, and makes them either unaware tion has aggravated and sustained gender inequality, perpetuated or unable to insist on safe sex practices, and are at higher risks of cycles of chronic poverty and increased environmental degradation sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS (Newcourse, 2010; (Newcourse, 2010). Nellemann et al., 2011; Dintwa, 2012). The unwanted pregnancies Extreme Climate change is leading to climate refugees (Haigh and the lack of access to birth control pills further exacerbate their and Vallely, 2010). In extreme poverty, destruction of livelihoods vulnerability (Alston et al., 2014). and erosion of productive assets, men emigrate for employment Women living in arid regions are disproportionately more opportunities and abandon their family (Nellemann et al., 2011), vulnerable to climate change and the ecological crisis due to factors resulting in a feminization of responsibilities (Olsson et al., 2014; discussed below. UNDP, 2012). This puts extra pressure on women to do more Poverty: Poverty is one of the major driving forces behind work and handle the responsibility of the household (IOM , 2009; people's vulnerabilities to climate change. One reason why women Resurreccion, 2009; Laczko, and Aghazarm, 2009). Intensification living in arid regions constitute the largest percentage of the of the workload of women accentuates difficulties in accessing world's poorest people is because they have far less access to re- resources, particularly food, feed, fuel and water (CIDA, 2002). sources that are essential to disaster preparedness, mitigation and Climate change is not only reducing the chances to achieve gender rehabilitation. 70% of the world's poor are women and own only 1% equality but also exacerbating the existing inequalities (Neumayer of the world's titled land. Insecure land tenure and other resource and Plümper, 2007). The intensity of adverse impacts is increased rights further exacerbate their vulnerability (Lambrou and Piana, by other extraneous factors which further increase gender 2006; Aguilar, 2009; Dankelman, 2010; Solar, 2010; Nellemann inequality. Important among these are land tenure and property et al., 2011; Yavinsky, 2012; Farming First, 2013; Tuana, 2013; rights, degraded soils and lack of access to essential inputs. Efforts Leichenkoand Silva, 2014). and targets of achieving gender equality are also threatened by Informal workforce: Almost 70% of employed women in South climate change (Skutsch, 2002; Hemmati and Rohr, 2009), because Asia and more than 60% of employed women in Sub-Saharan Africa of the scarcity of natural resources and property right laws which work in agriculture. Women make up the larger share of the favor men. In India, Giovarelli et al. (2013) reported that less than informal workforce and are responsible for multiple tasks during 10% of privately held land is in the name of a woman. While the and after the climate event disasters (Loughran and Pritchett, 1997; formal laws may be beneficial to women, they are often irrelevant Gender and Water Alliance, 2003; Aguilar, 2009; Lane and in practice because of social and cultural factors. McNaught, 2009; UNDP, 2009; Solar, 2010; Nellemann et al., Another key impact of climate change is increased human 2011; Yavinsky, 2012; Ghosh, 2015). Of the 207 million agricul- trafficking. Among those who are trafficked internationally, 70%e tural labour force in India, 92 million (30%) are women. Of these, 80% are females, of which about 50% are girls (Curtol et al., 2004; 50% are casual labourers (FAO, 2011) with little financial security. In Hodge and Lietz, 2007; US Department of State, 2004). Trafficking Orissa, India, women of family contribute 62% of the labour in may increase by 20e30% during disasters (Nellemann et al., 2011). harvesting and post-harvesting operations of rice (Thakur, 2013). In Disintegrated societies and disrupted protective patterns in fam- the book “Staying Alive: Women Ecology and Survival in India,” Shiva ilies and communities make women more vulnerable to the (1988) emphasizes the role of women as conservationists, life- exploitation of criminal human trafficking. Disasters leading to enhancing and equity seeking. Her focus is on rural and tribal increased physical, social and economic insecurity aggravate hu- women in India who are specifically identified with nature and the man trafficking (Nellemann et al., 2011). Among trafficked women, human community. about 70% are coerced into sex trade and other forms of sexual Heavy reliance on meager natural resources: Women in rural exploitation (Demir, 2003). Extreme climate change and loss of India, especially those of underprivileged classes and landless la- income may also push women into high-risk activities including borers, are heavily dependent on natural resources for their liveli- sex trade or the so-called survival sex (Bishop-Sambrook, 2004). hood and subsistence income. In South Africa and Mozambique, Girls of economically impoverished families are particularly more 60%e70% of women rely on natural resources for their survival. In vulnerable to forced labour and the sex trade (ILO , 2011). Sub-Saharan countries of Africa, women derive 30e50% of non- Migration of men, abandoning of women and lack of income are farm income from natural resources (Adger et al., 2003; responsible for an increase in modern day slavery, forced and Mutangadura, 2004; Aguilar, 2006; Blackden, 2006; Lambrou and bonded labour in homes or in industries like brick kilns (Fig. 4). Piana, 2006; Dankelman and Jansen, 2010; Newcourse, 2010; Brick kiln industry in India probably employs the largest unpaid Waris, and Antahal, 2014). Loss of vegetation, degradation of soil female workforce in the world. The wealthy state of Punjab (India) and pollution of water put extra pressure on women. When natural is home to more than 300,000 women workers in brick kilns. With resources degrade, limited economic opportunities for women are no labour records, a woman labourer is neither recognized nor jeopardized and poverty intensifies. valued. If working with her husband, a woman is not paid sepa- Less access to education and training: Women constitute the rately because wages in brick factories are on piece-rate or task majority of illiterates in rural India, and especially in the dry re- basis and for the most part the male head of her family is paid for gions. They make up over two-thirds of the world's 796 million the entire family's labour (Sekhar, 2015). people who are illiterate, and many of them live in rural areas. For Many of the women workers are sexually abused, and example, in Cambodia 48 percent of rural women are illiterate S.S. Yadav, R. Lal / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17 11 while in Burkina Faso 78 percent of rural women cannot read and associations, credit opportunities (e.g., grameen bank), household write (FAO, 2010, IFAD, ILO, 2010). Women have less access to ed- supplies and providing education to girls. Managing operations ucation and training opportunities concerning climate change through sustainable systems and planning ahead are among the mitigation and adaptation strategies. Moreover, they are discour- innovative options. Specific examples of the concepts outlined in aged from learning lifesaving skills. The lack of female educators, Fig. 5 are also discussed in the following sections.[provide outreach experts and agricultural extension agents hampers references]. women's access to information; resources and technology which Food production: Women have been the primary growers of further increases their vulnerability (International Federation of food and nutrition throughout human history. They play a key role Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2010; FAO, 2011; in food production, and are the backbone of the rural economy Newcourse, 2010; UN Women, 2013). A survey conducted by (Farming First, 2013). Worldwide, women contribute to 43% of the Haugen et al. (2011) in 28 African countries showed that while workforce in agriculture but produce 50% of the total food (FAO, female teachers make difference in girl's education, many countries 2011). Women are reportedly responsible for 65% of the total have a relatively few females in the teaching force. Furthermore, household production in Asia and 75% in Sub Saharan Africa (UN men generally dominate the control of resources and women have Women Watch, 2013). Indigenous biodiverse varieties of edible less ownership than men of required resources for a basic liveli- plants grown by women provide far more nutritional food than the hood. In developing regions, women own substantially less land, commodities produced by industrial agriculture (Shiva, 2015). get lower wages and have less access to financial institutions than Given below are specific examples where women are adopting men (Deere and Doss, 2006; Haigh and Vallely, 2010; Newcourse, climate-smart agricultural techniques (refer the section on page 9 2010; Solar, 2010; Nellemann et al., 2011; Yavinsky, 2012; Alston, in the section on Women-led Initiatives) and are growing climate- 2013; Tuana, 2013; Carr and Thompson, 2014). resilient crop varieties (Brody et al., 2008). Women are already Underrepresentation of women in national parliaments and adapting to climate change by diversifying their agriculture, food climate change negotiations: A disproportionately small percent- habits and devising long-term food storage techniques. For age of women are represented in regional and global climate meets example, women in the deserts of Rajasthan (India) have taken on and their percentage of participation in UNFCCC is 15e25%. many innovations such as growing improved crop varieties Furthermore, their position in the social hierarchy is low, which including that of pearl millet and other crops suited to the region; makes them unable to raise their voices even after participation planting fruit trees to provide nutrition and income; constructing (Denton, 2002; Resurreccion, 2009; Solar, 2010; Nellemann et al., embankments to capture rainfall and prevent runoff and soil 2011; Yavinsky, 2012; Tuana, 2013; UN, 2013; Kruse, 2014; erosion; and planting grasses and fodder trees to provide fodder for Weiner, and MacRae, 2014). cattle (ICRISAT, 2015). Biodiverse ecological agriculture (i.e., com- In addition, there are gender-biased development processes and pound gardening based on multiple species including vegetables programmes which place women at a disadvantageous position and medicinal herbs)practiced by women is a solution not only to and may exacerbate general impacts and risks. In Odhisa, India, a the malnutrition crisis, but also to adaptation and mitigation of survey by Routray et al. (2017) showed that decisions on the con- changing and uncertain climate (Shiva, 2015). Shiva (2000) struction of household level facilities were made exclusively by the described the social and ecological costs of indiscriminate agricul- male head in 80% of households; and in 11% the decision was made tural intensification, especially those, as she calls it, hidden and by men who consulted or otherwise involved women. Recon- unnoticed factors affecting the women workers. The work by Shiva structive policies and programmes are often gender-insensitive, is also supported by that of Bourne (2015) who has emphasized the and place them at the ground zero of climate change vulnera- pollution of water and air because of the excessive and indiscrim- bility (Skinner, 2011; Weiner, and MacRae, 2014; Allwood, 2014). inate use of agro-chemicals, and the victims are the rural women Furthermore, socio-cultural customs and traditions prevent and children. With the help of Swayam Shikshan Prayog (Self women from engaging in activities outside of the household. Lack Learning Experiment), a Pune (India) based non-profit organiza- of independent decision making power, traditional norms of dres- tion, lives of nearly 72,000 women farmers have been transformed sing, cultural restriction on movement and restriction of relocation by adopting sustainable and climate-resilient agro-ecological without the consent of a male hinder their progress and make them farming. This initiative has also created 5500 self-help groups that more vulnerable during and after disasters (Ikeda, 1995; Neumayer supported women to engage as farmers, entrepreneurs and leaders. and Plümper, 2007; Mehra and Hill Rojas, 2008; Aguilar, 2009; Under the one-acre model, multiple crops are grown to boost Newcourse, 2010; Nellemann et al., 2011; Yavinsky, 2012; CARE nutritional security, soil fertility, agro-biodiversity and income International, 2013). viability. Women in this region practice sustainable methods such as use of bio-pesticides, organic fertilizers and water conservation 6. Contribution of women to climate change adaptation and techniques like drip irrigation, sprinklers, farm ponds, recharging of mitigation bore wells and tree plantation to augment precious and scarce groundwater and to improve soil fertility. Despite numerous challenges and constraints, women are at the Traditional Knowledge Custodian: Women are regarded as center stage of climate change adaptation and mitigation pro- custodians and carriers of traditional knowledge (Agarwal, 2009). grammes (Nellemann et al., 2011). Women's role in climate change By performing essential activities (e.g. fetching water, growing adaptation and mitigation is outlined in Fig. 5, and discussed below. food, gathering fuel wood, tending domestic animals, rearing The schematics in Fig. 5 show that women play an important children and caring for elders) women have gained special role in developing climate-smart households through sustainable knowledge about the local environment and other natural re- options for managing the household gardens, ensuring food and sources (Dankelman, 2001; Jara, 2012). Women are knowledgeable nutritional security, increasing diversity of food sources and by and willing to use traditional knowledge related to natural re- adopting preventive measures such as boiling and filtering water sources, climate change, species composition, medicinal uses of and using mosquito netting, etc. They also enhance eco-efficiency herbs etc. (Kanwar and Sharma, 2011). It is also the women, for the by combining the traditional with the modern knowledge and most part, who transmit to the next generation these values as part recycling wastes as compost in the home garden. Social networking of their stewardship role. With the knowledge of natural resources, is an important tool used by women and it involves community women can also influence development and implement policies 12 S.S. Yadav, R. Lal / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17 and programmes relating to climate change not only at the local protest was called the “Chipko” movement, and the indigenous level but also at the national and international levels (Resurreccion, women from India protected the trees from the massive threat of 2013). The Grandmothers' University and Diverse Women for Di- logging (Jain, 1984). In 1980s, Wangari Maathai founded the Green versity initiatives by Navdanya (An Indian based International Belt movement to mobilize women to reforest degraded land in NGO) is aimed at both celebrating and validating the wisdom of Kenya (Maathai, 2004). In Guatemala, women farmers are planting grandmothers and also for transmitting this knowledge to future trees to sequester carbon and improve farming techniques. In generations to arrest the rapid erosion of skills, knowledge and Ghana, propelled by women's leadership, the Ghana Bamboo Bikes values which women have evolved over millennia to live sustain- Initiative is tackling climate change and creating an income stream ably. Diverse Women for Diversity echoes women's voices from the for women by training them to build and sell high-quality bamboo local and grassroots level to global fora and international negotia- bicycles. In Australia, 1 million women have taken the initiative to tions. Through these initiatives, Navdanya has connected over 5 become the country's largest women's environmental organization million women from 22 states of India as one force for sustainability – with a goal for these women to take small steps in their daily lives and women's empowerment (Shiva, 2015). that shrink their carbon footprint (Figueres, 2004; Brown, 2015). Similarly, low-income women along the US Gulf Coast played a 7. Environmental management and activism significant role in environmental restoration after the hurricane Katrina (David and Enarson, 2012). Women are well suited to find solutions to prevent further Women led initiatives for adapting to climate change: The degradation of soil and water resources and to adapt to the literature shows that several initiatives have been undertaken changing climate. Their behaviour, on average, contributes less to throughout the world to tackle the menace of climate change, and a pollution (Polk, 2009) than that of men. They express more concern large proportion of these are led by women. Examples of some for the environment and support policies that are more beneficial initiatives aimed not only to reduce women's vulnerability but also to the environment (Norgaard and York, 2005). They are more to help them in mitigating the impact of climate change and likely than men to recycle waste, buy organic food and eco-labeled adapting them include the followings: Grandmothers' University products; place a higher value on energy-efficient transport and and Diverse Women for Diversity Initiative of Navdanya in India; tend to vote for leaders who care about the environment (OCED, Low Smoke Stoves Project in Darfur, Sudan; Ghana Bamboo Bikes 2008; McCright, 2010). Having little access to modern devices Initiative; Women Advancing Climate and Climate Change Sciences and thus relying on traditional tools (i.e., hoe, manual sprayers, (Women-ACS); Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN); Jamaica traditional threshing), women use less fossil fuel than the motor- Network of Rural Women Producers; Africa Adaptation Programme ized equipment used by men which run on fossil fuel; and are more (AAP); Climate-Smart Agriculture in Kenya; Crop Diversification in likely to ratify international environmental treaties (Polk, 2009; Nicaragua; Applying Local Knowledge to Crop Production in Aguilar, 2013; European Commission, 2014). A survey of 30 vil- Bolivia; Solar Sisters in Nigeria Uganda, and Tanzania; Blue Ven- lages in Maharashtra, India, indicated women farm labourers spe- tures in Madagascar; and Sustaining Partnerships to Enhance Rural cifically performed in-hand weeding operations, sowing seeds, and Enterprise and Agribusiness Development (SPREAD) project in threshing and winnowing operations (Rani, 2011). There is a strong Rwanda etc. (Brown, 2015; Shiva, 2015; Wedeman and Petruney, need to adapt and refine women-friendly tools and equipment for 2016). drudgery reduction in farm operations such as pedal operated Approaches to reducing women’s vulnerability to climate thresher, hanging type grain cleaner, tubular maize sheller and change: Despite the knowledge regarding the role of rural women groundnut decorticator (Sundram, 2013; Bhatt, 2013; Singh, 2013). in climate-resilient systems (as discussed in the previous sections Women also look after grain storage and other post-harvest oper- on the basis of literature surveyed), women living in arid and semi- ations. Yet, women are not trained in post-harvest know-how, and arid regions, constituting the majority of the world’s poor, are still thus, high post-harvest losses aggravate food insecurity (Sidhu, among the most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate 2007). change. While, worldwide efforts to reduce their vulnerability to Globally, traditional practices used by rural women are by na- climate change and to increase their adaptive capacity are in ture eco-friendly systems (Nellemann et al., 2011). Thus, projects progress, the available knowledge has not been translated into designed and run with full participation of women are more effective action. Therefore, the way forward is to develop policies to effective than those without them (Agarwal, 2010). For example, in promote adoption of some of the approaches and options required Northwestern India, tree cover increased by 75% when women for enhancing adaptive capacity and reducing women’s vulnera- were included in the process of protecting forests (Agarwal, 2009). bility to climate change. Specific strategies to surmount the barriers Women's participation is also strongly associated with the effec- to adoption of the climate-resilient systems by women are as tiveness of water and sanitation projects (UN Water, 2006). follows: Women are also moving into the forefront of environmental Poverty eradication and economic empowerment: The first activism and are leading protests against deforestation, industrial step towards tackling the challenges of climate change is empow- pollution and the construction of ecosystem-altering dams. Coun- ering women to safeguard the environment. Poverty eradication is tries in which women and their organizations are active tend to an essential prerequisite for reducing women's vulnerability. Eco- have less deforestation than those in which such activism is rare or nomic empowerment is important in guaranteeing their overall absent (Shandra, 2008; Engelman, 2010). Given below are several well-being. When economically empowered women raise healthier examples of women's involvement in continuation of a centuries and better educated families, it increases their adaptive capacity. old tradition of protecting the environment. The tradition goes back Innovative approaches and partnerships are needed to design and to 1730, when women in India protested against the king's men develop women-friendly and climate-resilient economic policies. who were attempting to cut green trees. Amrita Devi, leader of the Providing employment opportunities, credit facilities, savings and group, sacrificed her life along with 363 other women (including insurance schemes with gendered contexts are important options her three daughters) to save the Khejri (Prosopis cineraria) green (Grown et al., 2006; Prowse et al., 2009; Solar, 2010; Bathge,€ 2011; trees from being felled by the King of Marwar, Rajasthan. During the Hill, 2011; OECD, 2011; Farming First, 2013; CARE International, early 1970s, women organized advocacy groups to protect the trees 2013; Leichenko and Silva, 2014). from being cut, and they hugged (chipko) the trees. Thus, the Infrastructure and assets development: Infrastructure S.S. Yadav, R. Lal / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17 13 development reduces women's work burdens, improves their are intertwined in a reciprocal relationship with natural resources. health and increases their efficiency. Improving women's access to They are heavily dependent on natural resources for fuel wood, alternative and affordable sources of energy, reliable public trans- fodder, medicines, subsistence food and income. So, there is a need port and traditional risk sharing mechanisms, can reduce women's to maintain sustainability of ecosystems and conserve natural re- vulnerability to climate change. As women's assets largely deter- sources. Sustainable use of resources should be promoted in the mine their capacities and response to the impacts of climate society (Lambrou and Piana, 2006; Newcourse, 2010; Sasvari et al., change, so more actions are required to strengthen the asset base as 2010; Hill, 2011). a fundamental principle in climate adaptation strategies (Hill, 2011; Shift in existing policy framework and interagency coordina- Grown et al., 2006; Aguilar, 2009; Solar, 2010; Nwoke and Ibe, tion: Women are not merely vulnerable to climate change but are 2014). also effective agents of change in relation to both mitigation and Secure resource and property rights: Secure tenure to resources adaptation. They have considerable knowledge, experience and and gender-equal land rights enhance productive efficiency, in- expertise regarding climate change mitigation, disaster reduction crease adaptive capacity to climate change and improve overall and adaptation strategies. To be agents of change, it is critical to wellbeing. Formal ownership and control over farmland improves engage them in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies women's productivity and increases their coping capacity to the and programmes (Grown et al., 2006; Nellemann et al., 2011; climate change. Securing women's rights to land and other re- Weiner and MacRae, 2014; Allwood, 2014). sources also has ancillary benefits which reduce their vulnerability There is an urgent need to revise existing policy frameworks and when economic shocks occur, and make it easier to obtain loans investment strategies related to land rights, forests, water, energy (Grown et al., 2006; Rodgers and Menon (2013); Nwoke and Ibe, and agriculture to integrate women's concerns. Climate change 2014; WOCAN, 2014). adaptation and mitigation planning strategies need to be incorpo- Promoting gender equality: Gender equality is also increasingly rated into existing state and local developmental policies and recognized as a critical crosscutting issue in major environmental programmes (Prowse et al., 2009; UNFCCC , 2011; Weiner and agreements and climate change negotiations. Until gender MacRae, 2014; Allwood, 2014). Inter-agency coordination and inequality is addressed, women will continue to suffer climate synergies is required in poverty reduction, women empowerment injustice. Concerted efforts are required to reduce gender in- and climate change policies. Poverty reduction and adaptation equalities and to provide equal rights, resources and opportunities measures should be fully integrated to maximize climate mitiga- in all spheres (Grown et al., 2006; Haigh and Vallely, 2010; Sasvari tion and women's adaptation co-benefits. There is a need to build et al., 2010; Solar, 2010; WOCAN, 2014; Weiner and MacRae, 2014; cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder platforms to drive innovative Allwood, 2014). gender-responsive approaches and collaboration between climate Education and information dissemination: Education for change adaptation practices and implementing agencies (Lambrou women is not only the most powerful most instrument of changing and Nelson, 2010; CDKN, 2011; Hill, 2011; CARE International, 2013; their position in society but is also a key in reducing their disaster WOCAN, 2014). fatalities and enhancing adaptive capacity. Capacity building is an The literature show that for climate change adaptation policies essential preparatory step in adaptive strategy in climate change. and programmes to reach the most vulnerable women, they must Empowering the next generation of women through universal have a voice in the decision making processes. Their full partici- education should be an essential element in climate change adap- pation in negotiations and decision-making is not only helpful to tation and mitigation strategies. A variety of approaches in them but also essential to enhance food security, boost biodiversity, women's education, literacy, vocational and life skill training are protect fragile natural resources, improve water management, and needed to reduce their vulnerability to the climate change (World reduce GHGs emissions. Their greater participation is also likely to Bank, 2004; Hill, 2011; Nwoke and Ibe, 2014; Lutz et al., 2014). enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of climate change Training programmes on alternative cultivation methods, efficient projects and policies. Enabling women's leadership in climate domestic and agricultural use of available water resources, alter- change mitigation and adaptation policies and programmes may be native sources of domestic energy are required especially for rural potentially the most positive step to achieve the desired targets women. Women should be provided with skill training and access (Lambrou and Laub, 2004; Norgaard and York, 2005; Aguilar, 2006; to credit facilities to start their own enterprises at the village level. Grown et al., 2006; Neumayer and Plümper, 2007; UNDP, 2007; Local women should be involved in outreach activities and pro- UNDP, 2009; Nellemann et al., 2011; Parikh et al., 2012; Mlambo- grammes related to climate change and environmental awareness Ngcuka, 2014; Kruse, 2014). (Aguilar, 2009; Bathge,€ 2011; Nwoke and Ibe, 2014; Lutz et al., Additional research is required to better understand women's 2014). concerns and to design effective gender responsive initiatives. The importance of climate change awareness, early warnings Processes and contents of climate change frameworks on the one and prior information are critical to minimize fatalities during di- hand, and women's vulnerability on the other, must be understood sasters. Relevant information given well in advance helps women in to unearth clues about critical linkages (WOCAN, 2014; Uji, 2012; better disaster preparedness and significantly reduces fatalities. Solar, 2010; Prowse et al., 2009). There is a need to utilize new and existing educational, outreach, training, and capacity building programmes to disseminate infor- Acknowledgement mation and resources related to climate change (UNFCCC , 2011; Bathge,€ 2011; Nwoke and Ibe, 2014). The senior author received the financial assistance in the form of Diversification of livelihoods: Among the majority of poor Raman Post Doctoral Fellowship from University Grants Commis- women who practice subsistence agriculture, diversification of sion, New Delhi and study leave from Maharshi Dayanand Uni- agriculture and livelihood are of critical significance. Thus, women versity, Rohtak (Haryana) India. Authors are also thankful to the farmers should be motivated to adopt climate-smart agriculture. Editors of this special issue (Dr. Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder and Dr. Adaptation efforts often emphasize changes in livelihood strate- Avigail Morris) for their critical comments and suggesting im- gies, so diversification of livelihoods to include activities outside provements in this article. Authors are thankful to Sh. Sunit agriculture is an important strategy for managing climate risks Mukharjee, Director Public Relations, MDU Rohtak for reading and (Solar, 2010; Ajani et al., 2013; Nwoke and Ibe, 2014). Women's lives editing the article. The project was also sponsored by the Carbon 14 S.S. Yadav, R. Lal / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 4e17

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Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

Women's food security and conservation farming in Zaka District-Zimbabwe T ∗ Mediel Hove , Thomas Gweme

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Changes in rainfall patterns because of climate alteration amongst other factors contributed towards a de- Women cline in food security in Zimbabwe's Zaka District-Ward 31. In response, women in Ward 31 adopted con- Food security servation agriculture since the 2005/6 agricultural season to address food insecurity and other problems Zaka District experienced in the crop production system. The research was designed to evaluate the extent to which Conservation farming conservation agriculture led to increased food security in the semi-arid area. The researchers used the mixed Zimbabwe method approach and collected data through key informant interviews, Focus Group Discussions and observations. It was evident from the research that the farmers who practised conservation agriculture whilst correctly following most of the prescribed components and engaging the relevant strategies were able to increase their food security in the dry part of the district. It concludes that female farmers constrained by: fencing, long dry spells and labour were incapacitated to eﬀectively implement conservation agriculture hence failed to attain food security.

1. Introduction premisethatsimultaneouslyitprotectsthesoilandimprovesresi- lience in climatic unpredictable areas (Farnworth et al., 2015:2). Conservation agriculture (CA) was introduced in Sub-Saharan This study focuses on the case of Ward 31 in Zaka District where CA Africa (SSA) as a key measure targeting the improvement of food was implemented by some women with the help of nongovernmental security (Hobbs, 2007). In Zimbabwe, CA locally known as con- organisations (NGOs) in order to enhance household food security. servation farming emerged as a promising panacea when the country The purpose of this research was to evaluate the extent to which CA increasingly struggled to feed itself as a result of several factors in- led to increased food security in the semi-arid area of Zaka District cluding but not limited to agrarian land reform and climate change focusing on ward 31. The objectives of the study were to: a) Establish (Mutema et al., 2013: 6). Food security declined dramatically and the food insecurity situation before the implementation of CA in this is evident in the varying degrees of food imports including Ward 31 of Zaka East Constituency; b) Describe how CA was im- during the 2011/12 season when the country imported in excess of plemented in Ward 31 of Zaka East Constituency; c) Find out whether 50%ofitsmaizeneeds(Manyeruke et al., 2013: 271). More so, in the CA managed to improve the women's food security situation in Ward 2014/15 season, maize production declined by 51% (Anand, 2016). 31 of Zaka East Constituency; d) Establish the challenges militating Clearly, the decline in food security in the country has varied from against the successful implementation of CA in Ward 31 of Zaka East year to year. Linked to this, in April 2012 Masvingo Province had and; e) Suggest ways of enhancing the successful implementation of 378 300 food insecure households and39%ofthesewerefromZaka CA in the area of the study and other arid or semi-arid parts of the District (Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZIMVAC, country. 2012). Most of these households usually harvest “winter-pushers”1 This study argues that those women farmers who practised CA forcing the women village farmers to mostly rely on market pur- whilst correctly following most of the prescribed components and en- chases (ZIMVAC, 2012). gaging the relevant strategies were able to increase their food security In light of this decline in food security, innovative interventions in Zaka District's Ward 31. It is signiﬁcant because it helps in under- to promote food security have been adopted including CA on the standing how gender relations in smallholder agriculture systems

∗ Corresponding author. History Department-War, Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Zimbabwe, Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Hove). 1 This refers to cereal harvests which only sustain households between May and October. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.10.010 Received 22 April 2016; Received in revised form 11 May 2016; Accepted 23 October 2017 Available online 28 October 2017 0140-1963/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. M. Hove, T. Gweme Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 18–29 functioned regarding decision-making over technology acceptance, one and two of the post-2015 sustainable development goals respec- roles, and duties for particular farm responsibilities and how gender tively. More so, there is a general agreement in the literature in SSA relations may influence the adoption of CA. Furthermore, it exposes the that women and men normally assume distinct roles and duties in expenses and benefits of CA adoption to women focusing on: income, agricultural production arrangements, all determined by sex (De labour arrangement, roles in food and nutrition security, comparative Schutter, 2013; FAO, 2011).Thismakesthisstudyfundamentaland decision-making power at household and community level, which had necessary because it provides useful and rare data on women's inter- hitherto remained mostly unknown. Again, the study reveals the less actions with CA. known aspects about CA thus offers an opportunity for women to The important role women play in CA was realised in Zambia. change existing gender relations and the conditions under which this is The involvement of women as major key players in CA in Zambia is possible. a typical example of a success story (UNDP, 2013). There are many The article consists of five sections. The first section provides the benefits of CA for Zambian women. These include but are not lim- study's conceptual framework and literature review while the material ited to: early planting of crops which make women less dependent and methods are covered in the second section. The results and dis- on the ox-drawn plough or mechanical tillage which is mainly done cussion are offered in the third and fourth sections respectively. The last by men, improve crop productivity and different crop production section provides the study's conclusion. thereby promoting food security. Moreover, CA lessens and spreads women's workload over time and helps in planning and improving 2. Conservation agriculture, food security and gender: existing the welfare of their families (NORAD Report, 2011). In Zimbabwe, literature the CA project has long since been promoted and supported in other areas such as Chirumhanzu, Zvishavane, Mberengwa, Silobela, and This study discusses two main concepts: food security and CA. Food Nkayi and the project was viewed as generally successful (Woodring security is achieved when people from all walks of life have physical, and Braul, 2011). This encouraged the researchers to find out how social and economic access to adequate, secure and nourishing food CA has influenced women's food security in the semi-arid area of that meets all nutritional needs and food favourites for an energetic and Zaka District. healthy life at all times (FAO, 2004). Although various factors cause food insecurity, literature on CA largely claim that it can contribute to food security. A number of studies have emphasized the role of CA in 3. Material and methods decreasing greenhouse gas emissions (Dendooven et al., 2012; Verhulst et al., 2012) and growing soil carbon sequestration (UNEP, 2013). 3.1. Study area However, other features of CA, for example the role of minimum tillage to soil carbon sequestration, have been exaggerated (Govaerts et al., By 2012, about 300 000 rural farmers in Zimbabwe were im- 2009; Powlson et al., 2014). CA contributes to the enhancement of soil plementing components of CA covering an area of over 100 000 ha function and value under certain conditions, which can stimulate (Marongwe et al., 2012: xii). This study was confined to Ward 31 of greater yields and better resilience to climatic changeability Zaka East Constituency in Masvingo Province's Zaka District, approxi- (Thierfelder et al., 2014; Thierfelder and Wall, 2010), although not in mately 350 km south of Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city (Makwara and all circumstances (Pittelkow et al., 2014). Be that as it may, CA is Gamira, 2012: 459). The case study area has a population density of 70 singled out by many as possessing the potential to increase both global persons/km2 (Central Statistical Office (CSO), 2004). It lies in Natural and national food security and better resilience and adaptation to cli- Ecological Region 4 which is semi-arid and receives between 450 and mate change. 650 mm of rainfall per year and has poor soils (Musiyiwa et al., 2014: CA entails resource-saving crop production in a drive to obtain 395). Its temperatures range from 10 (minimum) to 26 (maximum) adequate profits together with optimum and sustained levels of degrees Celsius experienced in July and October, respectively production while simultaneously and sustainably conserving the (Makwara and Gamira, 2012: 459–460). The economy is primarily environment. It consists of three principles namely: minimal soil based on subsistence farming and the major crops grown are made up of disturbance, permanent soilcoverandcroprotations(Farnworth maize, groundnuts, sorghum, and finger millet (Makwara and Gamira, et al., 2015:2;Mutema et al., 2013:5;Wagstaff and Harty, 2010: 2012: 459). While cattle ownership is important, it widely differs across 68). Notwithstanding the above potential benefits of CA, its appro- households as is the ownership of goats and chickens. Manure from priateness to different African smallholder farming systems is dis- cattle is largely used to improve crop productivity. In one study, only puted (Andersson and Giller, 2012; Baudron et al., 2012; Giller et al., 23% of the surveyed households in ward 31 had access to basal ferti- 2009). Contestations have essentially focused on the credit of yield lizers and about 26% of the households had access to top dressing benefits, the intensities of financial investment needed, the labour fertilizers in 2009 (ZIMVAC, 2009). Six villages out of the 17 villages in savings that can be realised, and the amounts of crop residues ob- the Ward were chosen using random sampling from the two Village tainable for use as surface mulch (Andersson and D'Souza, 2014). Development Committees (VIDCOs).2 The villages chosen are Gumbi, Although capital and labour necessities are dominant in the debate of Dondo and Mahara in VIDCO 3 and Nheya, Mafunye and Mushavirwa CA appropriateness for African smallholder farmers, remarkably in VIDCO 4. little focus has been given to the ability of women farmers, in male- Map showing the study area and Zimbabwean agro ecological re- headed family units and as household heads themselves, to meet such gions. necessities, a gap this study attempts to fill. Very little empirical work has been carried out in regards to gender and CA in SSA (Farnworth et al., 2015). Some consultancy and donor reports exist (Wagstaff and Harty, 2010; UNDP, 2013), but only Nyanga et al. (2012); Nyanga, (2012) has conducted longitudinal in- depth studies in Zambia. This is so although Bremner (2012) asserted that food security in Africa can be comprehensively promoted if 2 A VIDCO is the lowest structure in the local government system just below the ward women and girls are voluntarily involved in family planning to com- level. It is meant to facilitate decentralized planning or bottom-up participatory democracy through grassroots planning, receiving and disseminating information from either pliment agriculture and food policy solutions. This is because the the above (ward level to central government) or below (the villagers). Whilst they were growing population in Africa and the world at large could result in the established in the 1980s, they are still relevant today although some of their roles are now world failing to halt poverty and hunger which have become number overridden by village heads. For more details, see Matysak (2010).

19 M. Hove, T. Gweme Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 18–29

Source: Makwara, 2013: 110. timed weeding in summer and winter, manure and mineral basal and Prior to the advent of Christian Care in 2010 in Ward 31, Care top dress fertilizer application, crop rotation and mulching with organic International and Sustainable Agriculture Trust (SAT) implemented CA remains (Mazvimavi et al., 2008: iv). in the case study area. Christian Care trained smallholder farmers in the adoption of the basin planting concept, providing them with maize and 3.3. Sampling design sorghum seeds (staple food crops for the area), fertilizers as well as carrying out monitoring and evaluation of the progress of CA in the Using an explanatory case study approach, the research used a area. These NGOs used the participatory method to carry out the pro- combination of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. A ject. The three NGOs also acted as both facilitators and trainers. The more participatory qualitative approach was used to a greater extent extension agent system was used especially by Christian Care when it and it was concerned with the subjective assessment of attitudes, opi- trained the local Agriculture extension officers and a few selected lead nions, behaviours, insights and impressions determined by the re- farmers who became crucial implementing partners. During the searchers' experiences (Degu and Yigzaw, 2006). The research used training the lead farmers (one male and four female) were given secondary and primary sources for gathering data. Secondary data used manuals of reference and supportive materials such as 75 m measuring were obtained from various NGOs’ reports and guidelines as well as wires, wooden pegs, 10 kgs maize seed, a rain gauge per cluster and other institutions like the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Com- seasonal calendars (which were also extended to every participating mittee (ZimVAC) assessment reports and published and unpublished household). Besides subjecting the chosen lead farmers to rigorous works from various libraries and the internet. Secondary data enabled training, they were given $30 per month in a drive to keep them mo- the researchers to gain a broader understanding of research questions tivated. Only those who practised the basin planting concept in the that informed the designing of the subsequent primary research (Novak, previous cropping seasons were included in the selection of lead 1996). It also provided the food security situation before, during and farmers. Given that it was a supported intervention with incentives, a after the implementation of CA allowing the researchers to measure the possibility of bias in the response of participating farmers cannot be impact of CA towards the attainment of food security by women in the ruled out. Consequently, this has both negative and positive implica- case study area. tions for this study's findings and the CA project's sustainability. 3.4. Respondent overview 3.2. CA methods Primary data was collected using interviews (35 interviews with 11 The central CA method introduced in the study area is what is po- men and 24 women were conducted), observations and Focus Group pularly known as the “dhiga udye” (dig and eat; a common epithet for Discussions (FGDs) (five focus group meetings were carried out). CA) cropping system in the Zaka East area entailing the planting basin. Primary data was collected between October 2012 and April 2013. Seed is planted in these small holes/pits which are dug in an un- Purposive, simple random and snow ball sampling techniques were ploughed field. The maintenance of the planting basin entails well- employed. A desired sample size of 35 key informants was used for this

20 M. Hove, T. Gweme Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 18–29 study. It included five lead farmers composed of one male (40 years) levels feed into each other. In fact, poor health and education also re- and four females (24, 38, 47 and 51 years) selected using purposive strict agricultural productivity and access to other options of livelihood sampling. In addition, nine participants composed of three men (24, 30 (Baiphethi and Jacobs, 2009: 471) thus it appears both as an indicator and 36 years) and six women followers of CA (26, 31, 39, 44, 47 and 50 and as an effect of food insecurity. years) were selected using purposive sampling. The researchers had The researchers ascertained that the incapacity of the households in obtained a list of those households who were practising CA in the study Zaka to cope with agricultural shocks had negative effects on women area without NGO inputs support which became easy to target for data. given their role as the providers and distributors of food. In fact, women Five women non-adopters (27, 33, 36, 46 and 52 years) of CA were unlike men find it difficult to leave the family in search of employment selected using snow ball sampling. Additionally, eight participants elsewhere. In a number of cases women remain behind struggling to composed of three men (34, 46 and 58 years) and five women bene- feed and take care of the children and other family members ficiaries of CA (24, 32, 39, 44 and 49 years) inputs and training were (Habtezion, 2012: 10). However, this should not be misconstrued to selected using purposive sampling. Eight ex-CA adopters made up of imply that women did not migrate in search of employment. Women four men (28, 37, 43 and 57 years and four women (25, 34, 38 and 41 migrated as a desperate option taken in a drive to earn a living and/or years) were selected using snow ball sampling. The names of people look after the family. As shown below, this was a common practice engaged in the study were made anonymous in order to protect their among female headed households. identity. We do not use location at all except where it is relevant as a Furthermore, the amount of harvests and losses after harvests were variable within Zaka District. Consequently, the case study approach in also used as measurements of food insecurity in the study area. Both this study immensely benefited from the use of more than a single lead farmers and women farmers agreed that several challenges con- source of evidence. It ensured that the findings of the study were based tributed to massive harvest losses. These ranged from the pests in on the convergence of data from various sources thereby enhancing the granaries, loss of produce through leaving some in the fields, losses credibility and validity of its findings as enunciated by Yin (1994: 93). during transportation, losses during thrashing and shelling and other Regardless of the differences in age, all the women interviewed challenges. As a result, there is no doubt that women in Ward 31 in participated in all farming duties (sowing seeds, hoeing, weeding, fer- Zaka District faced food insecurity due to post-harvest losses. tilizer application, crop harvesting and thrashing, post-harvest food processing, storage, transportation, staple food crop, legume and ve- 4.2. Women's coping strategies to ensure food security in ward 31, Zaka getable production) and domestic chores (preparing food, laundry and East before the implementation of conservation farming other hygienic activities). Only four women occupied leadership positions during the implementation of the CA project. The 24 women en- 4.2.1. Migration gaged in the study consisted of married, widowed and single women Given the above persistence of food insecurity in Ward 31, Zaka between the ages of 24 and 60 partially or not owning any piece of land District, some women especially from female headed households and but working on some pieces of land parcelled out to them through those who completed their secondary school, college and/or university negotiations with their husbands or village heads. On the other hand, education but could not secure employment migrated to South Africa the men who participated in this study took part in most of the tasks and Botswana in search of employment. The goal was to have economic assisting their female counterparts in planting, hoeing, weeding, ferti- capital to buy food stuffs and other livelihood necessities for their fa- lizer application, crop harvesting and thrashing, transportation and milies and counterparts back home (Hove et al., 2012). Those women post-harvest food processing and storage. These people were from with husbands in most of the cases found it effective to remain at home VIDCOs 3 and 4 of Zaka East Constituency's ward 31 which comprise whilst their husbands migrated. The husbands remitted proceeds to the seven VIDCOs and about 400 households. The reason for involving the women who remained behind looking after the children and the women conventional farmers was to allow a comparative approach homesteads. The women returnees brought assets such as groceries, after considering their experiences and harvest. bicycles, radios and blankets that were exchanged (barter trade) for grain or sold for cash. Although the food remittances succeeded in al- 4. Results leviating the acute food shortages they are not sustainable (Muzvidziwa, 2000). Nevertheless, what is unique from the women This section presents the study's findings. It focuses on the indicators who migrated is that, in light of their profile, their movement was a last of food insecurity, women's coping strategies to ensure food security, resort measure chosen in order to earn a better living and/or support CA implementation and its impact in Ward 31 of Zaka District. the family which had no other alternative to earn a decent living.

4.1. Indicators of food insecurity in ward 31 of Zaka District 4.2.2. Sale of livestock Furthermore, both male and four women headed households sold Nutrition and weight featured as indicators of food insecurity. Zaka some of their livestock in order to buy grain. The most dominant District was among the districts with 5–9% of children aged between 6 practice was the sale of goats and cattle to the mobile livestock buyers months and 4 years 9 months who were below −2 SD Weight from within and outside Zaka District. The women who sold livestock (Zimbabwe National Nutrition Survey, 2010: 21). This demonstrates were a combination of those who had surplus to sell and those without the intensity of food insecurity in the period leading to the im- but had no other option at hand to continue providing food for their plementation of CA in Ward 31 located in Zaka East constituency. families. The selling of livestock enabled the women to at least improve The incapacity of the women households to cope with agricultural both their household food and nutrition security through buying maize shocks emerged as one cause of food insecurity. This cause largely among other cereals including rice. Apart from cereals, the women even derives from the underlying norms which hamper women from ob- managed to buy cooking oil, flour and sugar which enabled them to taining sufficient assets for agricultural production. Many households in provide their families with more than two diversified meals. Here the the district identified water scarcity and low amount of rainfall as some concept of endowment set was applicable to those villagers including of the major challenges which contributed to food insecurity for Ward women farmers who had livestock to trade during difficult times of 31, Zaka East. Lack of agricultural inputs and financial resources also serious food shortages (Sen, 1999). intensified women's food insecurity in Ward 31 (ZIMVAC, 2009). Ac- However, it is imperative to realise that the hardest hit were four cordingly, it was established that 7% of children from food insecure women headed households which had nothing to sell in an effort to ease households were not attending school in the district (ZIMVAC, 2012). the shortage of food. Some households were forced to sell their cattle Unmistakably, this demonstrates that food insecurity and illiteracy which they needed for draught power and this delayed planting

21 M. Hove, T. Gweme Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 18–29 operations for the next season. As a result, this affected the households' limited term solution. This was so because many households benefited sustainable food production levels, albeit with serious consequences on in the short term, especially female headed households. As shown women. Linked to this, it was established that the draught power below, the same can be said of the CA project. Echoing these senti- ownership in Masvingo Province (where Zaka District is located) was ments, a woman farmer, Melody said: 68% against national draught power ownership of 66% (ZIMVAC, While the food aid efforts by both government and NGOs should be 2012). Beyond doubt, this had a negative bearing on women's efforts to commended, they were short of long term solutions to our food ensure food security because cattle are a source of: manure, draught insecurity situation. Except for those efforts that saw us [women] power and money needed to purchase grain among other food re- getting seeds and fertilisers, giving people food only save the present quirements. However, those who had not sold their cattle (four women) situation leaving one to starve in the future. lost them during drought (five) and ended with no livestock as those who had sold theirs (four). As a result, they took CA seriously in an Moreover, the quantities given were inadequate because about two effort to produce enough food for their consumption. or more families had to share a 50 kgs bag of maize for consumption for a couple of months before they could get the next share. This trend was 4.2.3. Growing of drought resistant crops more pronounced between 2004 and 2008. In light of these inadequate The research revealed that six women farmers who were heads of efforts to cope with food insecurity, some women in Zaka embraced CA households and without cattle for draught power among other needs in order to boost their food security. grew drought resistant crops such as millet and sorghum in Ward 31 of Zaka East Constituency. This was caused by the fact that some of the 4.3. Conservation agriculture implementation in ward 31of Zaka East fields are low-lying-vleis which do not release water quickly and would Constituency be waterlogged for the greater part of the rainy season. Vleis are basically defined as part of wetlands or lands that normally hold too much 4.3.1. Digging basins water and are susceptible to water logging. They are referred to as Most of the CA participants in the study area dig their basins be- mapani or matoro in Shona, Zimbabwe's most spoken local language tween August and October which is the dry season. Firstly, land pre- besides Ndebele (Ellis-Jones, 2003: 5). Therefore, the problem of food paration took place involving the clearing of grass and stumps from the insecurity was intense especially to those women farmers who are previously cropped plots of about 0.25 ha. Pegs are inserted on the far settled on vleis which do not support the growth of drought resistant ends, tied with a wire/string stretching for about 70 m. The adopters of crops. CA worked as a team during the initial stages of land preparation whereby farmers dug basins using hoes up-hill of 15 cm × 15 cm 4.2.4. Assistance by NGOs and government ×15 cm on the dry land. Soil dug from the basin was put on the down- Food aid had both a positive and negative impact on food security in slope side for use in covering up the basin, to prevent the soil from the study area. Various NGOs and food agencies such as Care being washed back into the basin and also act as bulwark of the water International and World Vision distributed food and managed to save overflowing from the dug basin (Oldrieve et al., 2009). The intra-row eight women headed households in Ward 31 from starving. However, spacing was 60 cm. The inter-row spacing of 75 cm was wide enough to some of the humanitarian agencies were barred from assisting after allow for intercropping (Twomlow et al., 2008). The basins collected being accused of political interference. Food aid in Zimbabwe since the water from the first rains of the wet season. Average plots of 0.56 ha year 2000 was highly politicized. This worsened at the height of the produce about 12 444 basins in total (80 m length x 70 m width plots). Zimbabwean political and economic crisis in 2008. Real and perceived A significant number of women were involved in basins preparation opposition members were denied food aid among other forms of aid. In and both lead farmers and women farmers agreed that it was a stren- this regard, Martha, a woman farmer noted that uous task. They had to resort to team-work which was beneficial to the women CA followers. This was revealed by Sarah, a woman farmer who Belonging to any party other than ZANU-PF [Zimbabwe African said: National Patriotic Front] nearly cost our lives because since 2002 it became the [then] ruling party's strategy to starve rural people as a After realising that digging pits alone was a gruelling task we form of punishment for participating in and voting for the MDC decided to work as a group. Initially, many women did not grasp the [Movement for Democratic Change]. The reasoning was that not significance. But through encouragement and sharing knowledge we giving rural people food aid will lure them to support ZANU-PF for agreed. We now share tools, and even have some kind of a group fear of starvation as it was the only party with the resources that can constitution that we use to fine each other for late coming. We meet make people; especially [we] rural women make food available for three times a week and begin work at 5:45 a.m. We realised that for our families. it to work, we need to provide equal support and be punctual. The foregoing illustrates that the politicization of aid negatively Further, the strenuous nature of the digging of basins led about 50% affected women's efforts towards food security apart from the inherent of the women farmers in Zaka to first plough their land using the ox- weakness of food aid evident in its lack of sustainability. In a report by drawn plough before basin preparation contrary to the CA tenets. This the Zimbabwe Peace Project (2012), Masvingo province's districts of made it difficult for the CA women farmers to enjoy all the benefits of Zaka, Bikita and Chivi witnessed discrimination, political intolerance, CA because they violated some of its tenets. Both lead farmers and assault and intimidation on the basis of political affiliation. Individuals women CA farmers were in agreement that labor constraints, especially affiliated to the MDC faced all these forms of human rights violations at associated with the laborious basins preparation process deterred the hands of ZANU-PF supporters who hijacked the aid distribution farmers from dramatically increasing their plot sizes. process. The situation persisted in 2012 with people being denied In the same vein, one woman CA follower (47 years) indicated that agricultural inputs that included seeds and fertilisers from the “Pre- she did not have the energy to establish basins on dry soils, which is sidential input scheme” and those who did not support ZANU-PF did why she ploughed first before establishing basins. This reveals the ex- not benefit from the scheme (Zimbabwe Peace Project, 2012: 11). tent to which women farmers were unable to religiously follow the CA Although the grain loan scheme from the government through the tenets due to their inability to withstand its labour intensive require- Grain Marketing Board was also politicized (Amnesty International, ment during the first year of its implementation. In addition, the 2004), it was somehow an effort to contribute to food security by women farmers who formerly practiced CA disclosed that labor con- providing seeds and fertilizers to farmers. Apart from lack of sustain- straints were the major reason behind their quitting of the CA tech- ability, food aid compared to the government input assistance was a nology especially during the basin preparation stage. Indeed, many

22 M. Hove, T. Gweme Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 18–29 women complained about having backaches during the basin prepara- failure to supply the women farmers with the runner grass which they tion process as well as weeding. The labour challenges faced in weeding had promised to make silages for cattle to avoid the problems brought were more serious because both men and women lead farmers and CA by the cutting of grass and competing uses of crop residues. Both the adopters were in agreement that their shared labor activities during the lead and women CA farmers agreed that they were not able to buy the digging of basins did not extend to the weeding period. The key reason grass due to financial constraints. Consequently, all these factors mili- for not extending the shared labour activities to the time of weeding tated against the full implementation of CA in Zaka with negative ef- was the different demanding tasks that the CA farmers saw requiring fects on its goal to improve agricultural productivity. attention during this period. As Mary, a CA women adopter puts it, Again, in the dry season some of the grasslands are accidentally or deliberately burnt thus jeopardizing the mulch procurement. A former The shared labor activities stopped during the weeding period be- CA adopter revealed that mulching procurement was also labor in- cause we had to tend our livestock, especially cattle during the rainy tensive. Moreover, it was supposed to be carried out during the be- season. This left us with children still in school not having enough ginning of the dry season which coincides with other nutritional gar- time to do weeding and let alone go for shared labor activities. dening activities hence making it difficult for the women farmers to Additionally, petty jealousies perverted the need for shared labor strike a balance in terms of time investment between the two. The during weeding. This is because some felt that other families had practical reality was that nutritional gardens were accorded more at- fewer members than others hence those with many able bodied fa- tention compared to CA. What comes to the fore from the foregoing is mily members felt like they were assisting those with few ones. This that the CA program offered to the Zaka District's ward 31 women in- was not the case during the basin digging period because it largely fluenced the NGOs partially putting into consideration the needs and occurred when time can be equally shared between shared labour constrains of indigenous women. A comprehensive consideration could and other activities such as nutrition gardens which were not done have persuaded the implementation of a CA program in such a way that throughout the day. it could assist women within their own culture and means, respecting their traditional roles, positions and status in society. This could have 4.3.2. Application of (in) organic manure contributed towards the successful implementation and increased ac- Most women respondents applied organic manure from cattle kraals ceptance of the CA as compared to what it achieved. between September and October before the rainy season. The one to The planting process is carried out after the first effective rains two handfuls of manure were mixed with 1 cm–2 cm of soil. Basal between November and December. The lead farmers noted that they dressing is only applied immediately before planting where one cup is informed the participants on the need to plant after 30 mm of rainfall is applied per basin and covered by 1–2 cm of soil to protect the seed from received for sandy soils and about 50 mm for clay soils. Three evenly hydroscopic ‘burning’ by fertilizer. The amount of manure/fertilizer spaced maize seeds are planted in the basins and covered with 2–3cm would also be determined by the type of soil. Sandy soils require more of the remaining soil whilst ensuring that the basins are free of clods and clay soils require less fertilizing. Covering of the basal dressing and stones to ensure high plant population and germination which is manure with soil is done such that it leaves space to allow the collection helpful in reducing the need for replanting (Oldrieve et al., 2009). The of water during the first rains (Oldrieve et al., 2009). All the women choice of plants depends on the farmer but both men and women farmers in Zaka East Constituency pointed out that they participated in farmers agreed that they annually preferred maize because it is a staple manure or compost application. Those whose husbands and children crop and this is done at the expense of legumes. Additionally, the Zaka were present were assisted in transporting manure to the fields. CA women farmers' notion of food security was also evident in the Additionally, women had other demanding domestic chores during NGOs’ intervention through the distribution of maize and sorghum the dry season which left them with very little time if any to pay at- seeds and fertilizers only at the expense of other crops. Consequently, tention to the requirements of CA, particularly the application of or- crop rotation was not followed by many of the women adopters of CA ganic manure. However, it is important to emphasize that the partici- with the complicit of the NGOs. The reason for not following crop ro- pation of women in Zaka in CA demonstrates that they understand the tation was given by Tari, a woman farmer who noted that: importance of food security. This was exposed by Monica, a woman Crop rotation while a key tenet of conservation farming, I saw it as farmer who said: negating the main goal of food security. This is because to me not Having experienced food insecurity for a long time with intermittent having enough maize for maize meal for sadza means food in- supplies from food donors and the government, the introduction of security. All other food crops while said to be good for our health are CA proved a viable long term solution to food security. In my case, I not much sought after as is the case with maize in times of drought saw it as the only way out of poverty and the dependence syndrome hence the need to have the best of the land under this crop other which donors were cultivating on us [rural women.] I do not want than any other. Thus many of us do not subscribe to crop rotation my family to starve that is why I am a CA follower despite its de- because much of our land has to be under the maize crop- the mands. guarantor of food security. This is despite the fact that they violated the many tenets of CA In fact, crop rotation was replaced by inter-cropping through the largely due to the lack of time investment during the land preparation planting of either cow-peas or nuts which protects the soil from soil periods and other stages of its implementation. erosion and out-competes weeds for nutrients and sunlight (Steiner, 2011). This somehow posits a trade-off for women's efforts towards 4.3.3. Mulching and planting food security because while intercropping increased their ability to Mulch from cut grass was reportedly used to beef up the crop re- have capacity and access to prepare and provide a balanced diet for sidues from the previous season. Both the male and women CA farmers their families, it also minimises the maize crop output (Thierfielder partially implemented it. It could have been useful in providing a et al., 2012). This is because availability of a staple crop (maize and blanket which then breaks kinetic energy of rain drops, cushioning the sorghum) is misconstrued as having enough food which is not always soil surface and encouraging water infiltration (ZCATF, 2009). Failure the case in terms of food security which includes nutritional concerns. to mulch was caused by the fact that mulch grass and previous season Furthermore, Mary noted that increasing the plot size under CA and crop residues have many uses such as thatching and stock feed re- following most of its principles meant total abandonment of conven- spectively. Women farmers who adopted CA said that mulch is sup- tional farming and that is why many women farmers limited their plot posed to be gathered from tall grass and this competes with the high sizes. Non-adopters of CA highlighted that they could not venture into demand for tall grass for thatching. This was worsened by the NGOs’ CA because it did not encourage the growing of nuts and tubers which

23 M. Hove, T. Gweme Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 18–29 required a well tilled land for them to thrive well. Conventional farming since they were viewed with great esteem in society. This was because plots are valued for growing nuts essential for peanut butter and other the women farmers demonstrated their ability in agriculture thereby nutritional values. Here it is clear that women's contribution to food challenging the traditional notion which viewed women as just passive and nutritional security cannot be underestimated. and submissive even in development projects. In addition, a constant amount of inputs was distributed to all the Improvement in grain and other cereal harvests from the CA plots CA adopters who benefited from the Christian Care program. Referring was witnessed. This significantly addressed the women CA farmers' to this, a Christian Care official noted that they did not want farmers to food security concerns. There were notable improvements in grain adopt CA as only an input seeking adventure but to acquire the harvests from the women's CA plots. Similarly, improved yields from knowledge aimed at sustainably boosting their harvests. While his view plots under CA were made in semi-arid areas of Gokwe North and South was correct as far as avoiding dependency syndrome is concerned, it and Nyanga where CA was practised (Wagstaff and Harty, 2010: 79). was wrong given the fact that many of the women CA adopters and During the years when poor rains were received CA plots became the followers also cited inputs constraints among the key setbacks which major food security plots for the families since nothing was harvested prevented them from putting more land under CA. from conventional plots which only augmented during years with good Apart from inputs, long dry spells and fencing were also cited as rains. An average family of five to seven members requires not less than among the key challenges by both men and women CA adopters. For 1. 3 metric tons (MT) of maize for sustenance till the next harvest example, during the whole of December 2012 there was not even a season. For those who adequately added manure and top dressing fer- single drop of rainfall yet this is a critical period when the crops need tilizers their harvests were boosted and supplemented with the paltry moisture. Those women farmers who had not established deep and wide harvests from conventional plots. This led to an increase in the levels of (15cm × 15cm × 15 cm) as prescribed suffered heavy losses of their food consumption from one meal per day to three meals and better maize and sorghum plants. In addition, most of the women CA farmers' nutritional and diversified diet levels. Those who practised CA almost plots were not fenced leading to limited benefits as compared to those perfectly (following all the required components) and augmented with that would accrue in fenced areas. The majority of women CA plots the meagre harvests from conventional plots, were no longer skipping were not fenced because very few households could afford to buy the meals and were hopeful that there would be less dependent on buying barbed wire needed for enclosing their plots. On the other hand, the grain to supplement what they harvested given the fact that it was NGOs did not provide fencing resources making their CA intervention enough for their sustenance until the next harvest. likely to fail because it had inadequate inputs from the outset. All this Improved harvests from the small plots were enhanced by the cor- disturbed the women CA adopters’ efforts to ensure food security. rect and consistent application of both organic and inorganic fertilisers and early planting encouraged by CA basins. Women farmers began to 4.4. Impact of CA on women in ward 31, Zaka East realise that extensification encouraged by conventional farming contributed to poor production due to inadequate labour, fertilisers and The numbers of CA plots were not large and at most they averaged poor management of the large areas of land under cultivation. The about 0.2–0.3 ha and were situated closer to homesteads for easy women CA adopters ploughed their other plots conventionally and the monitoring because many are not fenced. As a result, the CA technology harvests from these augmented the yields from the CA plots. It is was more accurate and standardized. The adoption rate of CA in the therefore clear that the harvests from the two plots enabled the CA ward shows that quite a significant number of women had faith in CA as adopters to sustain an average family of six members until the next a strategy to ensure food security. harvest. Nevertheless, women CA adopters agreed that CA was helpful Essentially, women largely worked on the family plots single- especially to women households who did not have cattle for draught handed as the decision makers with the help of their children. Indeed, power but managed to prepare basins during the dry season and planted that women adopters of CA became involved in decision making at the early with the first rains. In addition, whilst households with cattle used household level is hardly controversial. This was the case especially in manure for their basins, those without applied the skills they were women headed households. They made decisions which include the taught and used organic matter, chicken and goat manure to boost soil type of crops to plant, where and when to plant them, when to: weed, fertility. Thus, the women farmers in Zaka East were able to give reg- apply fertilizers and harvest. After harvest they calculated whether they ular attention to the CA plots because the plots were situated near had the required subsistence food for the whole year. If they did not homesteads unlike conventional plots that were far away. have, then they made plans to augment their harvest before their stocks Table 1 below shows the maize harvests from both men and women got finished. Women introduced and implemented some food saving CA adopters who were supported by NGOs between 2009 and 2013. For mechanisms which include avoiding surplus food during meal pre- the 2009 to 2010 agricultural season, the researchers calculated total parations. harvests from the sampled 8 beneficiaries of CA who got inputs from In other cases, women practised CA with their husbands who were Christian Care. The total harvests for 2009 to 2010 was 4250 kgs which present and shared the major decision making role. Linked to this, was divided by 8 farmers to get 0.53 MT, the average maize harvests for Mona, a CA woman adopter reported: that year. For the 2010 to 2011, the total was 5000 kgs divided by 8 and this culminated in 0.63 MT. Added to this, for the 2011 to 2012 season For years, I carried out menial tasks in return for grain in this ward. I the combined harvests were 5850 kgs which gave an average of 0.73 couldn't do other things like selling at the Growth Point market MT and for the 2012 to 2013 agricultural season, the combined harvest center because it was seen as neither secure nor suitable for women. was 7750 kgs with an average harvest of 0.97 MT. I was modestly involved in decisions both at the household and All this harvest was obtained from CA plots which were less than a village level concerning agricultural or economic affairs which I hectare in size. The same method used above was used to establish the thought was the domain of my husband. But with the knowledge of average maize harvest from the sampled conventional farmers/non- conservation farming, the lack of confidence as a woman dissipated. adopters of CA which was commuted to an average of 0.7 MT for the Now I can do things such as championing agricultural activities and same four seasons. The findings show that increases in total average the markets on my own. My husband and the community's con- harvest by both men and women CA adopters (NGOs supported) ranged sciousness have altered since the coming in of the training pro- from 0.53 MT in 2009/2010 season to 0.97 MT in the 2012/2013 grammes. Women's concerns and voices both at the household level season whose average was 0.72 MT. The researchers compared the and the village or ward are being heard thereby contributing to average harvests from conventional farming plots which ranged from major decisions on development and agriculture. 0.7 MT to 0.8 MT from plot sizes of about 2.5 ha whereas the harvests Evidently, women's social standing in the community was enhanced from CA adopters ranged from 0.72 MT to 0.97 MT from plots which

24 M. Hove, T. Gweme Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 18–29

Table 1 CA adopters’ harvests: NGOs beneﬁciaries only. Source: Primary data (2013)

CA Adopters: NGOs Beneﬁciaries Sex Harvests Per Year

2009–2010 2010–2011 2011–2012 2012–2013

Farmer 1 Female 11 × 50 kgs 10 × 50 kgs 13 × 50 kgs 14 × 50 kgs Farmer 2 Female 11 × 50 kgs 12 × 50 kgs 14 × 50 kgs 18 × 50 kgs Farmer 3 Male 8 × 50 kgs 13 × 50 kgs 13 × 50 kgs 20 × 50 kgs Farmer 4 Female 10 × 50 kgs 14 × 50 kgs 12 × 50 kgs 21 × 50 kgs Farmer 5 Female 9 × 50 kgs 14 × 50 kgs 14 × 50 kgs 23 × 50 kgs Farmer 6 Female 12 × 50 kgs 12 × 50 kgs 16 × 50 kgs 20 × 50 kgs Farmer 7 Male 11 × 50 kgs 12 × 50 kgs 17 × 50 kgs 20 × 50 kgs Farmer 8 Male 14 × 50 kgs 13 × 50 kgs 18 × 50 kgs 19 × 50 kgs Total Combined Harvests 4 250 kgs 5 000 kgs 5 850 kgs 7 750 kgs Average Harvests/Year 0.53MT 0.63MT 0.73MT 0.97MT

were less than a hectare in size. All the average harvests given in their plots in the morning and nutritional gardens in the late afternoon. respective agricultural seasons for each category of farmers point to the Therefore, if CA women farmers in a traditional society are encouraged great potential of CA. Besides, the harvests demonstrate that with to distribute their time between CA plots and nutritional gardens the adequate support women can perform better or equally compared to programme would be effective. This should not be misconstrued to men in agricultural production. imply that women's traditional and sustainable roles in their homes are to blame. In lieu, it appears the NGOs' introduction of the CA program 5. Discussion in Zaka ignored to check whether these programs were suitable to women farmers and were not in a position to give them help without It is evident that CA in Ward 31, Zaka East Constituency faced more interfering in their traditional daily and nutritional roles. Consequently, challenges than successes in a drive to ensure food security. However, this study adds the contribution of agriculture to household food se- CA managed to empower the smallholder women farmers with curity with women playing a bigger role than previously thought. This knowledge and skills since its commencement by various NGOs. In is so although the contribution of subsistence agriculture to food se- other words, the significance of the intensification of sustainable agri- curity is yet to be established because people (including women) in culture and its resource-conserving technologies and farm centred rural areas engage in or augment proceeds from agriculture with extra participatory approaches (Pretty et al., n.d: 2) were nearly realised by sources of income (Baiphethi and Jacobs, 2009: 473). the women CA adopters in Zaka. This could be partly encouraged by the In addition, the claims that CA has the potential to improve food undeniable conclusion that economic recession and higher prices of security have also been vindicated in ward 31, Zaka East evident in the food disproportionately affect women who are the major household somewhat better yields drawn from the small CA plots compared with food producers, providers and distributors (FAO, 2009:5;De Schutter, those that were harvested from the conventional plots. Yields have 2013: vii). Indeed, improved input packages for areas and regions that room to improve if the women CA adopters are offered the opportunity receive erratic rainfall are critical in ensuring that subsistence farming and encouraged to adhere to the CA tenets. This is because the NGOs effectively contributes to food security (Baiphethi and Jacobs, 2009: are largely to blame for the partial implementation of the CA tenets in 462). Food security is important because low domestic staple food Zaka. For instance, they did not provide fencing materials and di- production results in a drop in the citizens' standard of living (Baiphethi versified seeds among others yet these affected the degree to which CA and Jacobs, 2009: 462). Certainly, the adoption of CA by women in tenets were implemented. It was the lack of adequate inputs on the part Zaka illustrates their faith in it as a strategy to ensure food security. of the NGOs that resulted in women CA adopters in Zaka failing to enjoy This confirms Sidibe's (2005: 218) remark that individual perception on its benefits through religious implementation of its tenets such as crop the characteristics of a given technology has influence in its adoption or rotation and reduced labour demands, especially during basin pre- rejection. Unfortunately, the efforts by women in Zaka to adopt CA in a paration and weeding after the first year. Consequently, where CA fails drive to enhance food security were beset by many constraints. to improve yields some positive remedies which include encouraging This study has a number of lessons that can be gleaned in under- women to adhere to the principles of CA need to be implemented standing how gender relations in smallholder agriculture unfold, pro- provided that adequate inputs are made available and the women nounced in decision-making over technology acceptance, roles, and farmers’ different responsibilities in traditional societies are respected. duties for particular farm responsibilities, and access to productive as- Again, the study reveals the less known aspects about CA that it sets influenced by the adoption of CA. Indeed, the case of Zaka de- really offers an opportunity for women to change existing gender re- monstrates the barriers and opportunities to CA adoption by women. To lations in their favour. It is clear that the conditions under which this is this end, Zaka women were unable to comprehensively participate in possible relate to those households where men allowed their women CA because they preserved their traditional and key responsibility for freedom to join CA projects and the women headed households where household tasks and caring roles which are time consuming in nature. the women are the sole decision makers. The roles women assumed, This undoubtedly means that women's working day tasks increased and duties for particular farm responsibilities, and access to productive with a negative impact on both CA adoption and productivity. assets and inputs and outputs were greatly influenced by the women's Validating that nutritional gardens are indispensable among women and even with their husbands' acquaisance in the adoption of CA in SSA because they improve nutrition and livelihoods (Baiphethi and technology. This is because when women received inputs from NGOs, it Jacobs, 2009: 475; FAO, 2009: 14), this study has shown that women was as a result of their initiative to join the CA project and the inputs found it difficult to quit their nutritional gardening activities for CA came in their own names. As a result, the women emerged with en- technical processes such as mulch procurement. It was difficult for some hanced influential gender and decision making roles compared to their women CA farmers to strike a balance in terms of time investment. previous ones all due to their adoption of CA. Clearly, the unequal However, four women had good time distribution between CA and power relations between men and women in Zaka East Constituency nutritional gardens and their yields improved. They worked in the CA were positively shaken up by the women's adoption of CA.

25 M. Hove, T. Gweme Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 18–29

However, given that the Zaka women, as elsewhere in Zimbabwe, cultural biases and lack of political will continuing to hamper the even adopted CA during its promotion stages by the NGOs, chances are high adoption and implementation of internationally agreed policies on that they may abandon it (as some had) in the face of numerous chal- women's empowerment and gender equality (FAO, 2011: 12). lenges cited as well as the withdrawal of incentives in the form of inputs (Pedzisa et al., 2015). In fact, the promotion of CA in Zimbabwe as 5.1. Input and labour constraints humanitarian relief effort by NGOs, providing maize seed and fertilisers for rural people in the face of a serious economic crisis (Andersson and Inputs constraints negatively affected the adoption and im- D'Souza, 2014: 121) expose its short-term leanings. Murray et al. (2016: plementation of CA by women farmers in Zaka. Inputs constraints 120) observed that climate change problems and the decline in agri- contributed immensely in discouraging the smallholder women farmers cultural productivity caused by failure to adapt may compel small- in adopting the CA concept. This is not surprising because in most parts holder farmers including women to abandon farming. This demon- of SSA smallholder farmers largely access their inputs through informal strates the importance of multi-stakeholder assistance including the channels such as on-farm seed saving, farmer-to-farmer exchange and donor community if CA adoption and its potential to increase sustain- unregulated sales (Baiphethi and Jacobs, 2009: 466). It is doubtless that able agricultural productivity are to be realised. the goal of introducing CA in the Zimbabwean rural communities in- Despite the above, in SSA, factors that impede women's cultivation cluding Zaka could not be accomplished as a result of unreliable and or agriculture production include but are not limited to: high start-up inflated cost of inputs and unsteady market conditions that were pre- costs, lack of fencing, drought and inadequate land for production. vailing (Marongwe et al., 2012). This is more critical in light of the fact These constraints stifle both nutritional garden farming and communal that few women compared to men command economic capital and in farming (Baiphethi and Jacobs, 2009: 475). Essentially, one needs not most of the cases men lead in the decisions on what input to buy or ignore the fact that women in Zaka District like many in the country forego (Farnworth et al., 2015:5–6). and SSA at large do not have enough access to land including its Moreover, labor constraints prevented many women farmers from ownership, financial services, training among other skills critical for increasing their plot sizes and following all the concepts of CA. Women promoting agricultural productivity and encouraging improved family farmers were used to conventional farming which required less labor income, nutrition and health (FAO, 2009: 5). However, the challenges because they use ox-drawn ploughs to cultivate their fields. Besides, CA which beset the women CA adopters in Zaka District such as lack of was misconstrued by many women farmers to be technology of the poor material and financial resources in their effort to ensure food security due to its inclination towards manual labour. In other places in the are not unique to them because they beset the success of CA in Chivi country such as Chivi, the CA concept has been euphemistically labelled District (Gukurume et al., 2010). “dhiga ufe” (meaning dig and die) by the local villagers instead of the The plot sizes under CA were relatively smaller than conventional “Dhiga udye” (dig and eat/survive) label of the program's advocates. farming plots meaning that the rest of the land would turn into makura This was in line with the inequality in the outputs the farmers get (meaning large tracks of formerly tilled land that lie idle and unused).CA compared to the labour and time among other investments they put in it women farmers had to pay attention to the conventional farming as (Gukurume et al., 2010: 46). Moreover, it is clear that those women CA well as CA plots and this affected production in CA plots. Linked to this, farmers whose husbands and children were present were assisted in Wagstaff and Harty (2010: 71) noted that changing the mindset of most of the farming tasks including transporting manure to the fields. farmers and forsaking the plough is difficult. Consequently, the ex- Linked to this, different household factors impacted negatively on the pected long-term panacea to the food insecurity in Africa that can be Zaka women CA adopters. These entail that the initial labor intensity of achieved by encouraging farmers to intensify production is difficult to the CA concept was highly felt by the four HIV/AIDS affected house- achieve (Gukurume et al., 2010: 41). In the same vein, intensification holds, three elderly headed households, seven families with less than requirements of the dramatic increase in the use of improved inputs, three members and three households with chronically ill members. such as seed, fertilisers, organic inputs and conservation investments Most of these labor constraints were also recorded as hampering the (Baiphethi and Jacobs, 2009: 471) were far from being realised and successful implementation of CA in Zimbabwe (Fanelli and Dumba, appreciated by many of the Zaka women farmers. In fact, the women 2006). Those with less energetic family members found it difficult to CA adopters in Zaka compounded their problems through their con- consistently implement the CA tenets with a negative impact on pro- tinued interest in extensification instead of intensification. This culmi- ductivity. This also accounted for the small pieces of land put under CA nated in thin resources such as labour and production inputs being by women which ultimately affected impact of CA on food security. As a spread into unfertile soils jeopardizing the potential to meet even basic result, while the uptake of CA by these women farmers was desirable as household food needs (Marongwe et al., 2012: 153). they understood it to be a food insecurity combating strategy, they Given that development programs should take into consideration faced different challenges. This makes the aspect of targeting important indigenous women's roles, duties and status, it is imperative to consider for the success of CA because its lack of success could be wrongly in- how the CA programs maintained or hampered indigenous land rights terpreted as unsuitability yet it might be merely poor targeting of systems. It appears the case of Zaka women CA adopters demonstrates beneficiaries (Baudron et al., 2015). the potential of CA but was threatened by the fact that culturally and There are shared labour activities prevalent in most parts of the customarily, the village head can allocate the idle land to the other country (Wagstaff and Harty, 2010: 71) but these were not practised by households in need. As a result, the Zaka case support the long held women CA adopters in Zaka during weeding. A combination of de- view that indigenous land rights systems hamper productivity in SSA manding activities, especially tending livestock and petty jealousies (Migot-Adholla et al., 1991). The indigenous land rights systems con- prevented the extension of shared labour activities during weeding. It tributed to both the low adoption of the CA by women in the study area was the shortage of labour which compelled women CA adopters in and their ability to put sizeable tracts of land under CA technology. Zaka to resort to ploughing and basin preparation just before the rainy Therefore, for CA programs to be effective they should be implemented season thus further dampening the effectiveness of the CA concept. This in such a way that they work to change the negative position of in- is not in the interest of CA because preparing land on the onset of the digenous land rights systems for the acceptable improvement of in- rainy season reduce potential maize harvest by 1.5% (Wagstaff and digenous women's roles, duties and status. Harty, 2010: 68). Besides, the physical deterioration and reduction in To this end, inasmuch as CA among other improved technologies are soil fertility caused by conventional agriculture through the use of the promoted for food security and other development goals there is need plough or draught power is not stopped. This is because among other to be conscious and guard against the gender and social equity trade- things beneficial microbes are killed due to the soil's large exposure to offs it is associated with (Beuchelt, 2016). Not doing so will witness wind, ultraviolet radiation and water erosion (Wagstaff and Harty,

26 M. Hove, T. Gweme Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 18–29

2010: 68). More so, ploughing first before basin preparation also dis- respectively (McGuire and Sperling, 2013). This is because only em- turbs the functioning of micro fauna encouraged by CA thereby limiting powered women and men are improved and become more effective its success due to inadequate soil nutrients which result from little if not farmers who are likely to produce the most of their prospects none decomposition of organic matter (Mutema et al., 2013:12–13). (Farnworth and Colverson, 2015: 20). Undoubtedly, the initial high labour demands of CA meant that many women CA adopters and followers were unable to implement the 5.3. Long dry spells full CA package thus could not reap the full benefits as is expected by the strategy. Added to this, the absence of fencing not only allowed Long dry spells and erratic rainfall also posed a challenge for the animals to feed on the much needed crop residues which are supposed women CA adopters. The long dry spells experienced during the agri- to be used for mulching. It also worsened the labour constraints in the cultural seasons in the study area threatened the success of women CA sense that there was need to reconstruct the basins and plant before the adopters in ensuring food security. In this case basins became a dis- first rains on a yearly basis because the basins were destroyed by li- advantage to those women farmers who had applied too much manure vestock. Consequently, CA's identified labour intensiveness during the or fresh manure which contributed to the wilting of the crops in the first year only and reduced labour requirements in the subsequent years basins. The challenge was also worsened by the failure to choose the due to the use of the same planting pits and ripper furrows (Wagstaff most appropriate soil types for the CA plots because areas that were too and Harty, 2010: 69) become useless in the absence of fencing. To this sandy, hilly and rocky dried up quickly and left crops vulnerable to the end, the envisaged benefits that accrue due to mulching were not at- scotching heat. This dovetails with the conventional understanding in tained where the plots were not fenced because CA women farmers did SSA that the region lacks the requisite assets for agricultural produc- not afford the fence and the NGOs did not provide them any resources tion. These include unsustainable small and declining farm sizes, poor towards that. The NGOs by implementing the CA program in Zaka quality land, and negligible investment in irrigation (Baiphethi and without providing adequate necessary resources to the women largely Jacobs, 2009: 471). Thus, Zaka women by adopting CA demonstrated did not try to benefit indigenous women through their own culture. that women need not be ignored in sustainable development matters in Hence, fencing constraints meant that the women CA adopters failed to which climate change is at the heart of the development and food se- achieve the expected harvest because some CA components were re- curity debate (Denton, 2002). In fact, the women's CA practices in Zaka peatedly violated in many cases with the responsibility of the NGOs. illuminate how women smallholder farmers may approach new tech- In addition, the year-long opportunity accorded by CA to prepare nology aimed at improving their livelihoods through food security land well ahead of the rainy season reducing the high labour demand (Murray et al., 2016). which is experienced at the onset of the rainy season (Wagstaff and Harty, 2010: 69) was not experienced by many of the Zaka women CA 6. Conclusion adopters as they violated many of the CA tenets. The women adopters of CA in Zaka failed to realise significant benefits due to labor con- CA was inadequate in facilitating the attainment of food security by straints which curtailed the realization of food security. Whereas in women in Ward 31, Zaka East. Women CA farmers who were supported other parts of the country the increase in productivity by CA farmers by the NGOs managed to improve their harvests although most of the encouraged the expansion of land put under CA (Mazvimavi et al., yields were insufficient for an average family of six. In fact, the CA 2008), it was the opposite in Zaka District. The women CA adopters women farmers had to augment their family food needs from the grain were overwhelmed by a number of constraints which left them with obtained from their conventional farming plots in order to get to the slim prospects of reaping high yields and consequently very little to next harvesting season. Not all the women farmers employed the pre- show to others. scribed components of CA such as complete soil cover by mulch, crop rotations, minimum tillage, manure application and fencing of CA plots. 5.2. Mulching constraints Numerous challenges bedevilled the successful implementation of CA for the attainment of food security in the study area such as mulch The women CA adopters in the study area were constrained by the procurement and residue retaining, lack of fencing, the long dry spells challenge of mulch. In fact, mulch procurement and application is one and the associated labor constraints. However, the CA program should of the largest challenges in CA in Zaka East Constituency. Mulch pro- be part of the gender and development approach that takes into con- curement competed with the high demand of grass by cattle owners in sideration indigenous women's needs and constrains (Tasli, 2007: the communal area. In fact, CA faces the challenge of maintenance of 23–27) which the NGOs in this study failed to do. ground cover in many parts of the country that receive low rainfall The NGOs by implementing the CA program in Zaka without pro- because the crop residues are used to feed livestock (Marongwe et al., viding adequate necessary resources such as inputs and fencing mate- 2012). There is competition of maintaining adequate mulch cover be- rials to the women largely did not contribute to the improvement of the tween the need to preserve grass for livestock and women's CA needs welfare of indigenous women without interfering with the beneficiaries' for mulch. Resultantly, this led the slow and half-hearted uptake of the own culture. The many cases of the violation of the CA tenets in Zaka mulch CA tenet by women in Zaka District leading to a decline in the were due to the constraints the farmers faced in the absence of adequate benefits the women farmers were expected to derive from CA. Ac- appreciation of their needs and constraints by the NGOs. For instance, cordingly, all the benefits of mulching that include: prevention of weed the NGOs did not provide fencing materials and diversified seeds growth, releasing soil nutrients, building up soil organic matter, pro- among other needs yet these affected the degree to which CA tenets tecting the soil from wind and water erosion, preventing “capping” due were implemented. It was the lack of adequate inputs on the part of the to the raindrop impact, reducing evaporation and keeping the soil cool NGOs that culminated in women CA adopters in Zaka failing to expand at even temperature (Wagstaff and Harty, 2010: 69) were not fully their CA plots and enjoying its benefits by religiously implementing its realised in Zaka District by most women CA farmers. tenets such as crop rotation and reduced labour demands, especially This in a way explains why the women farmers were overwhelmed during basin preparation and weeding after the first year. More so, by the problem of weeds and the susceptibility of their crops to dry given that it was difficult for some women CA farmers to strike a bal- spells. Clearly, competing uses for crop remains among other factors ance in terms of time investment between CA processes and nutritional continues to be a limiting factor to the adoption of CA and its con- gardens, the NGOs' introduction of the CA program in Zaka ignored to tribution to productivity. This therefore, prompts the need for capacity check whether these programs were suitable to women farmers and building for the women CA adopters to bring about the absorption of were in a position to provide them help without interfering in their stresses and adaptation to loss of soil fertility and climate changes traditional daily and nutritional roles. Consequently, the CA program

27 M. Hove, T. Gweme Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 18–29 should be rolled out in a way that encourages women to adhere to its dmdocuments/Census/Census.pdf [accessed 17 August 2013]. De Schutter, O., 2013. Gender Equality and Food Security: Women's Empowerment as a principles backed by adequate inputs and respect for the women Tool against Hunger. Asian Development Bank, Mandaluyong City. farmers’ different responsibilities in traditional societies. Degu, G., Yigzaw, T., 2006. Research Methodology, Lecture Notes for Health Students. A number of strategies may be engaged to enhance the im- http://www.cartercenter.org/documents/ethiopia_health/lecture/plain/health_ ff science_students/ln_research_method_final.pdf [accessed 20 August 2014]. plementation of CA enabling it to contribute more e ectively towards Dendooven, L., Patino-Zúñiga, L., Verhulst, N., Luna-Guido, M., Marsch, R., Govaerts, B., the attainment of food security. Firstly, there is need to carry out more 2012. Global warming potential of agricultural systems with contrasting tillage and research that seek to modify the way in which CA is practiced especially residue management in the central highlands of Mexico. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 152, – to shift from the use of the hoes in basin preparation which is reportedly 50 58. Denton, F., 2002. Climate change, vulnerability, impacts and adaptation: why does hard and labor intensive. This involves how best labor constraints can gender matter? Gend. Dev. 10 (2), 10–20. be addressed in a cost effective manner. This will definitely go a long Ellis-Jones, J. (Ed.), 2003. Best Practice Guidelines for the Sustainable Cultivation of way in making CA women friendly by reducing the demand for labour. Vleis: Crop Management Options for Vleis, . http://ir.uz.ac.zw/jspui/bitstream/ 10646/344/1/Crop%20managment%20options%20for%20vleis%2036p.pdf [ac- The multi-sectoral response should be strengthened amongst the CA cessed 24 September 2015]. implementing partners (NGOs), relevant government departments such Fanelli, C.W., Dumba, L., 2006. Conservation farming in rural Zimbabwe. LEISA Mag. 22 as agriculture extension services and mechanization, local meteor- (4), 18–19. FAO, 2004. Voluntary Guidelines to Support Progressive Realization of the Right to ological stations and private seed manufacturers to maximize the pro- Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security. http://www.fao.org/3/a- duction of hybrid seeds and open-pollinated varieties. This will enable y7937e.pdf [accessed 18 August 2013]. rural women farmers to have timely access to all vital ingredients of FAO, 2009. Bridging the Gap the Gap: FAO's Programme for Gender Equality in Agriculture and Rural Development. http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1243e/ sustainable CA. In fact, McGuire and Sperling (2013) note that access to i1243e00.htm [accessed 24 September 2015]. resilient seed systems enhances food security paving way for resilient FAO, 2011. The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–2011: Women in Agriculture – livelihoods. Here the intervention involves the direct delivery of quality Closing the Gender Gap for Development. FAO, Rome. fi Farnworth, C.R., Colverson, K.E., 2015. Building a gender-transformative extension and seed to bene ciaries thereby enabling both recovery and sustainable advisory facilitation system in sub-saharan Africa. J. Gend. Agric. Food Secur. 1 (1), development from the time of food crisis. Moreover, awareness cam- 20–39. paigns need to be carried out to promote CA practice in order to reduce Farnworth, C.R., Baudron, F., Andersson, J.A., Misiko, M., Badstue, L., Stirling, C.M., farmers’ cultural resistance in adopting new conservation technologies. 2015. Gender and conservation agriculture in East and southern Africa: towards a research agenda. Int. J. Agric. Sustain. 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735903. Farmers should be assisted to adapt to the manifestations of climate 2015.1065602. change such as long dry seasons during the agricultural seasons. These Giller, K.E., Witter, E., Corbeels, M., Tittoneel, P., 2009. Conservation agriculture and – will benefit arid and semi-arid regions in Zimbabwe and other countries smallholder farming in Africa: the heretics view. J. Field Crops Res. 114 (1), 23 34. ff Govaerts, B., Verhulst, N., Castellanos-Navarrete, A., Sayre, K.D., Dixon, J., Dendooven, in their e orts to attain food security. L., 2009. Conservation agriculture and soil carbon sequestration: between myth and farmer reality. Crit. Rev. Plant Sci. 28, 97–122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ Acknowledgements 07352680902776358. Gukurume, S., Nhodo, L., Dube, C., 2010. Conservation farming and food security-insecurity matrix in Zimbabwe: a case of ward 21 Chivi rural. J. Sustain. Dev. Afr. 12 The researchers wish to express their deepest, everlasting and pro- (7), 40–52. found gratitude to all respondents for providing information about their Habtezion, S., 2012. Gender Agriculture and Food Security. United Nations Development Programme, New York. experiences with CA in Ward 31, Zaka District and authors whose works Hobbs, P.R., 2007. What is conservation agriculture and why is it important for future were consulted during the writing of this study. More so, the re- sustainable food Production? Paper presented at international workshop on in- searchers wish to express their unwavering thanks to organisations creasing wheat yield potential, CIMMYT, obregon, Mexico, 20–24 March 2006. J. fi Agric. Sci. 145, 127–137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021859607006892. whose records were used to augment the ndings of this study. The Hove, M., Mutanda, D., Matendera, E., 2012. Zimbabwe's multi-currency economy and authors feel indebted to the boundary partners for facilitating the people's livelihoods: an examination of the impact of the strategy of remittances with success of this research. Finally, the authors sincerely thank their fa- reference to Zaka District 2009-2012. Int. J. Multidiscip. Manag. Stud. 2 (12), 1–14. milies for their moral, financial and spiritual support during the course Makwara, E.C., 2013. Indigenous knowledge systems and modern weather forecasting: exploring the linkages. J. Agric. Sustain. 2 (1), 98–141. of this study. Makwara, E.C., Gamira, D., 2012. 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29 Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 30e39

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

Purdah, purse and patriarchy: The position of women in the Raika shepherd community in Rajasthan (India)

Ilse Kohler-Rollefson€

League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development, Germany article info abstract

Article history: Pastoralist women are perceived as doubly disadvantaged, due to gender inequality and their low status Received 4 June 2016 as pastoralists. Thus, development organizations are adopting gender-specific approaches to improve the Received in revised form specific position of female pastoralists. This paper examines this issue with respect to the Raika (Rabari), 7 August 2017 the largest nomadic pastoral community of Western India, using an ecofeminist theoretical framework. Accepted 13 September 2017 Because Raika women observe purdah, there is an outward impression that men play the dominant Available online 28 September 2017 role in sheep production, but in reality nomadic shepherding is a family operation and dependent in equal parts on the contribution of women and men. A series of interviews and group discussions Keywords: Sheep revealed that women often prefer being on migration to staying in the villages because of lower Pastoralism workloads, nevertheless, they are concerned about security issues and the dangers of nomadism. Nomadism Raika women increasingly express their resistance to traditional customs by refusing to consummate Purdah marriages with husbands to whom they have been betrothed in childhood. Very often the reason for the Ecofeminism refusal is that they do not want a husband following the traditional pastoralist livelihood, preferring an Rabari/Rebari urban way of life. The gradual decline of Rajasthan's sheep population over the last fifteen years may be due in part to women's refusal to engage in shepherding. It is suggested that this issue needs to be addressed by instating pro-pastoralist policies that benefit pastoralist families at large rather than gender-specific measures. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction be able to improve and make a difference to the economic lot and social status of pastoralist women? Pastoralist women are often described as being “doubly The purpose of this paper is to analyze the assumptions that marginalized” or in a “double bind”, due to gender inequality and underlie project interventions of the major development organi- because they are pastoralists (e.g. Eneyew and Mengistu, 2013; zations by looking at a particular pastoralist community in India, Kipuri and Ridgewell, 2008). They are frequently depicted as the Raika (also known as Rebari) shepherds of Rajasthan. It exam- especially vulnerable and as victims of male decisions. In addition, ines gender relations in the community, describes the gender current climate change has imposed additional burdens upon allocation of tasks in both sedentary and nomadic sheep produc- them, forcing them to walk longer distances to obtain water and to tion, looks into the attitude of women towards continuing a spend more hours collecting firewood (Mushi, 2013; UNCCD, 2007). pastoralist way of life, and finally analyzes the results from an In order to address these issues, development interventions in the ecofeminist perspective. livestock sector often seek to adopt an explicit gender focus and promote approaches such as, “securing women's access to livestock 2. Ecofeminism as a theoretical framework assets”, “increasing access to livestock technologies and services”, “integrating gender and poverty indicators in monitoring, evalua- The term “ecofeminism” was first used by Francoise D'Eaubonne tion and impact assessment” (e.g. Gurung, 2010; ILRI n.d.; Rota and in 1974 and grew out of the environmental movement in the 1970s Sperandini, 2010a,b; Rota et al., 2010). However, are these ap- in which women played an important role. Ecofeminism posits a proaches really what pastoralist women want and need? Will they connection between patriarchy, science and the subjugation of nature and women. The concept was elaborated by Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva in their classic, recently republished work E-mail address: [email protected]. “Ecofeminism” (Mies and Shiva, 2014). Their key postulate is that https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.09.010 0140-1963/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. I. Kohler-Rollefson€ / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 30e39 31 the liberation of women and the preservation of life on the planet workload but lose influence and control over family resources. For cannot be separated nor achieved independently. Ecofeminism sees instance, among the Maasai in Tanzania, the commercialization of the global development paradigm as destroying diversity, both livestock production and extension activities involved only men, cultural and biological, and women as the main victims of this leading to new power constellations that increased male control process by severing their bond with the land and destroying their over livestock and contributed to the subordination of women subsistence economy. They are especially critical of conventional (Hodgson, 1999). Among the Galole Orma in Kenya, the transition male research which they describe as reductionist, leading to the from a subsistence dairy economy to an emphasis on commercial commodification of seeds, land and water and the dominance of beef production also undermined the economic position of women corporates over people. One of the examples for reductionist sci- (Ensminger, 1984). In other cases, when men leave the pastoral way ence is the agricultural research that led to the Green Revolution of life to seek employment in the cities, women continue to herd resulting in high yields of grain, at the expense of erosion, water livestock taking care of all the chores themselves (Azhar-Hewitt, depletion, and poisoning of the soil. Instead the ecofeminists 1999). This trend is referred to as “feminization of agriculture” advocate a subsistence perspective which is based on the neces- (FAO, 2012), implying bigger workloads for women. sities of life, and seek to situate production and consumption within Specifically, with respect to India, various studies about the role the context of regeneration. They promote rebuilding ecological of smallholder and tribal women in livestock production conclude cycles instead of applying technological fixes and believe that that women are in charge of taking care of young and newborn women are the ones that can, and should, nurture the planet back animals and mainly handle the feeding of animals while chores to health. such as watering, milking and treating sick animals are taken care Mies and Shiva (2014) reject the cultural relativism of post- of by women and men on an equal basis (Ghotge and Ramdas, modernism as it implies that violence and patriarchal in- 2002; Rangnekar, 1994, 1998). For India's pastoralist societies no stitutions, such as the dowry and the caste system, are acceptable such studies are available, with the exception of some very general because they are cultural expressions. Mies (1983) is a strong observations of pastoral communities in Northern Gujarat. In these proponent of a feminist research paradigm, rejecting the concept of cases, livestock management is shared more evenly between men value free research and replacing it with “conscious partiality” and women than among adivasi (members of the aboriginal tribal which is achieved through partial identification with the research peoples) and farming communities (Rangnekar, 1994). Neither are objects. She also calls for replacing ‘the view from above’ with ‘a there any specific studies of gender relations among the various view from below’ and to replace ‘spectator knowledge’ with active pastoralist groups in India. We know that in some communities, participation in actions, movements and struggles. such as the Gaddi sheep nomads of Himachal Pradesh (Wagner, Ecofeminism has been much criticized for being ahistorical, 2013) and the Rajput shepherds of Rajasthan, women do not ignoring hierarchies among women and for seeing the end of pa- participate in migration but stay behind in the villages (Kavoori, triarchy and of ecological destruction as inseparable. Nevertheless, 1999). In contrast, among the Van Gujjar buffalo nomads of “ecofeminism” has been chosen as a theoretical framework for Uttranchal, the entire family joins in the seasonal migration to the analyzing the situation of Raika women shepherds because the alpine pastures (Benanav, 2015). The same applies to the pig no- theoretical concepts were shaped to a significant extent by the mads of Odisha (Sahu, 2012). peoples' movements in India and though often applied to the Green This study aims at enhancing our understanding of the specific Revolution have never been applied to its equivalent in the live- role of women in a major nomadic shepherding group, by providing stock sector, the “Livestock Revolution”. In Asia, the latter model details about their workloads, attitudes and significance in up- promotes high yielding breeds requiring equally high inputs in holding this economically important livestock production system. terms of concentrated feed, controlled environments and veterinary care with the goal of producing affordable animal protein for 4. Context the rapidly increasing demand by the growing middle class in Asia. This is the paradigm that both central and state governments have 4.1. Geographical adopted and the economic and political context in which Raika women are operating. Rajasthan, situated in the west of the country, is India's second largest state, extending over 342,000 square kilometers. The state is 3. Existing literature on the role of women in animal divided into three distinct geographical zones. In the west is the husbandry Thar Desert that extends along the border with Pakistan, in the east there is a more humid plain that merges with the Deccan Plateau. In pastoralist societies, livestock production has traditionally These two discrete regions are separated by the Aravalli hill range been a family operation, with labour allocated according to gender that dissects the state from northeast to southwest. Average annual (Flintan, 2008; Horowitz et al., 1992; Joekes and Pointing, 1991; rainfall in the Thar Desert ranges from 100 mm in the far west to Jowkar et al., 1991). Women's control and ownership of livestock 450 mm at the edge of the Aravallis. Due to this low rainfall and the and their products vary between and within regions. In many so- frequent occurrence of droughts, livestock keeping has always been cieties, women are responsible for small stock such as goats, sheep the backbone of the rural economy. More than 80% of Rajasthan's and poultry, as well as for young and sick animals kept at the rural families keep livestock in their households. The contribution homestead. They are rarely in charge of managing large stock, of the animal husbandry sector to the GDP of the State has been although there are exceptions; for instance in transhumant systems estimated to be around 9.16%. Rajasthan is India's state with the in the Andes of Latin America women take care of camelids. largest output of livestock and livestock products, producing 10% of Women are frequently involved in milk production, although not the milk, 35% of the wool and 10% of the meat in the country. all women control the sale of milk and its products (Bravo- Nationwide, it ranks first in wool production, first in sale of live Baumann, 2000). meat animals (an estimated 40,000 goat, sheep & buffalo are sold Many observations indicate that abandonment of the nomadic each day), first in producing approximately 12% of its milk from way of life and sedentarization impact women negatively due to goats and ranks second in per capita availability of milk as well as in loss of livestock or increased control of men over products such as milk production (Government of Rajasthan, n.d.). About 35% of the milk and the income generated. Women then may have a reduced income of small and marginal farmers comes from dairy and animal 32 I. Kohler-Rollefson€ / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 30e39 husbandry. In arid areas the contribution is as high as 50%. There very ambiguous. Literacy is now regarded as essential, but even a are an estimated 400,000 families depending on pastoralism in limited amount of schooling alienates young Raika from the herd- Rajasthan (Kohler-Rollefson,€ 2016a). ing profession. On the other hand, income from herding is much The data presented in this paper are derived from the “Godwar” better than from most employment. The reason why young people area which is composed of Bali and Desuri tehsils (administrative seek non-traditional employment is not in the hope of having a units) of Pali district, as well as parts of Sirohi and Jalore districts of higher income, but rather to avoid the stigma of backwardness as Rajasthan. Godwar is located at the ecotone between the forested well as the problems and dangers that are associated with going on Aravalli Hills and the flat scrub desert. Rainfall is between 400 and migration and finding grazing for livestock. Currently, an estimated 700 mm annually, falling in the three months of the rainy season 80% of Raika have abandoned livestock keeping altogether, due to (July, August, September). While the forest is managed by the its reputation as being backward, the decreasing availability of Rajasthan Forest Department as Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, grazing and the continuous conflicts with accessing pastures. They the plain area is used agriculturally for the cultivation of non- are pursuing urban livelihoods, usually as menial labourers. Only a irrigated and irrigated crops including bajra (pearl millet), jowar tiny minority is in professional positions while the vast majority (millet), mustard, wheat, cotton, maize, sesame, chick pea, guar, works in restaurants, tea-stalls, sweet-shops and other types of groundnut and various pulses. Irrigation by means of tube-wells shops in big cities. There they work 16 h work days, have no place to increased in the 1990s, but has receded due to falling ground- sleep, and live under horrendous hygienic conditions that often water levels. lead to serious illnesses. However, when the young men come home for brief visits, they usually do not complain, but project a 4.2. Sociocultural: The Raika/Rebari rosy picture of life in the city perpetuating the myth that life is better there (Rollefson, 2009). The Raika represent the largest pastoral caste in western India In the past, the relationship with their animals diffused every (Agrawal, 1993) and are distributed predominantly in the states of aspect of the lives of the Raika and was the foundation of their Rajasthan and Gujarat. They have been the subject of in-depth culture, which put a prime on ensuring the welfare of animals and research from various angles, including religious (Srivastava, the long-term sustainability of their system. Regarded as 1997), decision making institutions (Agrawal, 1999), the camel communal heritage, female animals e sheep and camels e were pastoral system and economy (Kohler-Rollefson,€ 1992, 1995, 1996), never sold to anybody outside the community, they were only ecology (Floter,€ 2002), sheep husbandry and ethnoveterinary passed on from one generation to the next, being divided equally medicine (Geerlings, 2001, 2004), indigenous knowledge (Kohler-€ between sons and a few gifted to daughters at the time of marriage. Rollefson, 1997; Kohler-Rollefson€ et al., 1999; Kohler-Rollefson€ Milk was not sold, but given away for free. There was a societal rule and Rathore, 2004), political ecology (Robbins, 2004), sheep against the construction of permanent houses as mobility was migration (Prevot, 2010), camel milk production (Albrecht, 2004), regarded essential for the health of the herds as well as the envi- the role of networks in the transmission of Traditional Ecological ronment. The Raika had extensive ethnoveterinary knowledge, Knowledge (Salpeteur et al., 2016) and overviews of their general distinguishing between a large number of diseases and resorting to situation (Merelli, 2009-2010; Sbriccoli, 2004-2005; Sharma, a wide range of plant based remedies and even surgical in- 2005). terventions to treat them (Geerlings, 2001; Kohler-Rollefson,€ 1997; The Raika are Hindus and one of 36 distinct endogamous caste Kohler-Rollefson€ et al., 1999). Their knowledge about animal communities in the study area. Although assumed to represent the breeding was equally impressive. They selected male breeding largest pastoral group of Western India, there are no accurate rams according to nine criteria and kept mental records of their population estimates. According to statements by community animals' pedigrees. In addition to sheep, the community also bred leaders there were around 200,000 Raika families in 1991. Taking other types of animals and is credited with creating several distinct into account population growth and number of children per family, livestock breeds, including Marwari and Boti sheep, Sirohi goat, we can assume that there are presently well over one million Raika Nari cattle and several camel breeds (Kohler-Rollefson€ and Rathore, in Rajasthan. The Raika of Rajasthan are divided into two endoga- 2004). They knew about the nutritional value of the “36” forage mous groups, the Maru Raika and the Godwar Raika. These differ in plants that their animals ate, and were able to tell from the taste of their dress, jewelry and in some of their social practices as well as camel milk on which plants the animal had browsed. Their ability marriage and death rituals. The Maru Raika traditionally had an to track camels was legendary and they could identify individual identity as expert camel breeders, while the Godwar Raika were camels on the basis of their foot prints. associated with sheep breeding. These attributes however do not, Traditionally, the Raika occupied a respectable position in the or no longer, hold up to scrutiny. The majority of Maru Raika now middle or upper middle stratum of the complex caste system and keep sheep, while some of the Godwar Raika raise camels were highly respected by the Rajput rulers as reliable messengers (Srivastava, 1997). or chaperones for their daughters (Srivastava, 1997). There was The Raika of Godwar are largely landless. Only 45% of them own enough grazing land for them to never have to worry where to take small pieces of agricultural land, mostly used for the cultivation of their animals, but this situation has changed entirely. Today, mak- wheat or maize (Geerlings, 2001). They depend entirely on various ing a living as a pastoralist has become a very complex proposition; forms of common property resources to fulfill the nutritional re- not only is it difficult to access grazing areas, but livestock keeping quirements of their herds. These include village grazing grounds has come to be regarded as a backward activity. Government offi- (gochar), land protected by temples (oran), fallow land, and forest. cials and scientists have a deeply ingrained negative view of the Since sheep pastoralism is integrated with crop cultivation, these traditional way or culture of livestock keeping, as its opportunistic different resources are used at different times of the year in a approach of making use of variable vegetation does not correspond seasonal cycle. to the scientific notions of livestock production with fixed rations This community, which is regarded as extremely conservative, and in sedentary systems that culminate in the “Livestock Revolu- was long known for its low literacy levels, with hardly any girls tion”. Government activities in the livestock sector focus on pro- attending schools, but this situation is changing. In a survey con- moting exotic breeds or cross-breeds by means of artificial ducted in 2008, 64% of boys and 31% of girls attended school insemination (Kohler-Rollefson€ and Rathore, 2004). (Rollefson, 2009). The attitude of the Raika towards education is In an effort to counter these negative perceptions and to provide I. Kohler-Rollefson€ / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 30e39 33 evidence for their role in the conservation of biological diversity best, as practicing an outdated and unproductive way of livestock and as guardians of a number of livestock breeds, with the assis- keeping. For this reason there is a total absence of administrative tance of two NGOs, the Raika, have compiled a Community Bio- recognition and support, and the situation of most pastoralists is cultural Protocol. This document records these ecological services becoming increasingly precarious, despite their continuing major and also refers to the national and international legal frameworks, importance as providers of meat, milk, manure and draught power. notably the United Nation Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), that support the rights of the Raika over their (genetic) re- 5. Methodology sources and their right to steward and share the benefits from them (Kohler-Rollefson€ et al., 2012). The data presented here were collected over a period of 25 years, starting in 1991 with a fellowship to study the socioeco- 4.3. Macro-economic context nomics of camel husbandry. In an act of “conscious partiality”, this eventually led to the setting up of the NGO Lokhit Pashu- According to the last government livestock census which is PalakSansthan (LPPS) which seeks to support the Raika and other conducted every five years, there were about 9 million sheep in pastoralists in their struggle. A series of action research projects Rajasthan in 2012, down from around 11 million in 2007 and more conducted by this NGO provided the opportunity to witness actions than 14 million in 1997. Thus, there is a clear decrease of the state's and behaviour of women during development projects that were sheep population and this is likely due to traditional shepherding supposed to empower them. In the course of time, close friendships communities, including the Raika, giving up the profession as a with around 10 Raika families developed and much information result of the struggle for grazing resources. The majority of sheep in was casually gained, without particular research intent. In addition, Rajasthan (estimated 80%) are still managed in long distance about a dozen foreign students were guided in conducting semi- migratory systems in which groups of shepherd families collec- structured interviews about ethnoveterinary medicine, sheep tively migrate for eight to nine months of the year to adjoining breeding and the perspective of young people among sedentary states, including Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat Raika (e.g. Geerlings, 2001; Rollefson, 2009). Over the 25 years of (Kavoori, 1999). When the rains begin, they return to their home casual research, major changes were observed in the educational villages in Rajasthan for three or four months. status of women. In the early 1990s, literacy among women was Historically, sheep pastoralism was mainly oriented at wool virtually zero and only in exceptional cases did Raika girls go to production, with some of the local sheep breeds producing high school. Presently, more than 50% of girls attend school, at least for a quality carpet wool. But due to a burgeoning demand for mutton few years. However, as soon, as they reach their mid-teens, they and a declining world market for wool, the Raika and other Indian usually leave school and engage in local daily wage-labour. Women pastoralists have adapted to this new context and their production who are allowed by their families to take up regular employment system is now geared towards supplying meat. About 20 years ago, are exceedingly rare (less than 1%), because it is not considered at the beginning of this research, meat production was still a proper. contentious issue that caused embarrassment to the community A further source of information derives from a number of group because it went against their traditions and beliefs, and was not discussions that were held in the second half of 2014 with migra- willingly admitted. However, attitudes have changed. As Hindus, tory Raika, both while they were on migration, as well as during the Raika themselves are basically vegetarian and eat meat only on their stay in the villages. The aim was to understand the economic the rare occasion of sacrificial killings. They process sheep milk into output of sheep nomadism and to collect quotes from practicing ghee (clarified butter), but the yields are generally negligible. Dung pastoralists for a three-country research project on drylands, sup- is usually traded for grain with sedentary farmers. Besides being an ported by the International Institute of Environment and Devel- enormously productive means of producing meat, sheep provide opment (Kratli,€ 2015). other important agro-ecological services by generating organic manure and depositing this directly on the fields. This saves the 6. Raika women: no choice in marriage but power behind the country huge amounts of foreign currency and mitigates green- scenes house gas emissions. Unfortunately this role of nomadic sheep husbandry, and of Indian pastoralism in general, has been practi- Because Raika women observe purdah, there is an outward cally ignored by scientists. impression that men play the dominant role in the society. This is For the Raika many aspects of sheep husbandry are influenced true with respect to the outward representation of the community by religious beliefs; for instance shearing is a sacred communal as well as in the internal judicial system. But with regards to the function and animals born on certain days in the moon cycle are economic base of the community women have an equal role, as devoted to God, and neither they nor their offspring can ever be nomadic shepherding is a family operation and is dependent on the sold. contribution of both women and men, with women handling family finances. 4.4. Livestock policy 6.1. Purdah, but control of the purse In India, pastoralism is generally overlooked by policy makers and there are no pastoralist specific policies in place. The National The position of women in Raika society must be understood Livestock Policy (GoI, 2013) refers only to farmers and does not against the backdrop and within the context of the purdah system include the word pastoralism. There are no official statistics about that prevails in Hindu society in general, and is especially deeply the number of pastoralists, as they do not fit into the official ingrained in Rajasthan. In the purdah system, women and men concept of livestock production which is along the lines of the operate in entirely separate realms. Women are either not to be “Livestock Revolution”. Recently, a pan-Indian group of field re- seen in public or, if they are, wear a veil that covers their face searchers produced an estimate that more than 70% of India's meat (gungat). They do not speak, nor sit on chairs in the presence of and more than 50% of its milk are produced in extensive grazing their men as this is considered disrespectful. This behaviour systems (Kohler-Rollefson,€ 2016b). Furthermore, there is the colo- changes when they are visiting their native family and village (pir), nial legacy of looking at nomads as criminal tribes or, at the very or move outside the orbit of their in-laws: in such contexts they 34 I. Kohler-Rollefson€ / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 30e39 pull up their veils and speak freely. busy with herding animals. However, it proved impossible to get Rigid following of the purdah system is a mark of high status in women to attend meetings, even if exclusively for them. For one, Rajasthan, thus high caste Rajput women traditionally never most men did not allow them to attend, in addition there was also ventured into public and were confined to a life indoors, in women an attitude among women that “herding is a family business, it's quarters.1 In the presence of their husbands or in-laws, Raika enough if one of us e husband e goes and attends the meeting.” 2 women keep their faces veiled and do not speak or join any con- Notably, (sedentary) Raika women also had no interest in joining versation with outsiders while their husbands or in-laws are pre- self-help saving groups which are extremely popular with women sent. They are not allowed to sit on the floor mat that is spread out of other castes, as such groups rid them of the need to take loans during meetings or whenever several men get together. At the from money-lenders. This is possibly because Raika women have most, when their husband is of a quiet nature and not able to cash in their hands or can easily raise cash by selling some of their communicate his family's issues or problems well, women are animals. allowed to speak to other Raika men from a distance, and in a low voice, with their face covered. 6.2. Marriage: no option for choice in a patriarchal system Raika women are quite visible in the rural landscape as well as in market towns such as Sadri. Nevertheless, they can never be seen Although seemingly equal partners as relates to “professional” on their own, always moving around in small groups. Only in ur- economic tasks, social repression of Raika women is clearly evident gent situations, such as a visit to the doctor, can they be seen in the with regard to marriage customs. As is the case throughout tradi- company of a man, usually their brother or son, rarely their hus- tional Hindu society all marriages in Raika society are arranged by fi band. Married Raika women can easily be identi ed among Rajas- parents and/or close relatives. Usually at a very young age. The than's rural caste mosaic by their distinctive attire and jewelry. ceremony that confirms the agreement between the families is They wear wide swinging skirts, plastic bangles that cover both called viva. There is a tradition of “mass-marriages” in which all lower and upper arms, a red veil and adorn themselves with heavy unmarried girls of a village are betrothed at the same time, with silver jewelry around their ankles. girls ranging in age from a few months to eighteen years or so. The position of a Raika woman changes throughout her lifetime. However, the marriage is not consummated at that time and before As a young girl she is expected to work hard, performing household the couple starts living together, there is another ceremony called chores, such as sweeping, taking care of younger siblings and of ana or muklava. This takes place when the girl is around twenty fi animals, making tea, collecting rewood, cleaning the pens, and years old. work in wage labour. After the start of her married life, she grad- Contrary to the situation in higher castes, among the Raika it is ’ ually spends greater amounts of time at her in-laws house. Here the family of the bridegroom that is burdened with high expendi- too she is expected to work hard and to serve and cater to all of her ture and has to pay a brideprice. Alternatively, the groom has to husband's relatives. She is not supposed to talk to anybody who is work in the family of his wife for seven years without pay, an her elder and has to follow the orders of her mother-in-law. She arrangement called ghar-jamai. In order to avoid such situations, it cannot even talk to her husband or sit next to him, in the presence is common practice that families arrange to exchange daughters of elders. She eats after everybody else has eaten. With the birth of between them. This practice is called atta-satta. It puts families that fi her rst child her status improves; at this time she goes back to her have more sons than daughters at a disadvantage, since it means fi parental house. Her position reaches its peak after her rst son is they have to often pay substantial amounts of money e in the range married as now she can give orders to both her son and her of 100,000 to 150,000 Indian Rupees. When families cannot afford daughter-in-law. Once she is widowed, the situation changes again this, it is difficult for them to marry off their sons. Inter-caste and she now becomes dependent on her sons and daughters-in- marriages are strictly prohibited and always result in out-casting law. Still today, this situation remains unchanged. of the entire family such that they are rare. Since Raika women do not speak in the presence of their men, The on-going patriarchal practice of child marriage causes a fi and are therefore dif cult to engage with by an outsider, there is the great degree of turbulence in the society, as there are frequent cases outward impression that they are powerless and suppressed. of girls who resist moving into their in-laws house and starting However, the demure and silent behaviour in the presence of their married life. This often happens especially if the husband is husbands is deceiving. Raika women are generally acknowledged as following the traditional shepherding occupation, rather than fl “ the power behind the scenes. This is re ected in the proverb Raika working in the town. In such cases, it is the duty of the girl's parents men are as straight as a cow, but Raika women are as cunning as a to coerce her to move in with her in-laws. If that does not happen, fox”. Whereas Raika men often cannot distinguish between different bills or add up amounts, women are often described as the “ fi ” family nance ministers , as they are the ones who manage and 2 One exception is a woman who is known for her skills as a traditional animal understand money. Raika women purchase all goods, including the healer and as a midwife. Because of her outgoing nature and ability to articulate clothes of their husbands and are acknowledged as good bar- problems, she was asked to join the board of the NGO. The position provided her gainers. Since the men are usually grazing the herds during the day, with the opportunity to travel to several places in Rajasthan and even to Delhi. During a meeting with a Minister of State who headed the Prime Minister's Office, it is often the women who interact with the traders and middlemen she cast off her traditional female role of keeping quiet when men speak and who come to purchase animals. Another traditional woman's chore concisely articulated the problems of her community in accessing grazing land. As a is to manage and sell manure to the farming communities. consequence she was selected by the NGO to represent her community during a UN A Rajasthan based NGO working specifically with the Raika level conference in Switzerland. This was possible because her husband had no community spent many years trying to implement a gender- objections and because a close male relative agreed to come as chaperone. Her outstanding ability to communicate across language and cultural barriers and to balanced approach, involving women in meetings, training pro- cope with unfamiliar surroundings resulted in further invitations, again at UN level. grammes and exposure tours. After some time it was possible to With the author as her translator, she subsequently travelled to Kenya to share talk to women extensively while their husbands were absent and experiences with pastoralist communities there, making her a minor celebrity. However on return to Rajasthan, many Raika men were annoyed at her newly found self-confidence and rhetorical ability, telling her to shut up and sit quietly. Over the years, some of them gradually came to accept her as a community leader, especially 1 For the lower castes, the rules are not as strict as women cannot afford to stay at after she made a strong speech in a public altercation with the local Forest home but have to contribute to livelihoods (Patel, 1994; Sharma, 2005). Department about grazing rights. I. Kohler-Rollefson€ / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 30e39 35 then the caste panchayat (council of elders) is called in to resolve ever went to school) their labour input is less than that of their the issue. adult family members. However, since the majority of the re- Caste panchayats are basically assemblies of older men no longer spondents were adult males it might be that the labour input of active in livestock herding that uphold the social and behavioural children is underestimated, as was the fact with female labour in standards within the community. They punish transgressions Raika women.” against the norms with substantial fines and, in extreme cases, Looking at this information from an ecofeminist perspective, we “outcasting”. When a girl does not follow through with a marriage can note that women indeed play a nurturing role by looking pri- agreed upon in her childhood, the caste panchayat will first impose marily after the new-born and young animals and by processing a substantial fine on her family, and if that is not being paid, the milk for household consumption, while men are more engaged in family will be out-casted. As long as the family is outcasted, none of the primary production of sheep rearing. Both chores are equally her siblings can get married either. Families who are outcasts are important and cannot be performed in isolation from each other - prohibited from any social interactions with the rest of the com- they are components of an indigenous production system that munity; they cannot participate in any social events, and will not be seeks to optimally utilize biodiverse biomass for food production. re-admitted until they have paid a large fine and hosted a meal for the entire community. 6.3.2. Nomadic sheep production: peril and pleasure A recent case of a marriage dispute illustrate the paternalistic The majority of sheep in the study area are managed in nomadic attitude prevalent in Raika society. The girl had a college education, systems. With this mode of production comes a large set of chal- but her marriage was arranged according to the atta-satta principle lenges but also big rewards. in exchange for another girl. However when time came to The nomadic herds only stay in Godwar during the rainy season, consummate the marriage and move in with her husband, her in- from July to October. In October/November their Raika owners laws refused to accept her, on the grounds of not wanting an move southwards towards the Mewar area of Rajasthan and the educated (parhi-likhi) girl, but an illiterate one (anparh). The case is Malva area of Madhya Pradesh to utilize the residues in harvested now being dealt with by the caste panchayat. fields as well as common property resources. For security purposes and mutual support during the migration, they organise into large 6.3. Sheep husbandry: women and men are equal partners herding groups that are composed of 8e15 families called dera.A dera will own a total of around 3000e4000 sheep. There are an The roles and workloads of women are different depending on estimated 40 deras in the two tehsils (Bali and Desuri) that compose whether Raika families practice sedentary (village-based) or the study area, amounting to around 140,000 ewes (Kohler-€ migratory sheep herding. In non-migratory families, girls from the Rollefson et al., 2014). age of about 12e13 have to join in daily wage labour in construc- Each dera is headed by a patel, also called numberdar in other tion, road-building or crop harvest, in addition to their sheep parts of Rajasthan (Agrawal, 1999). The patel is always a man and husbandry related tasks. elected every year between migrations. His election is based on his experience, his contacts and his impartiality. He makes all the de- 6.3.1. Sedentary sheep husbandry: women as nurturers cision with respect to when to move, where to move and where to Interviews were conducted with 52 Raika men and seven stay overnight. It is his duty to liaise with land owners or any au- women in the Godwar area, concerning the gender-related distri- thorities necessary. Although being patel is not a paid position, it bution of tasks in sedentary Raika shepherding families (Geerlings, brings status and prestige; the patel's expenditure for travelling and 2001).3 The gender imbalance among the interviewees resulted meeting with people is shared by the entire group. Being a patel from the refusal of women to be interviewed or from the fact that it carries a lot of responsibility and requires the ability to resolve was considered inappropriate for the woman rather than the man conflicts within the group and between the group and outsiders. It of the house to provide information. requires contact with land owners and knowledge about the area The data gathered indicate that it is usually men who take the and its grazing opportunities, with good patels always scouting for € flocks on their daily grazing rounds. Women care for newborn and new grazing opportunities (Kohler-Rollefson et al., 2014). young animals, who are kept in pens near the house while their The composition of a dera changes from year to year and it is not mothers graze. When the animals are old enough they too will go to clear until just before departure which dera a family will join or pasture with the herd. The women also care for the animals that are who will be the patel. For the most part, a patel will choose his ill, but do not accompany animals who are grazing. Men always relatives to be in his dera before allowing anybody else to join. have the main responsibility of herding the flocks, but in 13% of the Before a patel will allow a non-relative into his dera he will first find cases women also contributed to this chore. out the background and reputation of the person, which dera they In 58% of all households interviewed milking was viewed as the were previous with, and whether there was any trouble. Even small responsibility of men. In 42% of the interviewed families, women children, including babies in arms, are taken on migration. They were mainly responsible for milking, while in 18% ofthese house- enjoy the company of the animals. Elder children are useful helpers holds men and women shared the task. In 91% of the cases, women with daily chores, but in general they are sent to school in the home were in charge of processing the milk into ghee and buttermilk, village where they are staying with relatives. while in 17% if these families men contributed to this task. Migration is a challenging task, and hostile and unpleasant in- Geerlings (2001:77) concluded that “the sheep husbandry sys- teractions with officials from the Forest Department, the police and tem of the Raikas should not be seen as a male dominated enter- farmers are part of the routine. The Raika encounter continuous prise but more as a system dependent on labour inputs of all problems. For example, it is quite frequent that their animals get members of the family. … children often help their family in all killed in road accidents because highways have been built on their related tasks. But because most of them also go to school (in migratory routes. Often there are altercations with land owners contrast to their mothers and fathers, only 3 of the 59 respondent worried about their crops, especially early on in the migration season when harvest has not been completed. In addition, theft of sheep by organized gangs that attack at night, is a regular occur- 3 The data by Geerlings for her master's thesis at the University of Wageningen rence. If such incidents occur, the Raika rarely seek, and even more were collected under the authors supervision and guidance. rarely receive, any support from police and local administrators. 36 I. Kohler-Rollefson€ / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 30e39

Migration is also physically demanding. With the exception of in the village throughout the year because they perceive the work small children who are placed onto camels' backs together with the load as lower. For instance, Manju (14 years old) said “I prefer to be household equipment, all members of the herding group walk the on migration to staying behind in the village. There I have to work entire distance. The dera uses camels and/or donkeys to transport much harder … get up early before sunset to get water and cook food, utensils, bedding, small children and newborn animals. When it then from 8 a.m.- 6 p.m. I have to go for labour in house construction moves it does so in a characteristic fashion. The camels are in front, or fields, and afterwards work in the house again.” followed by donkeys in a throng, then the individual family flocks, In contrast, Kanya Raika, the wife of a patel, about 48 years old, and finally the lambs in separate groups. expressed her sentiments as follows: “I have been born on migration. Women usually lead the camels, often carrying some of the There is no grazing and water in Marwar. This is the only work we cooking equipment on their heads. Since the Raika do not use tents know. So we have to keep wandering from one place. I have 6 sons and or any other kind of mobile habitations, migration means not one daughter. My daughter has already two children. Three of my sons having any shelter and being exposed to sun or rain throughout the are working in Pune as labourers, other three are studying in school. day or night. All the cooking has to be done in the open. They don't like this work. We are only two. When we are tired and The members of the dera stay together during the eight months fatigued then we will stop this. We are not unhappy, but there is al- of the whole migratory cycle. A dera does everything collectively ways so much work. Getting water, loading the camels, unloading and all tasks and responsibilities are strictly assigned. It is a col- them and sometimes the camels are not good and throw off everything. lective with a regular routine that is the same everywhere. The In the night the thieves come by motorcycle. They take 8e10 lambs at a individual family units that compose the dera are called dolri.A time.” dolri is signified by a charpoy (string bed) on which the possessions When asked why they don't switch to sedentary sheep raising, of the family are stacked (bedding, cooking utensils, supplies). Each Dailibai (age around 55) explains: “Our sheep do not allow us. After dolri represents a family and is always managed by a woman who the rains have stopped, they urge us to move and we cannot keep them takes care of cooking food, washing clothes, carrying water, and in the village any longer, we have to follow them.” She concedes that loading and unloading the burden animals when the camp is “it is safer to stay in the villages, but then there are also huge problems, moved. The woman is not necessarily married to the man; father- with the forest being closed to us and wild animals, such as leopards daughter teams are frequent; and sometimes a dolri can be and crocodiles, increasing and preying on our animals.” composed of a man and his sister-in-law, if family circumstances Giving up shepherding is not considered an option. “Our sheep demand such an arrangement. The dolris are set up in a wide circle are our life. Without them we will starve. We are sad without animals”. and always have the same position to each other in every This is the unanimous opinion of Raika women over the age of encampment. At night, sheep are within the circle and form a ring around 40. A life in the city is unimaginable among this age group. around the dolris. The women sleep inside the circle while the men “Our sons go there, but they don't tell us how they feel. Some of them stay at the periphery to guard against thieves. would prefer to herd sheep, because working as labourer is too hard” a Almost all families hire one or two guals (hired herders) who group of about six Raika women agreed among themselves. They help them take care of the flock and who usually own a small did not know of any Raika women that have made the transition number of sheep themselves. The gual is usually a bachelor who from sheep breeding to a life without animals. never brings along a family, therefore he needs to be taken care of Women of all ages appreciate the comparatively lower work by the woman of the dolri as well, who is responsible for cooking load during migration because the men take the sheep out early his food and washing his clothes. and they themselves can sleep until 8 a.m. By contrast, while in the The men take the flocks out for the first round of grazing before villages, they have to get up at 5 in the morning, make food, take or at sunrise. During this time, the lambs are retained at the camp care of sheep and if unmarried, from 8 a.m. onwards also work as where they are looped together in long lines. The women do not daily wage labourers until 6 p.m. After that they have to cook the need to get up at this stage, they can sleep in for a while, but then evening meal. Thus, on migration, they have more leisure, although have to prepare breakfast. They churn sheep milk from the night the days on which they are moving and have to pack everything before into butter and make flat breads on makeshift stoves out of onto the camels are arduous. They are grateful if they can stay in the metal that they set up using as a wind break their string-beds that same place for several days. are also used as a storage platform. While they cook, they also su- We can say that migration, labour and responsibilities are pervise small children and lambs. distributed along classic patriarchal lines, with women nurturing At around 10 a.m. the men and the sheep return. Reuniting the young animals and small children and taking care of cooking, ewes with their lambs is a process that takes much time and goes fetching water and washing clothes, while men are in charge of along with vocal communication between ewes and lambs as they security, negotiating with outsiders and “productive activities” try to identify each other. It requires the intervention of the shep- (grazing). herds who carry around the bleating lambs to match them with their mothers. 7. Significance of nomadic system for food security The men then have breakfast or rather a full meal. If the dera moves camp, then the women start packing up all the belongings There is a general consensus among the Raika that the output of and, with the help of the men, start loading it onto the backs of the the migratory system is significantly higher per sheep than the camels and donkeys e a chore that takes about two hours. If the sedentary herding system. This is attributed to the healthier con- camp stays in place, the men go out again for the main grazing at dition of the animals when they stay out in the open and not in around 1 p.m. The women clean up the dishes, bring water in clay pens where they have high parasite burdens. Community leader pots from the nearest well, take baths, and lop some tree branches Dailibai echoes the sentiments often stated by men: “The income is as feed for the lambs, but also have some leisure time, can rest, talk, so much better because the animals are healthier when they keep and play with the children. The men return after sunset, and again moving instead of having to stay in the same eoften dirty e pen every the ewes have to be united with their lambs. There is dinner, then night. The sheep grow quicker and male lambs from nomadic systems the men take turns as night watch men to prevent attempts at theft. sell for double the price than those raised in villages, for Rs. Many of the women and girls interviewed at different stages of 4000e5000 Rs, rather than Rs. 1500 to 2000.” this research stated that they prefer going on migration to staying The products include meat, manure, and milk, while these days I. Kohler-Rollefson€ / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 30e39 37 wool has become almost worthless. Production rate varies from The Raika sheep production system is characterized by an year to year, depending on rainfall and on disease prevalence. It is almost total absence of modern technologies, with the exception of very difficult to obtain estimates from shepherds about the popu- mobile phones which are owned both by women and men but are lation structure of their herds and about the number of male lambs often out of operation because of the lack of battery charging op- sold per year, as they say there is too much variability between portunities. But the absence of technologies is also the strength of years. the system and one would be hard pressed to imagine any tech- The first output, lambing, occurs at about 1.5 years of age after a nologies that could improve the lot of the Raika, as they are prac- pregnancy of five months. The ewes then lactate for four months. ticing a biological way of production that seeks to capitalize on The rate of loss due to abortions and diseases is quite high. In a good variability and makes use of dispersed and unpredictable resources year, there may be up to 70 lambs born into a herd of 100 sheep. Of through mobility. This mode of production is achieved by the Raika these, 20e30 die due to various causes. Only the male lambs are through the use of their observational powers to gauge the nutri- sold, the females are kept for replacement and to increase herd size. tional needs of their animals, judge the availability of grazing re- This means that there is a crop of 20e25 saleable lambs per 100 sources and seek to align the two through mobility and ewes. Based on a total sheep population of Rajasthan at around 9 arrangements with farm owners. The sheep and goats that they million head, we can conclude that around two million ram lambs keep are not the high-yielding varieties promoted by the govern- are produced and sold each year. Assuming an average price of Rs ment, but hardy and resilient breeds characterized by the ability to 2000 (equivalent to 28 Euro at mid-2015 exchange rates), we arrive walk long distances and endure feed shortages. at an income of 28 million Euro for the sale of sheep for meat by In other countries, pastoralists use trucks to transport their pastoralists in Rajasthan. Calculating an average live weight of 11 kg animals between summer and winter grazing areas. However, this per lamb this would translate into 22 million kg⁴. All approach would not be appropriate in the context of the Raika from of this would have been produced by making use of “waste” or Godwar because there are no long distances to overcome, and their excess biomass that would otherwise not be utilized. The demand system is based on accessing cultivated land as soon as it becomes for mutton is so high, that buyers follow the shepherds on their available after the harvest, requiring frequent short-distance migration and come to their villages during the rainy season. movements. The second major (or equally important) output of the system is We infer that it is the lack of technologies and the underlying manure which makes it possible for the owner of the fields on principle of opportunism and variability that has prevented the which the Raika flocks stay, to reduce or avoid purchase of urea and Raika (and other) sheep pastoral systems of India from being other chemical fertilizers. Here it is not just the reduction in costs to appreciated and recognized by scientists and policy makers. the farmer that counts, but, according to local farmers, the fact that Notably, they do not conform to the notion of livestock production artificial fertilizer is harmful to soils in the long term and makes that was imbued in the Indian system during colonial times: them hard to work. In contrast, manure improves soil quality in a orderly farms with enclosed pastures and stables in which high- sustainable way. A herd of 100 animals produces one trolley of yielding usually exotic livestock breeds are fed with calculated ra- manure per month which is sold at rates between 1000 and tions, leading to predictable growth rates. Even more so, the Raika 2000 Rs. However, this situation only holds for the sedentary phase do not conform to the “Livestock Revolution” that seeks to maxi- of the yearly cycle. While on migration, the flocks move so the mize livestock production along the lines of the Green Revolution manure is deposited directly on the fields of farmers at night. Most with hybrid animals that require high inputs in terms of protein- farmers pay about 100e150 Rs per night for penning animals on rich feed and protection from climatic extremes. their field, either in cash or in the form of food. The amount of Technologies - with the exception of solar panels to recharge chemical fertilizer that is saved by means of nomadic shepherding their mobiles- are not the answer to the increasing pressure and systems in India was recently calculated for the state of Karnataka security problems of the migratory Raika. Instead, official recog- by Athani et al. (2015) who concluded that the state's 64 million nition and acknowledgment of their important role in national and sheep provide Rs 14.68 billion worth of fertilizer annually. global food security is essential. They need land use plans that actively retain space for them in the crop cycle, that ensure access to common pool resources and that secure their migratory routes. 8. Ecology and commerce can be combined! They require the protection of the police and of administrators. Moreover, they would benefit from mobile human and veterinary The migratory Raika sheep production system provides an health services. The hardships faced are not gender-specific, they example of indigenous technologies deemed as backward and un- concern men, women and children equally. However, they act to productive by the predominant scientific and development para- discourage even those Raika women who basically enjoy and digm (Shiva, 1989). This certainly describes the attitude of the appreciate the traditional way of life. These suggested in- government towards pastoralism. terventions, ones that go beyond technological fixes, require a The Raika women's intimate knowledge of nature and of live- fundamental change in attitude. stock concurs with the ecofeminist argument that women are the The ecofeminist perspective sees a dichotomy between subsis- “guardians” of biodiversity and of food production in harmony with tence and commercial economies, and basically derogates any kind nature. But this knowledge is not restricted to Raika women, it is of commodification and commercialism. However, as noted above, knowledge owned by both Raika women and men: the entire sheep Raika sheep pastoralism is commercial and produces commodities production system is a way of producing food in harmony with that render India the largest exporter of sheep and goat meat nature rather than against it. Together, both Raika men and women worldwide thereby contributing to the food security of many produce food in a way that nurtures the soil and exemplifies countries in Asia and the Middle East. These commodities are regenerative food production as envisioned by Mies and Shiva produced in an ecologically harmonious manner, without any of (2014). the usual environmental costs that occur in food production, even contributing inputs to crop cultivation. The irony is that this is not being recognized by the agricultural establishment which is instead 4 This is a conservative estimate. The Rajasthan Development report from 2006 estimated that there were 200,000 shepherds in the state and 3million sheep aiming for the western model of industrial livestock production slaughtered per year resulting in 33 million Kg of mutton. with its known negative impacts on the environment. 38 I. Kohler-Rollefson€ / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 30e39

With respect to the question of patriarchy, we have to on the one regarded as more important than any gender-specific measures. hand acknowledge that Raika women live in a patriarchal system in Similar sentiments were expressed in the Declaration that was so far as the society is ruled by panchayats which are assemblies of issued by the Global Gathering of Pastoralist Women held in Mera, old conservative men that strictly enforce arranged childhood India in 2010 in which four Raika women participated. This elab- marriages and draconically punish and eventually expel any family orate 23 point statement puts more emphasis on the general that does not adhere to these rules. recognition of pastoralists' rights than specifically on those of On the other hand, unlike in other patriarchal and pastoral women (Rota et al., 2010). Firstly, it recommends the recognition of systems, Raika women actively manage and largely control the the essential role of pastoralists in global environmental sustain- family income. We cannot say that they are negatively impacted by ability, including the conservation of biodiversity, mitigation of commercialization, in fact they benefit from it. Raika sheep climate change and combating desertification. Secondly, it endorses nomadism was always predominantly commercial venture, equal rights for pastoralist women and the need to recognize their although previously oriented towards wool rather than meat pro- key role in society, including the work of women pastoralists as a duction. As the Raika are vegetarians, subsistence was never the valid profession and as a fundamental component of pastoralism. main focus of their production system, although dairy products are The remaining points refer to the recognition of pastoralist mobility important food items on migration and cereals are often obtained as a fundamental right, ensured access to resources, including from farmers in exchange for manure. Because of this commer- traditional grazing lands and the protection of the rights of pasto- cialization, Raika women always have cash on hand and therefore ralists and of security in nomadic areas including the enforcement have no need to participate in self-help savings groups which are of laws that guarantee the safety of women. popular among other rural women. Among the Raika of Rajasthan, shepherding is teamwork, and in Can the liberation of women and of “Mother Earth” only be contrast to the situation reported for some other pastoral groups in achieved simultaneously? In the Raika case we do not see a linkage India, the participation of women is regarded as absolutely essen- between liberation from patriarchal marriage traditions and official tial during sheep migration. The nuclear units (dolri) in the herding support for pastoralism. The two are unrelated. The former struggle conglomerates always contain at least one woman. For the Raika is happening within Raika society and going on independently from men in the study area, it is inconceivable to go on migration that related to migratory sheep pastoralism. If however, the official without women to take care of the cooking, fetching water, looking attitude towards pastoralism would change to a supportive stance, after the lambs during daytime and packing household equipment Raika women would have the freedom to decide between a onto camels and donkeys when moving camp. Essentially, the pastoralist and a non-pastoralist way of life, without their decision absence of women willing to go on migration is often the tipping being influenced by fears concerning their security. point for discontinuing nomadic sheep husbandry. Sheep production and export is a major foreign currency earner 9. Conclusions: development interventions and the role of for India and supplies mutton to many countries, especially in the Raika pastoralist women in food security Middle East. Sheep nomadism also makes a major contribution to maintaining agricultural soil fertility. Although nomadic sheep The question posed at the beginning of this paper was whether husbandry is profitable for families, Rajasthan's sheep population gender-focused interventions as promoted by major development has been in decline since 2002. The attitude of women towards the agencies such as “securing women's access to livestock assets”, shepherding profession and the desire of many Raika women for “increasing access to livestock technologies and services”, “inte- urban based livelihoods is a major factor in this decline. Policy grating gender and poverty indicators in monitoring, evaluation makers interested in maintaining or expanding India's position as and impact assessment”, are what pastoralist women need and the world's largest exporter of sheep and goat meat would be well want (e.g. Gurung, 2010; ILRI n.d.; Rota and Sperandini, 2010a,b; advised to maintain or re-create space for nomadic shepherding in Rota et al., 2010). the landscape and implement measures that reduce the current Women in Raika society are “oppressed” by western standards, insecurities and dangers of the profession. That would be a major having little control over their choice of husband and thereby over factor in increasing the attraction of nomadic pastoralism for Raika their future, but this is in line with the general position of women in women who are a key factor, or even the lynchpin in maintaining traditional Hindu society, and not something specific to their family-based sheep production. pastoralist existence. An increasing number of young Raika women reject the husbands selected for them, and a frequent reason for Acknowledgments this is that they would prefer a life in the city. They use all the agency they have at hand to achieve a way of life in line with their I would like to express my gratitude towards Hanwant Singh for preferences; so far they seem to be rarely successful in revolting making this research possible and especially for providing insights against their parents' arrangements, but eventually the dams will into the functioning of the Raika caste panchayat. Jagdish Paliwal break. was helpful in interviewing patels and Mrs. Dailibai Raika, board However, we note that Raika pastoralist women, despite being member of LPPS, was invaluable in establishing contacts with Raika caught up in an extremely patriarchal system, neither request, nor women. I am very grateful to Ellen Geerlings and Aisha Rollefson for would benefit, from gender-focused interventions since they share the diligent execution of their research projects, leading to the the same concerns and worries as the men. For women who are theses that have been quoted. Fieldwork was supported by Miser- actively engaged in nomadic pastoralism the greatest concern is for eor and the Ford Foundation, while a short term study was un- the overall security of their families while on migration. In princi- dertaken under the aegis of the International Institute of ple, many of them prefer the nomadic way of life to settlement in Environment and Development (IIED). I am also appreciative of the the villages because of the relatively lower workloads while on efforts of the two editors of this special issue to help me shape this migration. Their hardships derive from the overall pressures that paper into an appropriate form. the pastoralist way of life is under, due to lack of recognition and support by policy makers. For the Raika. policies such as securing of References migratory routes, support en route by police and district administrators, and official recognition of the value of pastoralism would be Agrawal, A., 1993. Mobility and cooperation among nomadic shepherds: the case of I. Kohler-Rollefson€ / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 30e39 39

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Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

Warlpiri experiences highlight challenges and opportunities for gender T equity in Indigenous conservation management in arid Australia

∗ Jocelyn Daviesa,b, Jane Walkera,c,1, Yiheyis Taddele Marub, a The Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University, Grevillea Drive, Alice Springs, NT 0870, Australia b CSIRO Land and Water, PO Box 2111, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia c Central Land Council, Lajamanu, Via Katherine, NT 0852, Australia

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Gender equity has been recognized as a guiding principle for conservation management globally. Yet little Community-based conservation attention is paid to gender in the design and implementation of many conservation programs including those in Indigenous ecological knowledge the vibrant and expanding arena of Australian Indigenous conservation partnerships. We examined the impact of Indigenous protected area gender in management of the Northern Tanami Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) in arid central Australia through Remote Australia qualitative research (interviews and participant observation) with senior Warlpiri women and men and members of the all-male Wulaign community-based ranger group. Senior men and women had many similar perspectives including that customary knowledge, skills and activities were important in managing country and were occurring less through the IPA's management partnerships than they would like. Additional challenges reported by women included lack of vehicles to access country. Senior men specifically called for greater gender equity in allocation of resources including establishment of a women's ranger group. These perspectives indicate that gender equity is a Warlpiri cultural norm for management of country. Differences between Indigenous women's and men's management of country elsewhere in arid Australia suggest that opportunities also exist for gender equity to enhance conservation outcomes. Prevalent belief systems in Australia, and many other developed countries, are gender blind in that they fail to recognize differences between men's and women's needs, interests, knowledges, behaviors and power. Monitoring of Australian Indigenous conservation programs shows that an increasing proportion of Indigenous community-based rangers are women. However factors that might explain and support this trend cannot be readily identified because little or no attention to gender is apparent in program design and project planning. Gender-aware design of conservation management policies, programs and projects is important for challenging and changing gender blindness. Brokers and bridging institutions, or ‘two-way’ approaches, have been important in progressing cross-cultural equity in the implementation of Australian Indigenous conservation partnerships and can be expected to be also valuable for promoting gender equity.

1. Introduction communities derive from protected areas (West et al., 2006).

Indigenous and other local peoples have shown themselves to be 1.1. Institutional inertia perpetuates gender inequities willing and capable of applying and adapting their knowledge and customary institutions to govern and manage protected areas, often in The term ‘gender’ refers to the way that prevailing social and cul- collaboration with other actors (Berkes, 2009). Win-win outcomes for tural norms lead men and women to assume different roles, responsi- both conservation and community development are widely sought, al- bilities and behaviors and to experience different opportunities, chal- though acknowledged as being difficult to establish in practice lenges and outcomes (Sarkar, 2006). Gender is a prime structural (McShane et al., 2011; Naughton-Treves et al., 2005). Communities are determinant of poverty and inequity globally (World Bank, 2016). It not, however, homogenous entities (Agrawal and Gibson, 1999). impacts on distribution of resources, responsibilities and opportunities Gender is a key factor in the distribution of the costs and benefits that within households and societies (Moser, 1993; Sarkar, 2006). Gender

∗ Corresponding author. CSIRO Land and Water, PO Box 2111, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J. Davies), [email protected] (J. Walker), [email protected] (Y.T. Maru). 1 Current address: Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority, 79 French Street, Hamilton, Vic 3300, Australia. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.10.002 Received 8 April 2016; Received in revised form 30 September 2017; Accepted 8 October 2017 Available online 15 November 2017 0140-1963/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. J. Davies et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 40–52 inequality constrains women's agency and women's capability, that is, et al., 1999; Ens et al., 2012a; Muller, 2003; Nursey-Bray, 2009; Sithole women's freedom to make choices that enable them to live lives they et al., 2008; Urbis Pty Ltd, 2012; Vaarzon-Morel and Gabrys, 2009; Wirf have reason to value (Nussbaum, 2000; Sen, 1999). The different needs, et al., 2008; Young et al., 1991), research that has described, analyzed, interests, knowledge, behavior and power of women and men must be or assessed outcomes in this distinct and vibrant arena (e.g. Altman and understood and addressed if women and men are to achieve equal Kerins, 2012; Burgess et al., 2009; Davies et al., 2011; Ens et al., 2015; outcomes (IUCN, 2007). Thus, gender equity requires that women and Gilligan, 2006; Gorman and Vemuri, 2012; Hill et al., 2013; Hunt, men are equally valued and are treated equitably according to their 2012; Jackson, 2006; Mackie and Meacheam, 2016; Ross et al., 2009; needs (Sarkar, 2006). The gender mainstreaming approach, which be- Smyth, 2011) has not identified commonalities or differences between came prominent in international development from the late 1990s, women's and men's approaches and experiences nor considered their stresses that both men and women share responsibility for redressing implications. This gender blindness contrasts markedly with the at- inequities between the sexes. It was a response to critique that gender tention that Indigenous women have attracted as subjects of Australian equity could not be achieved without men, as well as women, taking anthropological research. responsibility for the necessary social and institutional changes (Alston, 2009; Debusscher, 2012; Smyth, 2007). Institutions include norms or 1.3. Women's roles in Australian Indigenous societies and management of ways of doing things that reflect social and cultural expectations as well country as formal mechanisms such as legislation and policy. They determine the opportunities and outcomes that people experience in their lives Diverse interpretations of women's role in Australian Indigenous and their frustrations and limitations (Ostrom, 2005). Decision makers' societies, published from the 1970s, countered the assumption implicit resistance to institutional change is a key reason why gender main- in most earlier scholarship that women's perspectives could add little to streaming approaches have commonly failed to achieve impact the knowledge gained from men about Indigenous social life (de (Allwood, 2013; Smyth, 2007; Verma, 2014). Lepervanche, 1993; Gale, 1970; Merlan, 1988). These analyses have in turn attracted critique including that portrayals of Aboriginal women 1.2. Gender blindness prevails in conservation programs have been constructed to fit researchers' preconceived representations (Sabbioni, 1996; Wirf et al., 2008) and that researchers have focused on ‘Gender blindness’ is a term used to characterize policy and plan- reconstructing an idealised past rather than on understanding con- ning that does not take account of differences in men's and women's temporary gender relations (Merlan, 1988). A growing body of In- perspectives, priorities, decisions and actions (Alston, 2009; Mavin digenous women's published life stories and teachings (e.g. Ellis and et al., 2004). Although the global peak body for conservation, The Dousset, 2016; Turner et al., 2010; Wallace and Lovell, 2009)offer World Conservation Union or IUCN, began to pay attention to gender counterpoints to these critiques. They testify to the destructive social equity in the 1980s and now recognizes gender equity as part and impacts of colonisation and racism and also to Indigenous women's parcel of efficient and fair governance and management (IUCN, 2007), resilience, leadership and achievement in family, community and gender blindness remains prevalent in conservation programs globally. broader domains. Australian Indigenous women, often in cross-cultural Analyses of the impact of gender on governance and management of collaborations, have also contributed strongly to gaining recognition of protected areas, and on community based conservation and natural the key role of Indigenous ecological knowledge in conservation (e.g. resource management more broadly, are relatively scant (Agarwal, Baker et al., 1992; Daniels et al., 2012; Ens et al., 2012c; Marika et al., 2009; Egunyu and Reed, 2015; Leach, 2007; Westermann et al., 2005). 2009; Paltridge et al., 2005; Walsh and Douglas, 2011; Walsh et al., National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) from 174 2013). countries show low awareness of, and attention to, gender (Clabots and In arid Australia, as is common in Indigenous societies globally Gilligan, 2017). Systematic study of the relationships between gender (Pfeiffer and Butz, 2005), women and men tend to harvest different and sustainability has also been lacking (Meinzen-Dick et al., 2014). natural resources (e.g. Bryce, 1992; Devitt, 1988) and have separate Guidance documents produced for protected area managers by IUCN rituals as well as rituals they participate in together (e.g. Hamilton, and its associates (e.g. Borrini-Feyerabend et al., 2013; Borrini- 1981; Keen, 2004; Payne, 1989). The tendency of Australian Indigenous Feyerabend et al., 2004; Gross et al., 2016; Hockings et al., 2006; women to undertake activities in gender-segregated groups has been Worboys et al., 2015) pay little or no attention to gender, nor much described as ‘extreme’ in desert regions (Payne, 1989). However there is specific attention to women, beyond recognizing that gender equity is substantial diversity across the continent, including within desert re- an important principle or aspirational goal. gions, in such social practices and in other aspects of gender roles (e.g. In Australia, as in many other developed countries, a belief that see Hamilton, 1981). In contemporary Australian Indigenous and cross- male dominance is normal in conservation and natural resource man- cultural conservation management, separation of men and women is agement continues to be prevalent (Allwood, 2013; Alston, 2009; common, though not universal, in work teams, planning consultations, Egunyu and Reed, 2015; Howitt and Suchet-Pearson, 2006; Stratford networking and conferences (see Daniels et al., 2012; Ens et al., 2012a; and Davidson, 2002). Gender had little overt attention and impact in Preuss and Dixon, 2012; Sithole et al., 2008). Across a broad range of the evolution of government-community partnerships and collabora- contemporary settings, Australian Indigenous women and men have tions in Australian natural resource management (Stratford and different contexts and styles of leadership (Hunt et al., 2008). Davidson, 2002). A change was heralded in the late 1990s when the Social norms that underpin Indigenous gender differences derive rhetoric of gender mainstreaming was adopted in Australian agri- ultimately from ontologies that are glossed by the English term cultural policy (Alston, 2009). However entrenched male-centric norms ‘Dreamtime’ or ‘The Dreaming’ (Stanner, 2009) and have been por- meant that policy makers took no steps to understand women's role in trayed amongst Warlpiri people as the interconnected elements of agricultural production and in the economic and social fabric of rural ngurra-kurlu: family, law, land, language and ceremony (Holmes and areas, which led to catastrophic failure of measures that governments Jampijinpa, 2013; Patrick, 2015). Places, songs, stories and relation- had designed as a fi nancial safety net for drought-affected farmers ships have their cosmological genesis in the activities of male and fe- (Alston, 2009). male ancestral beings who continue to exercise agency in the con- The prevalent gender blindness of conservation programs extends to temporary landscape (Stanner, 2009). As a result, Australia's cultural contemporary Australian Indigenous conservation management, or landscapes are “complexly gendered” (Howitt and Suchet-Pearson, management of ‘country’, being the land and/or sea for which 2006: p.48). Australian Indigenous peoples tend to see gender domains Indigenous people have customary responsibilities and from which they as part of the natural social order; they do not express a generalised draw spiritual strength (Arthur, 1996). With few exceptions (Davies concept of ‘personhood’ in which gender is unspecified (Merlan, 1988).

41 J. Davies et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 40–52

Fig. 1. Location of Lajamanu and the Northern Tanami Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), Northern Territory, Australia.

Even where individuals of one gender actually know about matters It illustrates the application of Indigenous women's knowledge and within the other gender's domain, social conventions maintain the skills to conservation of an arid region, and highlights opportunities for distinctions (Merlan, 1988; Payne, 1989). institutional change to promote gender equity in Indigenous con- Two examples from arid Australia indicate that Indigenous women's servation partnerships. knowledge and skills can be particularly important for conservation fi outcomes. The rst is from Anmatyerr country, c.200 km north of the 2. Warlpiri lands and livelihoods central Australian town of Alice Springs (Fig. 1), where women's responsibilities and actions are indicated to be particularly important for Warlpiri ownership of large areas of their customary estate, in the management at landscape ecology scale (Wirf et al., 2008). The per- Tanami Desert, was recognized by the Australian Government through spective of both Anmatyerr men and women engaged in research on the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act [Commonwealth of cultural values of water was that men's prime focus is on spiritual law Australia], 1976. The Tanami Desert encompasses over 250,000 km2 in and sacred/secret sites whereas women are responsible for protecting the north-western part of central Australia (Fig. 1). Its climate is semi- the whole country including places that are ecologically and culturally arid with monsoonal influences. The landscape is dominated by hum- important even though they are not sacred/secret (Wirf et al., 2008). mock grassland on sandplains. Other habitats include sand dunes, rocky The second example is from Martu country, c.1000 km west of Alice outcrops, woodlands along watercourses, and paleo-drainage systems Springs, where women's hunting and burning has been shown to be with sub-artesian water (Gibson, 1986). The region has had limited particularly important for ecological outcomes. Martu women typically impact from livestock grazing and intensive development. It is re- burn country while they are tracking and digging for goannas and other cognized as having very high conservation value due to its species di- small game (Bird et al., 2004). Repeated episodes of Martu women's versity, habitat range, ecological condition and as a legacy of long-term fi fi hunting and burning have generated landscapes with signi cantly ner- Warlpiri management based on customary rights and responsibilities scale habitat diversity that support higher population densities of the (NTG. NRETA, 2005). women's target prey than occur in landscapes where lightning has been Warlpiri and other desert peoples customarily travelled widely to the main ignition source (Bliege Bird et al., 2008). Martu men's hunting maintain kin relationships, ritual obligations and to source food ff strategies are di erent and do not have this positive impact on habitat (Meggitt, 1962). Access to vast areas, facilitated by extensive kinship (Bird et al., 2004; Bird and Bird, 2008). networks, was essential given the region's low and variable rainfall We explore the impact of gender on management of the Northern (Peterson et al., 1978). Land use and management involved spiritual Tanami Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), which is located in arid practices, subsistence harvesting and associated burning that generated central Australia, through the perspectives of Warlpiri women and men. habitat mosaics. These practices maintained productivity and also de- This case study shows the importance of recognizing and understanding veloped ecological knowledge and associated skills (Myers, 1991). ff gender-related di erences in approaches to conservation management. Disruption to Warlpiri management from the late 19th century

42 J. Davies et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 40–52 threatened biodiversity due to increased prevalence of very large and Committee (hereafter termed ‘senior men’ and ‘senior women’), and uncontrollable fires (Edwards et al., 2008). Other contemporary threats members of the Wulaign Ranger group. Interviews were conducted in include erosion and spread of weeds along watercourses by feral her- mid-2007 with 11 senior women, 10 senior men and 8 male Rangers. As bivores (CLC, 2015). is important for rigor (Bradshaw and Stratford, 2005), participants had The Northern Tanami IPA, established in 2007, covers 40,000 km2 been identified by elders and community members over the course of of Indigenous-owned land. In establishing the IPA, landowners entered the field research as the ‘right people’ to speak for and about country, into a partnership with the Australian Government and the Central meaning they were recognized as people with ownership and/or man- Land Council (CLC), a regional-scale statutory organization constituted agement responsibility through Indigenous customary law (CLC, 2015; to represent Indigenous people's land rights and interests. A key part- Walsh and Mitchell, 2002). Questions covered interviewees' personal nership goal for these agencies was improved biodiversity conservation background and involvement in the IPA; management objectives for the through the integration of Indigenous knowledge and skills into man- IPA; concerns for country; current and future interests in IPA management practice. The Australian Government's IPA Program was seen agement; and interviewee's views on the interests and involvement of by Warlpiri people as a strategic, long-term opportunity to secure on- IPA partner organizations. Participants were interviewed by the field going support and recognition for Warlpiri management of country researcher, one of this paper's authors (JW), in gender-specific small (CLC, 2015). Declaration of the IPA was preceded by a decade-long groups, in accordance with interviewees' wishes and prevalent cultural process led by CLC with landowners' participation. This involved es- protocols (Carter, 2008; Walsh and Mitchell, 2002). One male and two tablishing a peak governing body, the Northern Tanami IPA Manage- female members of the Lajamanu community who were skilled in both ment Committee; developing a strategic plan and a management plan; English and Warlpiri were employed during interviews to help guide, undertaking a feasibility study; appointing an IPA coordinator; setting interpret and translate questions, discussions and responses. This en- up a work-base for IPA management at Lajamanu; and initiating the abled participants to speak either Warlpiri or English. Interviews were Wulaign community-based ranger group (Walker, 2011). As for other audio-recorded and the field researcher made written notes. Two IPAs in Australia (Davies et al., 2013), management costs such as ran- Warlpiri women with good literacy were employed to transcribe the gers' salaries and vehicles, were largely funded by Australian Govern- recordings and translate Warlpiri language to English. ment programs during this planning phase and subsequently. Participant observation was also used extensively in the research. By The IPA Management Committee comprises senior men and women promoting researchers' engagement in day to day community life, this with cultural responsibility to manage the IPA. They are the right method is valuable for building cross-cultural understanding (Howitt people to ‘speak for’ particular estates within the IPA (CLC, 2015; see and Stevens, 2005; Walsh and Mitchell, 2002). Respect for Warlpiri Section 3). At the time of the research, just under half of the Manage- cultural protocols meant that the field researcher, being female, spent ment Committee's 32 members were women. A quorum for decision- most participant observation time with senior women. This included making required more than half the members to be present including at ∼150 days of ‘country visits’ in which the field researcher and senior least six women. The Wulaign Rangers, comprising 10 to 12 young to women travelled by vehicle away from the Lajamanu community, for middle aged people employed by CLC to implement the IPA Manage- periods ranging from a few hours to several days, to places on sur- ment Committee's decisions, were all men. rounding lands where the senior women wanted to go. Most members of the IPA Management Committee, and the Wulaign Country visits have been recognized as important for building re- rangers, lived in Lajamanu which is one of four settlements on the lationships and rapport between Indigenous people and non-Indigenous margins of the Tanami desert that were established by governments people involved in management of Indigenous owned lands (Walsh and from the mid-20th century as living areas for those Warlpiri people who Mitchell, 2002; Wohling, 2001). Country visits enabled the field re- were not then working in gold mines and stock camps (Meggitt, 1962). searcher to directly experience social and cultural processes that were With a population of 650 people (ABS, 2012) Lajamanu is pre- fundamental to the senior women's worldview and the knowledge and dominately a Warlpiri settlement but is located ∼20 km north of practices that senior women used to manage country. Improved access Warlpiri people's customary lands, at the northern edge of the Tanami to country was a tangible reciprocal benefit for the women, since most Desert. The nearest town, Katherine (population 6000), is 550 km could not drive and did not own a vehicle. All the places visited were on northeast (Fig. 1). roads and tracks within 60 km of Lajamanu. The senior women directed Lajamanu has a reputation, among both its Warlpiri residents and the location of country visits and who would be involved. On average, outsiders, as a ‘strong’ community (Chapman et al., 2014). Employed eight women were involved in each country visit, travelling with the Lajamanu residents, who comprise 30% of adult females (over 15 years) field researcher in her vehicle. The field researcher made records of and 38% of adult males (ABS, 2012), work mainly for local Aboriginal observations and interactions in field diaries, photographs, video and or government organizations, in community services and land man- voice recordings. agement. Other income sources are social security benefits, art sales Theme analysis (Creswell, 2003) was used to deepen understanding and payments made to landowners as a consequence of their agreement of the research data. Like and disparate concepts raised in interview to mining on their lands. Median weekly income of families is 60% that transcripts and other records were identified and grouped into themes of Australia as a whole (ABS, 2012). Similar to many other Indigenous and sub-themes. This paper focuses on one of three themes: Warlpiri populations (Daniel et al., 2010), Lajamanu residents experience high people as land managers. Associated sub-themes were Warlpiri people's levels of morbidity, social dysfunction, male incarceration and depen- values; challenges that limit management of country; multi-purpose use dence on government-funding. They often express their powerlessness and practice in managing country; and the role of traditional knowl- and vulnerability (Chapman et al., 2014). Nevertheless they have been edge and learning. We draw from this material, including through making consistent and innovative efforts to engage meaningfully with quotes from interviewees, to illustrate the perspectives, concerns and broader society and maintain pride in their identity and culture strategies of women and men and identify commonalities and differ- (Chapman et al., 2014). ences. To facilitate analysis we categorized the various activities that in- 3. Case study methods terviewees said they use to manage country into cultural or natural resource management or ancillary activities (Table 1). ‘Cultural man- This paper derives from qualitative research undertaken between agement’ was a term commonly used in cross-cultural communication 2005 and 2007 as part of assessing the management effectiveness of the about IPA management. Activities in this category were directed and Northern Tanami IPA (Walker, 2011). Research participants included controlled by Warlpiri people. They derived directly from Warlpiri male and female members of the Northern Tanami IPA Management traditions and/or relied on Warlpiri knowledge and customary skills,

43 J. Davies et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 40–52

2 Table 1 “Our country is family because our spirits go back there.” Comparison of activities that are integral to management of country mentioned by Warlpiri senior women, senior men and Wulaign rangers during interviews, where * Inter-connections between the health of country and the presence of means activity was mentioned by one or more interviewees. people on country were explicitly recognized by senior people. Strikingly, given the aridity of the region, it was lack of people that Activities mentioned during Senior Senior men Wulaign made country unproductive rather than lack of rain: interviews grouped in categories women rangers “Without people it's a dry country, it gets sick and boring. Oh with Cultural management Collect, hunt and manage bush foods *** people it is normal life. It is kuntukuntu [good condition, growing and medicines fresh after fire] again. The country is not dead. That country is alive Intergenerational knowledge transfer * * * in spirit … because it is not just land, it is alive.”2 Visit and look around country * * * Burn country * * * Warlpiri people's knowledge and practices were seen as integral to Maintain law and ceremony * * * the productivity of country: Soakage and waterhole management * * * Gender responsibilities * * “We would burn every year for two reasons … to make [country] Family responsibilities * * green and find food …”.3 Learning on country * * * Take elders on country * * Continuity of responsibility to look after country was inherent to Visit and manage sacred sites * * * senior men and women's identities: Collect firewood * Make artefacts * * * “My grandfather looks after that place. We didn't see him, he passed Combined cultural and natural resource management away, but we are looking after his place today, my grandfather's Cross-cultural knowledge transfer * * country.”4 Track animals * Biological surveys * Senior people saw the future of their country as uncertain if youth Fire management * grew up without good knowledge of their country: Natural resource management Weed control * “… we don't know what will happen, no-one [will look after Feral animal control * ”5 Social development country], that's why we do it [look after country]. Teach at school/school country visits * Senior people often raised concerns about the lack of identity, pride Enterprise development fi “… Commercial seed harvest * and self-con dence among Warlpiri youth, a need to get back the 6 Painting country * young people” : Tourism management * “… Infrastructure services and access we teach kids their grandmother and grandfather's country, so 7 Visit and manage outstations * * * they won't forget it, so they keep culture alive”. Like their elders, the younger men in the Wulaign Ranger group even though they may be undertaken with new technologies, notably indicated that their identity was tied to ownership of country passed vehicles (Walker, 2011). The natural resource management category down to them from their forebears. The Northern Tanami IPA was seen comprised two activities, weeds and feral animal control. Both are by senior people of both genders as a valuable long-term initiative to central concerns for scientifically based approaches to conservation and support Warlpiri people to manage country: in government policy and programs (Australian Government, 2013) but “We want it in our country … we want country looked after.”8 are not part of Warlpiri traditions. We categorized activities that bridge between Warlpiri traditions and science-based knowledge as ‘combined Senior people saw opportunities from the IPA: ’ ‘fi cultural and natural resource management . These include re man- “country visits is one yuwayi [yes] … old people explaining country, ’ agement which refers to burning by Wulaign rangers that made ex- song lines and dance for that country.”9 tensive use of non-Indigenous technologies (drip torches, aerial in- cendiaries, mapping, fuel moisture analysis) with elders involved in Other opportunities came through having a group of strong, young — — “ ”10 guiding where burning should take place. We distinguish this from men the Wulaign Rangers to help look after the old lands : ‘ ’ burning country which did not use these technologies and which we “jobs for young people yuwayi … rangers look after that place, look categorized as a cultural management activity. after country for us”.11 We present women's perspectives in greater depth than men's as a result of our methodology. Our emphasis also recognizes that understanding “women's voices, lived experiences and agency” (Verma, 4.2. Cultural management by both men and women is essential 2014: p. 191) is important for illuminating pathways to greater gender equity. To indicate the impact of the research, we also describe in- Both women and men placed great importance on using customary stitutional changes initiated by the field researcher subsequent to the management practices to maintain the health of country and culture. research, while she was employed by CLC as the Northern Tanami IPA This is indicated by Table 1 which shows that more than half the Coordinator (2007–2010).

2 4. Warlpiri management of country Billy Jampijinpa Bunter (IPA Management Committee), interview 4 May 2007. 3 Joe Japanangka James (IPA Management Committee), interview 8 May 2007. 4 Lilly Nungarrayi Hargraves (IPA Management Committee), interview 23 April 2007. – 4.1. Warlpiri people and country a mutually sustaining relationship 5 Gladys Napangardi Tasman (IPA Management Committee), interview 24 April 2007. 6 Jerry Jangala Patrick (IPA Management Committee), interview 23 July 2007. Senior Warlpiri people, both men and women, did not see them- 7 Judy Napaljarri Walker (IPA Management Committee), interview 26 April 2007. selves as separate from the landscape. They spoke of interacting with 8 Unknown senior woman (IPA Management Committee), interview 24 April 2007. 9 country in very intimate ways, often talking about landscape features Steve Jampijinpa Patrick (IPA Management Committee), interview 23 July 2007. 10 Biddy Napangardi Raymond (IPA Management Committee) interview 26 April 2007. and objects as family members: 11 Margaret Nungarrayi Martin (IPA Management Committee), interview 23 April 2007.

44 J. Davies et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 40–52 activities that interviewees identified as being integral to management Table 2 of country were categorized as ‘cultural management’. Activities in this Issues identified by Warlpiri senior women, senior men and Wulaign rangers during in- category were also those that interviewees mentioned most frequently. terviews as limiting or challenging their management of country, where * means activity was mentioned by one or more interviewees. Senior women and senior men spoke of the same cultural management activities except that women and not men spoke of firewood collection. Issues identified during interviews Senior Senior men Wulaign Both men and women spoke of the need for people of both sexes to be grouped in categories women rangers involved in managing country because of distinct gender responsi- Personal and family bilities (Table 1). Concerns for personal safety when on * Both senior women and senior men, and also the younger men in the country – age, health Wulaign Ranger group, spoke of visiting and managing outstations, Little family support * * which consist of one or two houses and a water bore and were estab- Poor health * * Other commitments e.g. community ** lished in the 1980s and 1990s to help Warlpiri families live away from meetings Lajamanu at seven locations on their traditional lands. These out- Reliance on other people for * stations were seen by interviewees as important because they facilitated accessing country access to country. Only the Wulaign Rangers spoke about fire man- Warlpiri youth agement, feral animal or weed management, all of which were promi- Lack of ability and desire of youth to * be on country nent in their day to day work program. Don't like bush foods * Senior women spoke of a larger number of activities than senior Don't want to learn * men. However this could reflect their closer relationship with the field Have other interests * * * researcher. At the time of interview, senior women had spent more than Need more knowledge to manage * * * a year sharing their knowledge with the [non-Indigenous] field re- Cultural responsibility Many young people have not been * searcher during country visits. This undoubtedly would have led the through ceremony women to identify ‘cross-cultural knowledge transfer’ as important Need to fulfil gender responsibilities * (Table 1). Wulaign Ranger interviewees, who also mentioned this ac- Want to teach management through ** tivity, had been sensitized to its importance by routine work with non- traditional ways ff Not enough cultural management * * Warlpiri IPA sta . Other activities mentioned only by senior wo- Old and young people are not on *** men—teaching during school country visits, tracking animals and country together commercial seed harvest—were undertaken by the senior women with Infrastructure, resources and access the field researcher. People are not on country enough in *** general Need better maintenance of ** 4.3. Social change presented challenges for managing country outstations Limited access to vehicles and ** resources Challenges for managing country that were identified by senior People's country is often far away * women, men and the Wulaign rangers during interviews are sum- Road access is difficult * marised in Table 2. A significant challenge identified by all three groups Ecology and climate fi was the overall lack of people on country. This referred not only to the Too many hot res * Rain and flooding stops access to * sparse population of the region, but also to the advancing age of the country very few remaining Warlpiri people who were born before Lajamanu Cross-cultural management was established: Non-Indigenous people's attitudes to * hunting “… there's only four old men left here, and [amongst the women, Non-Indigenous people need to * only] two Napurrula and Napangardi and Napaljarri (which are better understand Warlpiri law three of the eight female Warlpiri classificatory kin groups). That's all that teaches young people”.11 on country, learn about country and eat bushfoods (Table 2): Senior men, women and the Wulaign Rangers all identified that “… we like to take young women [on country] but they don't like to having old and young people on country together was a challenge come with us”11 (Table 2): Both senior women and men identified challenges from their own “In the old days people used to hunt and know every spot … young poor health, social obligations, and the lack of maintenance of out- people have to go out and do things with the elders to learn this”.12 station infrastructure. Time and energy were also challenges for both Both senior men and women valued their own experiential mode of senior men and women because, due to their cultural standing and learning on country and wanted to teach their grandchildren the same authority, they were involved in decision-making for many community traditional way but recognized they were not on country enough to- organizations and issues. gether to do this: Both senior men and women indicated that their families did not give them practical support to manage country. Women elaborated, “grow up manurlu jana bushngka kurdukurdu … we grew our kids up identifying inter-related constraints that included limited access to vein the bush … you can't see that anymore, different now”.13 hicles, reliance on other people to drive them to country, long distances All three groups of interviewees saw Warlpiri youth's lack of to the places they wanted to visit, poor road access and concerns for knowledge of country as a key challenge (Table 2) that was com- their personal safety when travelling due to their age and health pounded by young people having other interests such as marriage, (Table 2). Historically, managing country was an integral part of life. sport, friends, jobs and looking after children. Senior women also ex- Senior women spoke of how they would “walk from soakage to soakage, pressed concern that young women lacked the ability and desire to be when little girl with mother”.14 They indicated there are “certain places

12 Leslie Jampijinpa Robertson (IPA Management Committee), interview 4 May 2007. 14 Unspeciﬁed senior woman (IPA Management Committee), interview notes 24 April 13 Liddy Napangardi Miller (IPA Management Committee), interview 24 May 2007. 2007.

45 J. Davies et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 40–52 we can't reach by car, where all the waterholes are”.14 The prospect of to carry out, to manage country. One senior women identified the long walks compounded concerns about their own health. Their limited possibility of getting jobs for women as rangers: access to vehicles added to the challenges they faced in teaching and “… some women think that rangers is only for men … [but] in other passing on traditional knowledge and skills, as this dialogue indicates: communities' men and women [are] working as rangers”.11 “… like to take kids our bush … teach them dancing and singing and The senior women observed the contrast between their own cir- teach them country … nobody ever goes there [to Pinja, an out- cumstances and those of the male Wulaign Rangers who had regular station] … we got no vehicle …”.15 paid employment and who regularly travelled on country in IPA ve- Senior men were not as challenged by lack of access to vehicles hicles. because a much higher proportion of senior men than women can drive “… it's different, we don't have car … Jupurrula [the IPA and own cars or have male relatives who own cars that they can ne- Coordinator] got vehicle to take those young men out”.20 gotiate to use. Also, as shown below, men had better access to IPA management vehicles. Warlpiri gender protocols meant that the IPA coordinator, who had Both senior women and men indicated that ‘cultural management’ always been male, engaged more extensively with the senior men than (comprising activities categorized as such in Table 1) was not occurring with the senior women and facilitated men's access to country more to the extent they would like in the IPA (Table 2). They considered readily than women's. As a result, the young men who comprised the ceremony to be a main avenue for young men and women to learn Wulaign Ranger group had opportunities to learn from senior men on about and discharge the responsibilities for managing country that they country as part of their work role: have as Warlpiri people. It was portrayed as central to Warlpiri cus- “… we sit with the old men and [they] tell us old time story”.21 tomary law and to the integrity of country and culture. Ceremony, which many Indigenous people in Australia call ‘busi- The senior women lacked awareness of their structural power ness’ (Arthur, 1996), was a sensitive topic that was not discussed within the IPA Management Committee. They considered that they openly. It includes male initiation, the start of the journey of boys to were involved in the Committee because of their customary right to manhood (Meggitt, 1962), which involves both men and women in speak for and about country. However, they did not appreciate the roles defined by gender, kinship and knowledge (Bell, 1983). Senior Committee's role as peak governance body for the IPA. The senior women indicated that the importance of ceremony in men's develop- women gave no indication that, as members of the Committee, they ment made it relatively easy for the senior men to command younger were participating in making decisions about the overall management men's attention and cooperation, compared to the challenges they faced of the IPA and the work program of the Wulaign Rangers. They did not in engaging with younger women: perceive that they had an equal claim to men for resources to support their management of country. Rather than perceiving that the “… men teach young fellas, they all right, they do business [cere- Committee was the ‘boss’ of the Wulaign Rangers, they considered the mony]”.16 Australian Government, who funded the rangers' wages and vehicles, to Conversely senior men said that lack of participation by young men have that role. in ceremony was a challenge for their management of country The senior men had a different perception. They talked in interviews (Table 2). Their concern was that the multiple stages of learning that about the processes required for effective planning and decision are required were not always being followed: making, in particular the need to ensure that the members of the IPA Management Committee were people with customary rights and re- “One problem is that they are young boys … many things they need sponsibilities and sound knowledge. They talked of the importance of to know, but they have to learn one step first, then do the next the IPA Coordinator and the IPA Management Committee learning from step”.2 each other given that their spheres of knowledge and experience were Senior men also specifically identified non-Indigenous people's different. Senior men also identified the critical need for women as well limited understanding of Warlpiri customary law as a challenge for IPA as men to be involved in IPA planning and decision-making. management (Table 2): Senior women, but not senior men, raised challenges for management of country associated with ecology and climate—the destructive “we are just doing our duty [managing country] by following the impact of wildfires and extreme weather events (Table 2). A cross- law [i.e. customary law] … they [non Indigenous partner agencies cultural challenge for IPA management raised only by the senior and staff] have to understand this … we don't want to lose our women had a similar focus, on non-Indigenous people's attitudes to country and culture … yuwayi [emphatic]”.17 hunting (Table 2). These challenges relate directly to the prime mechanisms through which senior women manage country: collecting 4.4. Cross-cultural gender inequities constrained management of country bush foods and medicines and burning country to promote its productivity, as described below. Only senior men specifically identified the need to fulfil gender responsibilities as a challenge for IPA management (Table 2). They 5. Warlpiri women manage county by hunting with fire explained this challenge by saying “we have responsibilities on both sides … men and women”18 and called for the establishment of a wo- Senior women commonly referred to collecting bush foods and men's ranger group and improved support for women through the IPA medicines as ‘hunting’, even when no animal foods were collected. partnership. Hunting was the activity they undertook most frequently on country Senior women often referred to themselves as the “women's ranger visits and commanded most time. However the senior women typically group”19 when discussing the activities that they carried out, or wanted undertook a range of activities at the same time that had a mix of economic, ecological, social and/or cultural outcomes. For example, on

15 Judy Napaljarri Walker, Biddy Napangardi Raymond and Biddy Nungarrayi Long (IPA Management Committee), interview 26 May 2007. 19 Field notes 5 April 2006, 7 June 2006, 19 July 2006, 28 November 2006, 26 July 16 Unspeciﬁed senior woman, Field notes 26 July 2007. 2007, 28 July 2007. 17 Ronnie Jakamarra Lawson and Billy Jampijinpa Bunter (IPA Management 20 Margaret Nungarrayi Martin and Myra Nungarrayi Herbert (IPA Management Committee), interview 4 May 2007. Committee), interview 23 April 2007. 18 Ronnie Jakamarra Lawson (IPA Management Committee), interview 4 May 2007. 21 Shaun Jakamarra Simon (Wulaign Ranger), interview 7 May 2007.

46 J. Davies et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 40–52 a one-day hunting trip the women burnt country, collected ‘bush co- Lajamanu. After resting over lunch they would hunt again, for up to conuts’ (an edible insect gall found on the desert bloodwood tree, three hours, returning to Lajamanu or to an overnight camp by sun- Corymbia opaca), sang jukurrpa (i.e. ‘Dreaming’ song-cycles about an- down. They took some of the resources they collected back to Lajamanu cestral beings' actions on country), drew representations of totemic for further preparation, including Acacia spp. seeds gathered for sale to geographies in the sand with sticks and fingers, and collected and the commercial bushfoods market, wood for artefact-making and talked about juju-minyi-minyi (Pterocaulon sphacelatum) a common bush medicinal plants. medicine. They talked about feral horses, donkeys and past country While hunting the women would walk close enough to talk to each visits to hunt echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) and goanna (Varanus other about what they were seeing and which direction to go. panoptes).22 As this suggests, women's resource use and their manage- Monitoring and assessing country in this way was a vital practice for the ment practices were multi-dimensional, holistic and responsive to their women, increasing their knowledge and familiarity with country. They observations and experiences on the day. would share that knowledge later with family and use it to plan future The activities the senior women undertook during country visits trips. Similarly when driving to hunting locations, women's discussions were similar in nature and frequency to those they described during would be wide ranging, covering jukurrpa and customary ownership of interviews, with one exception: inter-generational knowledge transfer. particular areas of country, availability of plant and animal resources, Even though the senior women said in interviews that this was im- past visits to places, and information about country passed on from portant, they were rarely accompanied by younger women or children other family members: during country visits. As noted above, the senior women said they “We headed out about 10.30am. We drove west along the road to- found it hard to persuade young women to accompany them. They also wards 28 Mile. Myra talked about how she had been to 28 Mile enjoyed the opportunity that country visits provided to get away from before, getting wood for coolamons (a carrying vessel used by the pressures of extended family. However they were passionate about Aboriginal people), but no one really hunted in this area. Margaret recording material to use later in teaching: had been told by Jangala (her husband) that the area had been burnt “we can go there, see that place and sing songs … and take a tape and would be good to look around for goanna. Jangala used to work recorder … to record songs … so we can keep it … Waja waja as a stockman and travelled along this road all the time.”26 maninja kujaku [we might lose it] … keep it and learn young and The women commonly talked about how important it was to them new people … so it can't be forgotten”.23 to ‘visit and look around country’. Just being on country allowed them Successful hunting trips relied on the women's skills and their to reconnect with place, strengthen cultural identity and share knowl- knowledge of plant and animal characteristics, behaviours, populations edge. For example: and availability. Women would use seasonal and biological indicators “… Gladys and Alice started to sing the bush yam jukurrpa song, to assess the readiness of resources for collection: yarla-ngarrka, and said they had danced for this one earlier in the “Like yangka ngapa jangkarla mani karlipa jana yuparli pinki ngula- year … Later on that same day we passed a snake jukurrpa area jangka yangunungu pinkilki karlipa manirra. Yangununguju cold which again spurred discussions of kin ownership and jukurrpa weather time yinarlingi, rlangu sugarbag, rlangu yangka cold weather songs for that area of country”.27 time. Cold weather, rlu yangka ka mangarri yirrarni hot time, ji ngulaju The women sometimes visited women's sacred sites during country ngungkarli. Karlawurru kuwana underneath now cold weather time.” 24 visits, performed ceremony, cleaned and maintained these places. Translation: After rain [summer time] bush banana (Marsdenia Equally they would sometimes discuss events and life in Lajamanu fi australis) and yams (Ipomoea costata) grow. In winter there's always during country visits and collect rewood for use in their Lajamanu plenty of echidna and native bee honey. Goannas are underground homes. now because it's winter. The women always burnt when they hunted unless an area had been 5.1. Cultural knowledge and skills promoted sustainable livelihoods for very recently burnt. Sometimes they burnt additional country to hunt in Warlpiri women later. Locations that the women chose for country visits included those that they knew had been recently burnt by other Warlpiri people and The senior women applied their cultural knowledge and skills in areas where the women had previously hunted successfully. diverse settings and generated multifaceted outcomes, strengthening The women talked about burning as being directly linked to main- their livelihoods. Using natural resources provided the women with taining bush food and medicinal resources and/or collecting them: food and fuel. It also reinforced their cultural identity, enhanced their social capital, promoted their wellbeing and earned them income. The “ fi … … … … make re make more fresh you know yuwayi big goanna women's knowledge of country underpinned their art practice, with fi ‘ fi ” 25 bush potato, we nd em after re . bush foods and tjukurrpa stories being prevalent design elements in the Women's hunting is hard, physical work. The women would walk paintings that they made for sale. Because of their knowledge, skills and around country closely observing for up to three hours at a time, standing, Lajamanu school employed the senior women casually to ff burning country as they went, tracking animals in the recently burnt teach and to mentor and advise non-Aboriginal sta : ground and digging for goannas and other lizards. Burning gave the “[we] go to school too, come to school every day in the morning and women an immediate return: they could easily walk through recently teach the kids about country”.7 burnt country and rarely came back empty-handed. They prepared, cooked and consumed most of their harvest at a ‘dinner camp’, an area The senior women were also employed casually to track threatened of cleared ground that they had chosen as a desirable place for lunch fauna species as part of the IPA's biodiversity conservation program. and a place where women with ailments could rest during the day. The The role they assumed as cultural teachers enabled their own access to women saved portions of their harvest for family members back in country using the researcher's four wheel drive vehicle. Such relationships also helped the women sell seed that they had harvested since researchers transported the seed to buyers, who were located at some 22 Field notes 21 April 2007. 23 Judy Napaljarri Walker (IPA Management Committee), interview 26 May 2007. 24 Unspecified women (IPA Management Committee), interview 2 May 2007. 26 Field notes, 20 September 2006. 25 Biddy Nungarryai Long (IPA Management Committee), interview 26 April 2007. 27 Field notes 5 June 2006.

47 J. Davies et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 40–52 distance from Lajamanu, at the end of their field work periods. resources to support these activities. Nor were these activities apparent The senior women often spoke of the physical wellbeing they de- in IPA Program monitoring and reporting (Walker, 2011). The IPA rived from being active on country: management system was instead focused on efficient application of predominantly non-Indigenous knowledge to address threats to biodi- “Ngawu jarri kaji karnalu yantarli nyinanjarlaju … kala yangka ngurrju versity conservation. Differences in priorities between Warlpiri people wirlinkyiji. ”28 and their partners had raised significant tensions (Walker, 2011). The Translation: We might get sick if we just sit in one place … that is concern that senior men expressed about non-Indigenous people having why hunting is good. only a limited understanding of Warlpiri customary law (Section 4.3; Table 2) was suggestive of these tensions. They also associated physical wellbeing with eating bush foods. Subsequent to the research, the field researcher was appointed as When asked why the women hunted karlawurru (goanna) one woman Coordinator of the Northern Tanami IPA, the first woman to hold that responded: position. She initiated a number of institutional and practice changes to “Pakarninjarla ngarninjaku ngurrju.”.29 promote gender equity. These included employing a Warlpiri woman in a new position of community engagement officer to support senior Translation: To kill it and eat it. It's good, good meat. women's interests in IPA management; holding targeted workshops and Wellbeing also had broader dimensions for the women: it was an consultations with senior women to promote their understanding and outcome of being on country and of maintaining the continuity of their involvement in IPA management planning; resourcing women's country culture. The women's knowledge and skills enabled them and empow- visits from IPA Program resources; and paying senior women to burn ered them to be active in their country in ways that they considered country. Senior women were also paid from IPA Program resources for were appropriate: their work as mentors, cultural advisors and teachers to the Wulaign Rangers and to non-Indigenous community staff and their children. “… see cause it's part of my Dreaming … that's why we go out and These initiatives enabled senior women to take increased responsibility collect, get those seeds … many people say, like … custodians of for managing the Wulaign Rangers. The importance of them doing so those seeds … just like my grandmother, we're hitting the seeds just also, sadly, became more apparent with the death of some senior men. like they used to”.30 The strengthened role and greater visibility of the senior women in Conversely, not being on country had adverse implications for implementing the IPA Program seemed to influence younger women. wellbeing through heightened stress. When asked why country visits By 2010 one had joined the Wulaign Rangers and several others had were important, the women commonly expressed their concern about begun to ask about joining. not fulfilling their cultural responsibilities: 6. Discussion “Kala warringiyi kirlangu kirdana kurlanguku karnalurla worry jarrimi. Kirdana kurlanguku ngurraraku nganimpa nyanguku, our grandfather's 6.1. Increasing numbers of Indigenous women rangers side”.31 Translation: We are worried about our grandfather and father's land. The few pertinent analyses available indicate that the Northern Tanami IPA experience up to 2007, of marginalisation of women in implementation of programs that support contemporary Indigenous 5.2. Strengthening the role of Warlpiri women in IPA management conservation management, has not been unusual in Australia. Men had been more prominent than women in the community-based ranger At the time of the research, IPA Program resources were directed groups and land management organizations that Indigenous land- only to men's involvement in management. The strong relationship owners began to establish in the early 1990s (Davies et al., 1999; Hill senior Warlpiri women had built with the field researcher helped them et al., 2013). However demand from Indigenous women for equitable address some of the challenges they said they experienced in managing recognition of their perspectives and needs is long standing and has country: limited access to vehicles, long distances, and concerns for been growing (see Davies et al., 1999; Rose, 1995; Sithole et al., 2008; their own health and safety. When on country with the field researcher, Smyth, 2011; Young et al., 1991). Improving support for women was a the women controlled what they would do and how. Outcomes for the key issue for a community-based review undertaken in the mid-2000s women included respect within their community and heightened feel- in the northern tropical savannah region of the Northern Territory ings of well-being. However sustaining their engagement with country (Sithole et al., 2008), a cradle of the contemporary Australian In- was difficult after the completion of the research project when their digenous conservation management movement (Davies et al., 1999). lack of a vehicle to access country once again became a real constraint. That review identified seven women's ranger groups and 26 other In contrast to the senior women, the Wulaign Rangers were paid to ranger groups, three of which involved women as well as men (Sithole work on country and travelled for their work in vehicles provided et al., 2008). Similar to our case study, the review found that in- through IPA Program resources. However they had relatively little volvement of women in ranger groups was important to Indigenous control about where they went in the IPA and the activities they un- men as well as to women. However external resources were skewed dertook because the Rangers' work program and practices were planned towards men's involvement and women feared their own involvement in advance and were required to meet funding accountabilities to the was invisible to governments (Sithole et al., 2008). two non-Warlpiri IPA partner organizations. Most of the partner agency Increases in funding and other support from governments since staff who were directly involved with the IPA were non-Indigenous 2007 has markedly boosted employment opportunities for Australian conservation management professionals. They did consider that cul- Indigenous people in conservation (Hill et al., 2013; Mackie and tural management activities—those activities directed and controlled Meacheam, 2016). The proportion of women in community-based by Warlpiri (see Section 3)—were important to the IPA Program ranger positions has increased steadily such that women held a third of (Walker, 2011). However they only rarely applied IPA Program the nearly 2000 jobs in over 100 ranger groups that were funded nationally by the Australian Government in 2014/15 (CA DPMC, 2016). In the same year, women held nearly 30% of the 113 ranger jobs in the 28 Judy Napaljarri Walker (IPA Management Committee), interview 2 April 2007. 29 Lilly Nungarrayi Hargraves (IPA Management Committee), interview 2 May 2007. region of southern arid Northern Territory that includes the case study 30 Alice Napaljarri Kelly (IPA Management Committee), interview 8 May 2007. area (CLC, 2016). Outcomes for women that are specifically attributed 31 Gladys Napangardi Tasman (IPA Management Committee), interview 8 April 2007. to their participation were increased confidence, more active

48 J. Davies et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 40–52 participation in decision making, and increased respect from others Walsh and Douglas, 2011) may influence institutional change towards (SVA Consulting, 2014). Women rangers were noted as role models greater gender equity in Indigenous conservation partnerships by fa- because their work in a male-dominated sphere boosted the confidence cilitating Indigenous women's engagement. Recruitment by Australian of other women to work as rangers (Urbis Pty Ltd, 2012). Indigenous and cross-cultural conservation organizations sometimes targets women for professional positions because Indigenous gender 6.2. Links between gender blindness and cultural blindness norms mean that female staff can engage with female Indigenous community members more readily than male staff can. However no Although the gender balance in the Indigenous ranger work force robust analysis is available of the effectiveness of this or other strategies has been shifting in favour of women, a critical look at the program in promoting gender equity in Indigenous conservation partnerships. evaluations cited above, and others (e.g. ANAO, 2011; Australian In addition to brokers, bridging institutions have been important for Government, 2012), reveals little about how women are involved in overcoming cultural blindness in Indigenous conservation partnerships. Indigenous conservation partnerships or why. For example the assess- Bridging institutions are ways of doing things that respect and accom- ment framework for social outcomes from government investment in modate the norms of different groups of people (Davies et al., 2017). In Indigenous ranger groups (Urbis Pty Ltd, 2012) does not disaggregate the context of Indigenous conservation partnerships, bridging institu- for gender in data on opportunities to actively transfer cultural and tions are often termed ‘two-way’ approaches because they engage both traditional knowledge or on completed training. Nor does its program Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledges, methods and people (Ens logic mention gender (Urbis Pty Ltd, 2012: p16-17). Spatial hetero- et al., 2012b; Preuss and Dixon, 2012). Fire management in the case geneity in Indigenous women's employment as rangers is not explored study context had to bridge between planning informed by scientific in program evaluations. Neither are factors that account for success in assessments of fuel loads and fire histories and the senior women's in- increasing the proportion of women rangers identified. Overall, no tegration of burning with hunting during country visits. Paying the coherently formulated gender policy is apparent, which indicates senior women from IPA resources to burn country, and involving them gender blindness in program design and implementation (Moser, 1993). in directing the ranger group's fire management program, are examples Gender blindness in Australian Indigenous conservation policy and of new institutions that were introduced to bridge between these two programs may be a corollary of a more pervasive cultural blindness or ways of managing country, and that also promoted gender equity. ‘cultural violence’ (Galtung, 1990). As Jackson (2006) discusses in re- Bridging institutions applied elsewhere in Australian Indigenous lation to Indigenous interests in water, non-Indigenous people's con- conservation management to promote cross-cultural equity include ceptualization of Indigenous values as ‘cultural’ makes those values flexibility at all levels in field work schedules of scientists, to be able to easier to ignore when non-Indigenous people and organizations are incorporate Indigenous elders' ideas and desires into projects making decisions about ecological, economic and other ‘non-cultural’ (Horstman and Wightman, 2001); story telling (Howitt and Suchet- value sets. Indeed, our own use of the term ‘cultural management’ in the Pearson, 2006; Muir et al., 2010); robust hardware and software for case study as a gloss for Warlpiri people's self-motivated and self-di- entering field data through text, number and picture menus (Ansell and rected management of country (see Section 3) suggests cultural blind- Koenig, 2011); field guides to plant species in local Indigenous lan- ness by implicitly denying that non-Indigenous conservation manage- guages (Ens et al., 2016); involving Indigenous children with traditional ment also reflects a particular cultural paradigm. Male perspectives owners and scientists in fauna surveys (Ens et al., 2016); and distinctive dominate in that paradigm and women who participate are expected to funding programs for Indigenous land management (Hill et al., 2013). operate in the same way as men (Alston, 2009; Daly, 2005). However, Ranger groups can themselves be institutional bridges between In- Warlpiri women's self-directed management of country as described in digenous and non-Indigenous conceptions of work, which can other- our case study is quite different to that of Warlpiri men and of non- wise be quite incommensurable (Maru and Davies, 2011; McRae- Indigenous conservation managers. It may also have specific ecological Williams and Gerritson, 2010). benefits, similar to those generated by Martu women's management of Examples of bridging institutions that are reported to be promoting country (Bird et al., 2004; Bliege Bird et al., 2008). Cultural blindness gender equity in Indigenous conservation partnerships include gender- and gender blindness are both implicated when conservation partner- specific women's ranger programs, ranger groups, conferences and ships fail to fully harness such benefits. training courses (Daniels et al., 2012; Ens et al., 2012a; Sithole et al., 2008). Conversely, some Indigenous women working in mixed ranger 6.3. Positive impacts on gender equity from brokers and bridging institutions groups have reported being assigned to tasks that match old-fashioned non-Indigenous cultural stereotypes of ‘women's work’ even though Our experience in the case study indicates that women professionals they face no restrictions on the tasks they do when they manage can promote change in prevailing gender blind institutions through country as part of their family-based activities (Sithole et al., 2008). their role as brokers. Brokers are individuals who link between social Disproportionate assignment of Indigenous women rangers to office networks that would otherwise be discrete (Burt, 2005). Experiential tasks is also reported with the suggestion that it may constrain gender learning and applied research in other contexts have shown that bro- equity by reducing women's opportunities to access country (Ens et al., kers are important catalysts for institutional change in that they facil- 2012a). itate flow of information between groups, transmitting ideas and in- While these examples present positive achievements as well as formation, fostering relationships and trust, and influencing the social challenges for gender equity in Indigenous conservation partnerships, norms of both groups (Burt, 2005). Both Indigenous and non-In- they also again highlight the lack of strategic planned approaches to digenous people fill broker roles in various Indigenous settings in desert institutional change. Planning is important since sustained effort is Australia such as in education, employment and bush food trading necessary to fully incorporate gender dimensions into adaptive ap- (Davies et al., 2017; Maru and Davies, 2011). IPA and ranger group proaches and to harness social learning (Egunyu and Reed, 2015). coordinators are typically important brokers, linking between In- Gender planning, which is now well-established in international de- digenous communities and their conservation partners as well as velopment, involves women, men and gender-aware organizations in amongst stakeholders (Woodward, 2008). Individual rangers have also diagnosing the gender implications of problems and opportunities at all been observed to play critical roles as brokers between Indigenous and planning stages, and in designing actions, monitoring and evaluation other knowledge systems (Robinson and Wallington, 2012). (Moser, 1993). It appears to be a critical element that is largely absent Employing women professionals as ranger group coordinators and from Indigenous conservation programs and partnerships. IPA coordinators (e.g. Preuss and Dixon, 2012) and as leaders in cross- cultural ecological research (e.g. Bird et al., 2004; Ens et al., 2012c;

49 J. Davies et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 40–52

7. Conclusion SSC70105. 2011 Census of Population and Housing. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra. Agarwal, B., 2009. Rule making in community forestry institutions: the difference women Our case study from arid central Australia illustrates that Indigenous make. Ecol. Econ. 68, 2296–2308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.02.017. women who applied their knowledge and skills to management of Agrawal, A., Gibson, C.C., 1999. Enchantment and disenchantment: the role of community in natural resource conservation. World Dev. 27, 629–649. http://dx.doi.org/10. country experienced outcomes that they valued for their livelihoods 1016/s0305-750x(98)00161-2. and well-being. Research from other arid Australian settings points to Allwood, G., 2013. Gender mainstreaming and policy coherence for development: unin- the potential for Indigenous women's management of country to also tended gender consequences and EU policy. Women's Stud. Int. 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52 Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 53–61

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

Exploring the potential of household methodologies to strengthen gender T equality and improve smallholder livelihoods: Research in Malawi in maize- based systems

∗ Cathy Rozel Farnwortha,b, , Clare M. Stirlinga, Amon Chinyophiroc, Andrew Namakhomac, Rebecca Morahand a International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), Sustainable Intensiﬁcation Program, Apdo, 6-641 06600, Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico b Pandia Consulting, Teigelkamp 64, 48145 Muenster, Germany c Formerly NASFAM, African Unity Avenue, Lilongwe, Malawi d Twin and Twin Trading Ltd., Third Floor, 1 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3LT, United Kingdom

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Household methodologies (HHM) intervene directly in intra-household gender relations to strengthen overall Malawi smallholder agency and efficacy as economic agents and development actors. Strengthening women's agency is Gender one mechanism for progressing towards collaborative, systemic farm management. It is expected this will women's empowerment contribute to improved farm resilience in the face of climate change, strengthen food and nutrition security, and Household methodologies improve other development indicators. Maize-based systems HHM are built around a vision, gendered analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Climate-smart agriculture (SWOT), an action plan, and indicators. Some HHM - including Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS), the focus of the research - use drawings making them easy to use for low-literate individuals. There is considerable evaluation report evidence of the efficacy of HHM in strengthening value chains, food security, and gender equality. However, this has yet to be complemented by a robust systematic evaluation of the methodology which includes non-intervention communities as controls. Here we report on the findings of a research study into GALS in Malawi where the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi (NASFAM) has been implementing GALS since 2013 with 4274 farmers (2821 women and 1453 men to May 2016). We held sex-disaggregated FGDs with 40 GALS households and 40 non-GALS households, all NASFAM members. Community profiles and a matrix activity focusing on task allocation, asset distribution, and expenditures by gender with 125 non-GALS and 135 GALS respondents were also conducted. Our analyses indicate a significant shift towards sharing of on-farm tasks and household tasks, and joint realization of the benefits from agricultural produce in GALS households. They are building up portfolios of assets including livestock, houses, ox-carts, and land, unlike non-GALS households. Respondents in GALS households, particularly de facto women-headed households, report an increase in social standing and participation in community life. In both GALS and non-GALS households, men and women agree that men continue to dominate marketing and are final decision-makers. However, financial transparency and intra-household agreement on expenditures characterize households with GALS participants.

1. Introduction capitals necessary for production: social, ﬁnancial, human, natural, political, cultural, and physical (Farnworth and Colverson, 2015; World The 'gender gap' in agriculture in developing countries, particularly Bank, 2012; Peterman et al., 2014; FAO, 2010; Flora and Flora, 2008; in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become something of a mantra over the Udry, 1996). Probably more than any other document, the FAO's State past decade. Indeed, a robust literature indicates that women's agri- of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) Report (FAO, 2010) argument that 'if cultural productivity on women-managed plots remains lower than that women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could in- of men on men-managed plots. This is attributed to women's continuing crease yields on their farms by 20 - 30 percent …’has shaped con- weaker access, in comparison to men in the same household, to stocks of temporary approaches to working on gender inequalities in agriculture.

∗ Corresponding author. Pandia Consulting, Teigelkamp 64, 48145 Muenster, Germany. E-mail address: [email protected] (C.R. Farnworth). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.10.009 Received 5 June 2017; Received in revised form 23 October 2017; Accepted 23 October 2017 Available online 03 November 2017 0140-1963/ © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/). C.R. Farnworth et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 53–61

Numerous development interventions continue to be based on Women- research into jointness in farm decision-making in sub-Saharan Africa. in-Development (WID) type interventions - in practice if not in word, We return to these concepts in the conclusion to assess the extent to whereby women are singled out for economic empowerment initiatives which the implementation of HHM in Malawi has promoted meaningful in order to close the gender gap (UNWomen, no date; OECD, 2011). choice for women whilst stimulating jointness. FAO's claim in the SOFA Report appears to be predicated on the assumption that women and men in male-headed households will continue to manage their plots more-or-less separately, at least in SSA. 1.1. Intra-household decision-making and meaningful choice We take issue with this claim by providing research evidence that some plots are jointly managed. Based on this evidence, we consider that In an attempt to clarify the concept of empowerment, Kabeer (1999) interventions built on expectations of lack of jointness are misplaced. argues that one way of thinking about power is in terms of the ability to Instead, we posit that initiatives which foster effective partnership make choices: to be disempowered implies to be denied choice. The between women and men, based on fostering more equal gender rela- notion of empowerment is inescapably bound up with the condition of tions, are more likely to result in higher productivity and other gains disempowerment and refers to the processes by which people who have (see Farnworth and Colverson, 2015 for an extended discussion). We do been denied the ability to make choices acquire such an ability. Em- not agree with the apparent assumption behind FAO's and broader work powerment implies a process of discovering new ways to exercise on women's economic empowerment that male productivity will re- choice, or new domains in which choice might be exercised. main unchanged whilst female productivity will increase if women are Choice self-evidently requires options, the ability to choose other- supported effectively. Rather, we posit that jointness is likely to have wise (Kabeer, 1999). Some choices have greater significance than synergetic effects contributing to a number of benefits across the farm others in terms of their importance for people's lives. First order choices and within the household. (We also hypothesize that gender inequal- are strategic life choices, such as choice of livelihood, where to live, ities contribute to low male productivity in smallholder systems though who and whether to marry, whether and how many children to have, this has not been researched to our knowledge.) and so on. These are critical for people to live the lives they want. First We consider that improvements in female productivity on small- order choices help frame second order choices which may be important holder farms in SSA to the extent envisaged by FAO is not achievable for one's quality of life, but do not constitute its defining parameters. unless there are changes on an enormous scale in gender relations. The ability to exercise choice can be thought of in terms of three inter- Achieving this means shifting away from understanding gender as a related dimensions: characteristic of individuals which can somehow be strengthened, to Resources (preconditions) → Agency (process) → Achievements (out- understanding gender as an iterative dynamic process in which gender comes) is constantly being 'remade'. Shifts and reconfigurations which strengthen women's gender interests and women's voice are unlikely to Resources include material, human and social resources which serve succeed unless men consider themselves partners and beneficiaries of to enhance the ability to make choice. Agency is the ability to define this process. In our view, too much gender analysis has historically been one's goals and act upon them. Agency can take the form of decision- constructed around explicit and implicit dichotomies - his assets, her making, of bargaining and negotiation, deception and manipulation, assets - thus failing to pick up sufficiently on collaborative decision- subversion and resistance as well as the processes of reflection and making processes around assets (Djoudi et al., 2016 for a summary of analysis. Agency has positive and negative meanings in relation to 41 papers in relation to how gender is framed in relation to climate power. In the positive sense of ‘power to’, it relates to people's capacity change; Johnson et al., 2016 for details of GAAP agricultural research to define their own life choices and to pursue their own goals. ‘Power worldwide). Analytic simplicity is not helpful and it can also be dan- over’ refers to the capacity of people to override the agency of others. gerous to women if programmes are designed on this basis. A number of ‘Power with’ refers to the capacity to augment power through collective studies indicate that male violence against women can increase when action. Power can also exist in the absence of any apparent agency. For women are targeted for economic empowerment, though findings are example, the norms and rules governing social behaviour tend to ensure not unanimous (GDSRC, 2012 for a summary of the evidence). There is that certain outcomes are reproduced without obvious exercise of also evidence that joint decision-making reduces violence (GDSRC, agency (Kabeer, 1999). 2012). Over the past two decades or so, considerable attention has been In this paper, we examine the potential of a relatively new family of paid to researching individual agency and how to strengthen it, to the behavioural change methodologies termed household methodologies extent that some researchers prefer to use the word autonomy rather (HHM) for promoting joint decision-making in the household. They than agency. For instance, Acharya et al. (2010) argue that women's have emerged independently of formal science-led 'research for devel- autonomy in decision-making is a critical variable to securing beneficial opment' initiatives and have been developed primarily by NGOs (par- outcomes. The Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is ticularly OxfamNovib) and fostered by bilateral and multilateral constructed around the agency aspect of Kabeer's definition of strategic agencies (especially SIDA and IFAD) in close collaboration with farmer choice. The WEAI is an aggregate index, reported at the country or organizations (Farnworth et al., 2013). Private sector organizations regional level, which is based on individual-level data on men and (TWIN, Divine, Nestlé, International Coffee Partners, and others) are women within the same households. It has two sub-indexes: (1) five now implementing HHM in various projects. Whilst the operational domains of women's empowerment (5DE) and (2) gender parity index. details differ, all HHM work to change gender relations within the The 5DE sub-index measures how empowered women are vis-a-vis men 'black box' of the household. They do not aim to empower women at the regarding: (1) decisions over agricultural production, (2) access to and seeming expense of men. Rather, they work to promote the under- decision-making power over productive resources, (3) control over use standing that unequal power relations between women and men may of income, (4) leadership in the community, and (5) time use (Malapit result in failures to make the best decisions possible, and thus con- et al., 2015). The production domain measures women's input into tribute to poverty. Improving the gender equity of intra-household agricultural decisions, and their autonomy in production [our italics], decision-making processes is expected to lead to improvements in how “for example, what inputs to buy, what crops to grow, what livestock to households marshal and manage resources across the farm and in off- raise, and so on - [this] reflects the extent to which the respondent's farm activities, and lead to a more equitable distribution of the benefits motivation for decision-making reflects his or her values.” (Alkire et al., to household members. 2013). Before turning to the Malawi case study, we examine the concept of Explicit and implicit analytic and interpretative frameworks, such as meaningful choice (Kabeer, 1999). We then provide an overview of the WEAI, are premised on male: female dichotomies, appear to assume

54 C.R. Farnworth et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 53–61 that women and men do not have interests - or values - in common, and within dichotomies, improving synergies appears to be a useful way they inevitably lead researchers to presume that higher levels of female forward. autonomy in the domains of interest are intrinsically preferable and lead to better outcomes for women and children. However, in many 2. Materials and methods societies there isa strong sense of family togetherness and individual identity is closely tied to that of the family; making decisions often 2.1. Research value and hypothesis involves complex negotiations (Alam, 2017; Mokomane, 2012; Belcher et al., 2011; Acharya et al.,2010). In such a situation, a singular focus Several studies, typically evaluations or mid-term reviews without on autonomy as an indicator of empowerment may lead researchers to controls, have been commissioned by the development partner to assess overlook how women exercise agency in complex multi-dimensional the impacts of HHM (IFAD, 2014; Farnworth, 2010; Bishop-Sambrook relationships. Restoring the relational to gender provides a means of and Wonani, 2009). They suggest significant behavioural change in understanding of gender as a flow. Gender identities are in constant target groups has occurred, leading to improved value chains, improved flux. They emerge from and are modulated through uncountable in- smallholder farm management, and improved gender equality, among teractions with spouses, children, extended family members, wider other indicators. However, to date there has been no systematic eva- society, and deep cultural norms. luation of HHM that involves comparing sites with and without the HHM intervention. The International Wheat and Maize Improvement 1.2. Jointness and lack of jointness in intra-household decision-making on Centre (CIMMYT) and the National Smallholder Farmers‘ Association of farm management in East and Southern Africa Malawi (NASFAM) therefore designed a research study to compare communities in Malawi with and without HHMs but otherwise similar In recent years two strands of research evidence have started to agro-ecologies and socio-cultural conditions. NASFAM is the largest converge. They show that smallholder households in sub-Saharan smallholder-owned membership organization in the country, with Africa can simultaneously exhibit jointness, and lack of jointness, in 164,000 members (56% women) in 2016. intra-household decision-making. Lack of jointness refers to the ob- With respect to overall development, Malawi scores low on the servation that women and men in many households run more-or-less Human Development Index (HDI) globally - 173 from 189 countries - separate, individually-managed production, business, and consumption and low within sub-Saharan Africa (UNDP, 2015). The Gender In- activities. This frequently includes managing and operating different equality Index (GII) reflects gender-based inequalities in reproductive agricultural plots on the same farm (Marenya et al., 2015; Doss, 2013, health, empowerment, and economic activity. In 2014, Malawi was 1999). ranked 140 out of 155 countries meaning that gender inequalities are Recent research points out, however, that there is jointness in some highly prevalent and impose significant development costs (UNDP, households on all or specific plots (Farnworth et al., 2017; Sheremenko 2015). Women overwhelmingly bear responsibility for household tasks and Magnum, 2015; Marenya et al., 2015; Kassie et al., 2015). A study and caring roles. In Malawi, 88% of rural working men do not perform conducted in Mozambique examined the differential fertilizer applica- any domestic activities. Half of rural working women devote between tion rates on plots managed individually by men, women, and jointly in 11 and 30 h per week to domestic activities, with 4 percent of men dual adult households (Marenya et al., 2015). It found that men manage doing so (FAO, 2011). Women more than men are involved in a 'zero- the majority of plots: 62% of maize plots, 56% of fruit and vegetable sum game', a closed system in which time or energy devoted to any new plots, and 71% of non-staple cash crops plots. Twice as much inorganic effort must be diverted from another activity (De Schutter, 2012; Gyasi fertilizer is applied to maize plots managed by men than by women. and Uitto, 1997). Women's labour becomes fragmented to handle ex- Men also apply considerably more fertilizer to their other crops than do isting and new work, often resulting in reduced efficiency and effec- women. Fascinatingly, however, fertilizer use is highest on jointly- tiveness across productive as well as care work. managed maize and fruit and vegetable plots, and lower for non-staple The hypothesis of our study was that through increasing jointness in cash crops than on individually managed fields-whether male or female intra-household decision-making these households become more re- managed. Jointly-managed plots also exhibit higher incidences of soil silient and productive. We sought evidence in the form of measureable and water conservation structures, and are more likely to have maize- gains in terms of reducing women's labour burden in the household and legume intercropping, use of manure, and improved agro-ecological on the farm, improving their access to and control over assets both practices more generally (Marenya et al., 2015). A study in Kenya individually and as a household, stronger participation by women in (Ndiritu et al., 2014) using sex-disaggregated survey data at the plot expenditure decisions, and we queried whether women's social standing level broadly confirms these findings. It found that women plot man- in the community and in organizations had been strengthened. We agers are less likely to adopt minimum tillage and manure for soil wanted to know if women as well as men were setting out clear goals fertility management than men. This is attributed to women having and working towards them successfully. weaker access to labour, knowledge - particularly the extension services - and resources such as livestock and credit. The researchers note that 2.2. Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) in Malawi minimum tillage requires herbicides but due to liquidity constraints women are less likely to able to finance this practice. Women also own NASFAM was trained by TWIN, a Fair Trade organization specia- fewer livestock which limits the amount of manure available to them. lizing in cocoa, nuts and coffee, in a HHM called Gender Action Gender does not affect the adoption of improved seed varieties, maize- Learning Systems (GALS) (OxfamNovib, 2014; Mayoux, 2013, 2012). legume rotations, maize-legume intercrops, soil and water conserva- The GALS starts with women and men as individuals and uses only tion, and chemical fertilizer. However, compared to male-managed pictorial tools making it suitable for low literate populations. Practi- plots, jointly managed plots are more likely to adopt maize-legume in- tioners use visualization tools to enable them to map out a vision for tercropping, maize-legume rotations and improved seeds. change at a personal and household level. Once household members These findings demonstrate the effects lack of jointness can have become familiar with applying the tools to their own lives, further tools upon women's potential productivity and income generation. They also are introduced to help build collective action at the community level imply that jointness in intra-household decision-making has the po- and in producer groups, and for advocacy. The process as developed by tential to strengthen input use, improve adoption of climate-smart NASFAM starts with an Inception and Planning workshop. Potential technologies, and to underpin more equitable distribution of benefits peer trainers from target communities are identified and trained in a within the household, including better food and nutrition security 'Change Catalyst Workshop'. Termed GALS Champions, they are ex- (Ndiritu et al., 2014; Meinzen-Dick et al., 2010). Rather than work pected to train at least five other community members. Community

55 C.R. Farnworth et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 53–61

Action meetings are advised to meet fortnightly. These bring together participants to enable them to share their visions and to discuss their challenges and opportunities in order to obtain advice and support. After around six months a 'Gender Justice Review Workshop' is con- vened. One aim is to assess progress and provide assistance on tools as required. A second aim is to make sure that women are not being left behind. This can happen because men typically have stronger stocks of capitals than women to draw upon. Various tools to explain and promote the importance of achieving gender equality are used to facilitate this process.

2.3. Study sites

The fieldwork for this study was conducted with NASFAM Association members in Lilongwe North and in Lilongwe South. In Lilongwe North NASFAM two Associations were introduced to the GALS in 2013. NASFAM selected the two Associations for the GALS intervention because they had the lowest percentage of women leadership across all NASFAM Associations nationally. We combine the findings from the two sites since they are so similar and collectively call them Fig. 1. Simplified overview of the vision journey. the GALS Site in our paper. In Lilongwe South, where a new NASFAM Association was established in December 2014, GALS has not been introduced. This control site is termed the non-GALS Site. decision-making processes, the gender division of labour regarding care The two study sites share key cultural characteristics which facil- and household tasks and on the farm, responsibility for marketing and itate comparison. Each site is predominately ethnic Chewa, thus sharing for expenditure, access to and control over assets, and on perceived language, beliefs and ways of organizing themselves. They are patri- social standing. Respondents were asked not only to report on these local with the woman moving to her husband's community upon mar- issues, but to provide proof. For example, if men said they cooked, they fi riage, and also patrilineal with inheritance passing through the male were asked how often. If women said the husband shared nancial line. Polygamy is widespread and associated closely with 'being a man'. information with them, they were asked to give a detailed example. Men see themselves as key decision-makers including which crops to Discussion of household level visions was key. It was selected for grow and where and when to sell them. Traditional Authorities (TAs) in investigation because the word 'vision' in Chichewa is widely used and the area generally support existing cultural norms which can be is clearly understood by non-GALS participants. However, in the GALS harmful to women. This includes asset stripping of widows and di- the term is operationalized and called the Vision Journey as shown in vorcees, which is common. TAs rarely challenge this practice because Fig. 1. Visions are accompanied by detailed plans with timelines for as strong vested interests support it. little as three months, or as long as several years.

2.4. Key informant questionnaire 2.6. Gender balance tree questionnaire

A structured questionnaire was used with key informants: TAs, The study team also developed an analytic matrix based on a GALS teachers, nurses, and pastors in the study sites. Interviews were sex- tool called the Gender Balance Tree (GBT). The GBT helps participants disaggregated with a minimum of two interviewees of the same gender to understand the work men, women, boys and girls contribute to their per session to help triangulation (twelve respondents in total, eight in household economy, the benefits they derive, and the assets they have. the GALS sites and four in the non-GALS sites). These provided com- It highlights imbalances in the 'tree' and allows practitioners to develop prehensive gendered data on local governance structures, infra- their own ways to rebalance the tree. For research purposes, we de- structure, economic opportunities and challenges, food and nutrition veloped three sets of questions regarding responsibility for task areas, security, and the impact of recent droughts in each study site. benefits from each task, and access and ownership over assets and in relation to the three main crops in the area: maize, groundnut and to- 2.5. Focus group discussions bacco. Ten enumerators used tablets to record the information. They interviewed a total of 260 individuals, none of whom participated in the Thirteen focus group discussions (FGDs) were held in sex-dis- FGDs. Wherever possible both the male and female heads of a house- aggregated groups with GALS and non-GALS participants with an hold were interviewed together, but in some cases only one person was average of 5–6 participants. Each participant represented a household. available from the household such that the final number of interviews FGDs were segregated into married men, married women, and de facto totaled 135 (75 women and 60 men) for GALS and 125 (51 women and women heads of households (which form around a third of all house- 74 men) for the non-GALS households. Data were analysed using holds in the study communities). More women were interviewed due to Pearson's Chi-square (χ2) tests with Yate's correction. the supplementary FGD with women heads of household - no men are single. The majority of respondents, both women and men, were in 3. Results their 30s and 40s, with a few being in their 20s, 50s and 60s. Of the men, roughly half had attended primary school (48%) and the re- The research findings are broadly summarized in Table 1 and dis- mainder secondary school (52%). Of the women 14% had not attended cussed in detail below. The respondents' own words are used to illus- school, 64% percent had attended primary schooling, and 22% had trate the findings set out in more detail below. A single ‘+’ means that attended secondary school. In both cases, several respondents had not the man or woman are typically responsible for this activity, or has completed all levels of their respective schooling. good access to the asset. A ‘0’ means that either the man or the woman To aid discussion, a FGD Guide was developed. This posed questions lacks personal responsibility for it, or has weak access to it. Two ‘+ around visions that people have of their future (masomphenya in +‘means that there has been a marked positive change over the past Chichewa, the language spoken by all respondents), intra-household three years or so.

56 C.R. Farnworth et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 53–61

Table 1 individual visions. This did not happen before. However, several Summary of findings from Focus Group Discussions. women remarked that men often expected help with achieving their vision 'first'. GALS sites Non-GALS site Married men report their visions are fundamentally about securing Women Men Women Men more money. They are typically 'larger' than women's visions because men have more assets to invest in the visioning process. At the same Vision (detailed, written) + + 0 0 time, all men respondents argued that their visions are contributing to Discussion with Spouse + ++ + + fi Care and Household + ++ + 0 jointness in asset management and bene ts. For example, one man said Work on Farm ++ ++ + + his vision was buying "livestock, ox-carts, a plot with houses on it, a TV, a Marketing 0 + 0 + computer and radio. These assets are for me and my wife jointly."Men as- Access to Assets ++ ++ + + cribed success in acquiring assets to working together as a family. Social Standing ++ + 0 + The majority of women base their visions on building a livestock portfolio of different species as stepping stones to longer range visions 3.1. Vision such as building houses, buying a motorbike, etc. One woman explained, "My vision was to have many livestock and I bought 2 goats last In the non-GALS site, neither married men -bar one exception, see year. Those goats had 2kids each so I now have 6 goats. This year I bought 2 fi below - nor married women have visions beyond achieving a higher pigs. My other vision was to properly educate my children. At rst it was yield in farming. They do not have a detailed, specific vision, have not hard to train them but nowadays they help me on the farm so we are able to developed an action plan, nor set indicators. They rarely discuss ideas get better yields which enable me to pay their school fees My vision now is to with children but have discussions with their spouse. However one man continue educating them." The strengthened ability of women to com- said he has set a five year timeline for his vision and has shared it with mand children's labour to work on the farm towards a vision, and help fi his wife, though he considers the vision to belong to him. more in household chores, is a repeated nding; this work does not De facto single women in the non-GALs sites explain they all have appear to compromise children's schooling. visions. They have been given land by their parents to settle on, but De facto women heads face greater challenges than married couples want to build their own house or purchase more land. However, since to achieving their visions. This is because they have few assets to deploy they have insufficient money none have made plans to achieve these in comparison to the access they enjoyed when married. They reported visions. They agreed that, "These are just things that we think about and they are considered beggars and rarely receive support even from sib- wish that we will be able to achieve some day"and added they are relying lings. However, women in this category claimed that many of them are on their children to help them. One woman explained, "Since they were achieving their visions. These vary from achieving basic needs, parti- little, they encourage and laugh with me and they tell me that when they cularly food security, to - in a few cases - building a house, acquiring grow up everything is going to be all right because they will find some livestock, and buying bicycles. money." GALS respondents explained that the physical process of drawing In the GALS sites, participants have developed individual as well as the vision is central, including placing it where it can be seen every day. ff joint visions as shown in Table 2. The most popular visions are livestock A woman explained, "There is a huge di erence between having the vision (38%), housing (35%), and transport (19%). Individual women con- drawn on paper and keeping it in your head because you know that there is a centrate overwhelmingly on livestock. For example, 18 women were vision that is drawn that needs to be achieved whereas if it is not drawn, you building stocks of livestock compared to 3 men. This is not surprising can easily change their vision when you have cash after selling the produce because livestock do not depend on holding land, are highly mobile, [ALL AGREE]." Another woman added, "If you do not draw the steps to and their value can be realized quickly. This is of great value to women achieving the vision you can easily get carried away with other activities who do not own land in their own right. This preference for livestock happening in the community such as wedding celebrations.." In other words, appears to find its way into joint visions, with 38 joint visions prior- the physical picture prevents unplanned expenditures and continually itizing livestock. This suggests that women's voices are being heard in refocuses attention on a long-term goal. intra-household decision-making. Improved housing forms a clear An important innovation is that, on NASFAM's advice, GALS second preference followed by transport. Land refers to 'neutral land' households now sell the entire cash crop to enable them to realise which can be rented or bought. The majority of land is still allocated by elements of their vision immediately. For example, building a house TAs, primarily to men under customary law. Participant reasoning be- may take three years, with bricks being bought in year one, the roof in hind the selection of visions is explored below. year two, and the house constructed in year three. Previously, farmers With respect to achieving visions, women reported that the most sold their crop in small amounts. The money was spent on daily ne- important innovation is that spouses now help each other achieve their cessities and, according to respondents, 'vanished' meaning that larger goals could not be achieved. Selling crops in small amounts is still happening in the non-GALS Site. NASFAM warns households not to sell Table 2 Overview of Visions in GALS Site (2015 visions). stocks of maize required for food security in order to achieve visions.

Vision Individual visions Joint Total % of total 3.2. Development, access and control of assets visions Visions Visions FM In the non-GALS site, women said the purchase of items like clothes, Transport (bicycle, 3 5 21 29 19 utensils, bicycles and other assets is usually discussed with the man. car, minibus and There is a strong sense that these are shared because the couple worked ox-cart) together for them. Women agreed that they do not own any assets other Livestock (goats, 18 3 38 59 38 than kitchen utensils. In a breakdown situation - divorce, death or se- cows, pigs, chickens) paration, the woman is expected to leave the house, the community and House (with iron 11 8 36 55 35 sometimes her children. In the case of divorce, her ability to take assets sheets) may depend somewhat on the husband's personality. In most cases, Land 4 3 4 11 7 women said, they can take cooking utensils, clothes and select the Driving lessons 0 1 0 1 1 155 100 children she wants to take with her. Men agreed with this analysis, though they stressed that since children are expected to inherit

57 C.R. Farnworth et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 53–61 customary land the man or his extended family may keep them in order purchases such as land, ox-carts, etc. unilaterally. Both women and men to retain access to it. One man suggested that if a man is wealthy the hide income from each other. De facto women-headed households said wife may be able to take some large assets. Another man explained that they discuss their ideas with their children. you procure assets with wife and children in mind, but after death you In the GALS Site, married men likewise insisted they retain ultimate cannot prevent your kin from taking those assets. decision-making power in all areas, particularly in relation to the pur- In the GALS Site, the findings show that although participants are chase of land. This is due to the prevalence of the social norms in this taught to develop their own vision and encouraged to create joint vi- area which insist that land is owned and controlled by men and their sions, many respondents, particularly women, are reluctant to develop lineage. However, women can now discuss “any issue” with them. truly shared visions with respect to developing asset portfolios. They Women agreed Despite this openness, men continue to dominate mar- relate this explicitly to the fact that communities are patrilocal and keting. They expressed concern about being stripped of their role as patrilineal. Women who marry into the lineage access rights to various managers of money and as head of the family more broadly. Even if a capitals through marriage, and they do not necessarily have claims woman grows her own crop men often market it for them. However, beyond use rights upon capitals they have helped to build, such as a there is much more transparency, according to both women and men. house. Should the marriage fail women are at risk of being expelled One woman said, "In the past I heard from other people that my husband with only the assets they can carry. One woman explained that is pre- had sold the tobacco but I did not know. I also did not know what a sale cisely because of the potential danger of a breakdown situation that she sheet is but my husband shows it to me nowadays." has developed her own vision, to buy land and build a shop and house, and that her husband has agreed to help her do this. Another woman remarked she made a big mistake by building her house on land be- 3.4. Jointness in the gender division of labour and associated benefits longing to her husband's relatives and is concerned about what would happen if her relationship with her spouse should end. One man has In the non-GALS site, married women conduct almost all home and ensured that his wife is named on the land purchase certificate in order care work, though one woman said her husband cooks once a week. A to prevent his family from seizing it on his death. typical response was "All household chores are for me. As far as my hus- However, despite women's concerns around developing assets, data band's work is concerned, I do not help him either."The men agree house from the Gender Balance Tree Matrix (Table 3) shows a significant in- and care work are entirely women's responsibility. Married women crease in jointness for control of all assets except for oxcarts and cattle work with men in agricultural production tasks. They do not help men in the GALS households. Control does not imply ownership and the with culturally ascribed male fieldwork such as ploughing or building ability to dispose of the asset, but the results do show that women and the kraal. men are now using all assets more equitably - apart from cattle and ox- In the GALS sites, married women and men reported significant carts. changes. Men and boys engage daily or several times a week with household chores including cooking, washing children, cleaning the house, and collecting firewood and water. This enables women to get 3.3. Jointness in marketing and expenditure up later, reduces tiredness and strain in relationships, facilitates their participation in community events, and increases happiness. In the non-GALS site, there is variation in experience with some Importantly, children are helping more than hitherto. A consequence is married women indicating discussion with spouses. However, all that women are able to manage time more effectively:"People used to say women agreed that the husband is the ultimate decision-maker with I was not organized and I wasn't smart but now that I share tasks with my respect to expenditures. Women repeatedly asserted that they plead for husband, everything is always clean and in order." Furthermore, the the purchase of inorganic fertilizer in order to boost productivity but gender division of labour in the field has loosened. Women take on are not necessarily successful. They cannot afford to make such pur- men's work which means that if the man is ill, or absent, the work still chases on their own. Taking out a loan to buy fertilizer, they explained, gets done. Women said this was partly a token of their appreciation for would enable them to improve productivity but then they would be his help in the home. One business woman who refused to help her stuck with paying back the loan upon selling the crop and thus be husband on the farm now does so and claimed as a consequence they unable to buy fertilizer for the following year. More broadly, women are now food secure. Women also reported new income generation considered that the main obstacle to improving productivity was men's opportunities, for example on road construction and school building, personal spending habits. This includes eating out: "Sometimes he might which were previously considered men only. even want to use the money for buying half a chicken at a restaurant al- In both the GALS and non-GALS sites most respondents agreed they though we have chickens at home". Women claimed they do not market were not fully food secure. However, several GALS households reported crops. One man contested this regarding his own wife, but other men improved yields which they ascribed to cooperation across the farm and agreed that women are not involved. across crops. "Instead of getting 4 bales we get up to 12 bales of tobacco, Non-GALS men confirmed that they are the final decision-maker but from 1 ox-cart full of maize to about 5, from 2 buckets of groundnuts to that they consult with their wife. However, men take decisions on large about 20 buckets and from no soya at all to about one and a half bags. The

Table 3 Summary of Pearson Chi-square analysis of who controls diﬀerent farm assets. Numbers are the totals observed for each category: joint; man; women together with respective percentages (in parentheses) in GALS and non-GALS households. Pvalue is the level of signiﬁcance.

Asset GALS:joint GALS:man GALS:woman non-GALS:joint non-GALS:man non-GALS:woman Pvalue

Land 42 (31.3) 82 (61.2) 10 (7.5) 11 (8.8) 91 (72.8) 23 (18.4) 0 Plough 40 (63.5) 23 (36.5) 0 (0) 10 (40) 13 (52) 2 (8) 0.0251 Other Agricultural Tools 54 (44.6) 64 (52.9) 3 (2.5) 30 (27) 70 (63.1) 11 (9.9) 0.0035 Oxcarts 28 (52.8) 25 (47.2) 0 (0) 6 (31.6) 13 (68.4) 0 (0) 0.1799 Household Utensils 19 (14.5) 3 (2.3) 109 (83.2) 5 (4) 4 (3.2) 115 (92.7) 0.0119 Cattle 29 (50.9) 23 (40.4) 5 (8.8) 8 (34.8) 12 (52.2) 3 (13) 0.4203 Goats 44 (53) 29 (34.9) 10 (12) 16 (28.6) 29 (51.8) 11 (19.6) 0.0168 Poultry 53 (53.5) 10 (10.1) 36 (36.4) 22 (29.7) 26 (35.1) 26 (35.1) 1e-04 Pigs 36 (63.2) 16 (28.1) 5 (8.8) 9 (25.7) 21 (60) 5 (14.3) 0.0016

58 C.R. Farnworth et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 53–61

Table 4 Summary of Pearson Chi-square analysis of who has responsibility for various tasks associated with maize, groundnut and tobacco production. Numbers are the totals observed for each category: joint; man; women together with respective percentages (in parentheses) in GALS and non-GALS households. Pvalue is the level of signiﬁcance.

Variable GALS:joint GALS:man GALS:woman non-GALS:joint non-GALS:man non-GALS:woman Pvalue

Maize Land Preparation 86 (63.7) 31 (23) 18 (13.3) 59 (47.2) 38 (30.4) 28 (22.4) 0.0231 Planting 104 (78.8) 10 (7.6) 18 (13.6) 89 (71.8) 10 (8.1) 25 (20.2) 0.3575 Weeding 104 (77.6) 13 (9.7) 17 (12.7) 81 (64.8) 18 (14.4) 26 (20.8) 0.0727 Inorganic Fertilizer Application 117 (86.7) 8 (5.9) 10 (7.4) 88 (72.7) 15 (12.4) 18 (14.9) 0.0205 Organic Fertilizer Application 80 (60.6) 41 (31.1) 11 (8.3) 68 (59.1) 31 (27) 16 (13.9) 0.3451 Harvesting 88 (66.7) 7 (5.3) 37 (28) 86 (70.5) 3 (2.5) 33 (27) 0.519 Processing 32 (24.1) 5 (3.8) 96 (72.2) 29 (23.2) 20 (16) 76 (60.8) 0.0036 Residues 84 (62.7) 28 (20.9) 22 (16.4) 62 (51.2) 25 (20.7) 34 (28.1) 0.067 Selling 61 (47.3) 31 (24) 37 (28.7) 30 (27) 71 (64) 10 (9) 0 Groundnuts Land Preparation 94 (70.7) 10 (7.5) 29 (21.8) 66 (53.7) 23 (18.7) 34 (27.6) 0.0066 Planting 96 (72.2) 4 (3) 33 (24.8) 84 (68.3) 7 (5.7) 32 (26) 0.5366 Weeding 105 (78.9) 2 (1.5) 26 (19.5) 80 (65) 13 (10.6) 30 (24.4) 0.0034 Harvesting 88 (66.2) 9 (6.8) 36 (27.1) 74 (60.7) 7 (5.7) 41 (33.6) 0.5188 Processing 62 (46.6) 2 (1.5) 69 (51.9) 46 (38.3) 5 (4.2) 69 (57.5) 0.2472 Residues 86 (65.2) 26 (19.7) 20 (15.2) 56 (46.7) 24 (20) 40 (33.3) 0.0019 Selling 62 (48.4) 15 (11.7) 51 (39.8) 26 (22) 63 (53.4) 29 (24.6) 0 Tobacco Land Preparation 78 (66.1) 33 (28) 7 (5.9) 42 (57.5) 18 (24.7) 13 (17.8) 0.0336 Planting 92 (78.6) 17 (14.5) 8 (6.8) 51 (69.9) 12 (16.4) 10 (13.7) 0.2466 Weeding 95 (81.2) 15 (12.8) 7 (6) 57 (78.1) 4 (5.5) 12 (16.4) 0.0248 Harvesting 93 (80.9) 12 (10.4) 10 (8.7) 48 (66.7) 10 (13.9) 14 (19.4) 0.0602 Processing 52 (45.2) 54 (47) 9 (7.8) 28 (46.7) 22 (36.7) 10 (16.7) 0.1483 Residues 64 (55.7) 25 (21.7) 26 (22.6) 30 (41.7) 22 (30.6) 20 (27.8) 0.1675 Selling 35 (30.4) 70 (60.9) 10 (8.7) 13 (18.1) 52 (72.2) 7 (9.7) 0.1678 problem in the past was that we never had enough fertilizer." A woman Interestingly, in the case of selling maize and groundnut, the in- added, 'When I grew groundnuts on my own I sold thirty pails. Now I sell creased jointness in GALS households was also associated with more 100 pails, because my husband is helping me.' A man explained that co- woman taking on this responsibility on their own. This hints at a operation enabled the household to increase tobacco yields from 300 kg willingness in men to allow women access to pricing and sales in- in 2013 to 700 kg in 2014. Some men respondents connected reductions formation. This in turn is likely to strengthen women's voice in intra- in gender-based violence to improved productivity because lower GBV, household decision-making around expenditures, which in itself may they explained, contributes to improved cooperation between house- reflect an increase in empowerment in terms of access to and control of hold members. earned income. Several respondents said that productivity was the same between GALS and non-GALS participants, but that paying attention to realizing the vision meant that the GALS participants invested their money well 3.5. Social standing and that they started to develop more quickly. It is not clear how many households experience improved yields, nor to independently verify In the non-GALS site, all women reported low social standing and do respondent statements in the present study. not have any leadership roles, either in traditional decision-making The gender balance tree matrix analysis supports many of the FGD bodies, in community groups, or institutions like the school or church. findings. Table 4 shows that in relation to productive tasks there are The women chorused together that, "we have never contributed in any large shifts in GALS households towards jointness. The most significant discussion processes in the community." This said, they feel valued as observations are: friends and as sources of advice by other women Conversely, the men said they were leaders in the church, village school committees, and • Maize. There is a significant increase in ‘jointness’ with GALS re- trainer of trainers. None of the single women has a leadership position garding land preparation (p = 0.0231); fertilizer use (p = 0.0205); though they participate in school construction through drawing water. processing (p = 0.0036) and selling (p = 0.00) One explained she tries to participate in discussions but the others said • Groundnut. A significant increase in ‘jointness’ with GALS for land they are not called upon because "if one does not have money, most people preparation (p = 0.0066); weeding (p = 0.0034); residue man- think that you cannot have any good ideas or give advice." agement (p = 0.0019) and selling (p = 0.00) NASFAM data on women in leadership roles (chairperson and vice, • Tobacco. Significant increase in ‘jointness’ with GALS for land pre- secretary and vice, treasurer and committee members) in NASFAM paration (p = 0.0336); planting (p = 0.0205) and weeding Association governance committees is shown in Table 5. This shows the (p = 0.0248) proportions of women in leadership between 2012 and 2016 in the GALS Site and non-GALS Site. Women's participation improved from 5.2% to 53.5% in the GALS Site. However, women's participation in leadership in the non-GALS Site in 2016 was almost 50%. According to Table 5 NASFAM this is because the Association (a new member) deals only Women in leadership roles in NASFAM associations between 2012 and 2016. Source: NASFAM internal data with groundnuts and soya bean, both traditionally considered women crops. Associations in the GALS Sites deal with tobacco and maize and Association Percent Women 2012 Percent Women 2016 therefore experience strong male participation. In the GALS sites, single women reported increased independence, GALS Site 5.25 53.5 Non-GALS Site Not applicable 49.7 increased respect, and increased participation in community life."People no longer disrespect me. I am now able to provide for my basic needs and do

59 C.R. Farnworth et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 53–61 not beg. In the past when I was very poor, people such as some relatives and the chief treated me as a child and would send me on many errands." Another said, "Nowadays, we participate in many programmes and we are included in assistance programmes. For instance, our names now appear on beneficiary lists to receive some things whereas in the past this never used to happen." They attribute improved social standing to their increased asset portfolio through the GALS. Fascinatingly, married and single women have seized the chance to take up technical training roles (GALS and other) in the GALS Site. The number of female trainers increased from 14 in 2012 - prior to the GALS intervention - to 138 in 2015. This reported increase in women's leadership roles in NASFAM Associations during the FGD and by NASFAM was not supported by the Gender Balance Matrix which showed no significant increase in leadership roles for women in GALS households. This discrepancy in findings is most likely due to weaknesses in phrasing of the leadership questions in the Gender Balance Matrix exercise with respondents as- Fig. 2. Iterative model of change prioritizing women's agency. suming the questions related to leadership positions in the wider community rather than more specifically NASFAM Associations. We → → also do not have any data on women who are 'well regarded' and may (preconditions) Agency (process) Achievements (outcomes). She be considered informal leaders. also placed particular importance on the ability of women to make meaningful, life-changing choices. Our research shows that the GALS is 4. Discussion and conclusion indeed a methodology which promotes the processes by which people who have been denied the ability to make choices acquire such an The Chichewa word for vision is used in both the GALS and non- ability. GALS sites; no new words have been coined for this concept in relation The visioning process and accompanying tools facilitate women fi fi to the GALS. However, in the non-GALS sites the word, much as in (and men) to de ne choices that can be life-changing, rst-order fi English, expresses an aspiration and hope for the future. In the GALS choices (houses, land are rst order choices in the study communities) fi sites, due to the training, respondents have reduced the abstract char- or choices which are lodged somewhere along the way between rst acter of the concept by linking it closely to a specific time-bound goal and second order choices (such as livestock - particularly larger live- fi together with a staged plan to get there. A key effect of the GALS has stock). Our ndings suggest that resources as conventionally under- been to strengthen financial planning at the household level and to stood - particularly productive assets - take a secondary rather than reduce expenditure on 'moneyeaters' such as beer, girlfriends, hair- primary function. The GALS enables poor people, including very poor fi styles, and snacks. The use of gendered analytic tools such as the people, to change their lives in signi cant ways, and in so doing sti- Gender Balance Tree, and others, is important. Households come to mulate changes in how they are viewed in wider society. This in turn ff realise that inequitable gender relations hobble their livelihood plan- provokes positive feedback loops with a variety of e ects. We can ning. Realizing the vision necessarily requires identifying and over- therefore modify Kabeer's simple linear model with a more complex coming gender-based constraints. version (Fig. 2). Fig. 2 prioritizes agency as the primary condition for Many women involved in the GALS still prefer to concentrate on change and suggests that even in circumstances of extremely low rebuilding assets that indisputably belong to them. It can, therefore, be source allocation women's agency can be a very powerful force for argued that lack of jointness is continuing due to the weak position of change. The two-way arrows symbolize what will become increasingly women in these patrilineal, patrilocal communities. Improved jointness systemic iterations between agency - resource - achievement as feed- in intra-household decision-making is difficult to achieve when com- back loops are set in motion. fi munity institutions do not support it. The ndings draw attention to the extraordinary intrinsic power At the same time married women are demonstrably more able to poor people can have to change their lives. Household methodologies articulate and realise their own visions and plans, and they expect their represent a mechanism whereby poor people gain control over em- fi spouses and children to support them. They, likewise, support their powerment and de nes what it means to them in their particular life partners. At this level, jointness is improved. Taken together, two and particular situation. In so doing, they are very much following Sen's “ conflicting forces seem to be in operation. The process of developing (1990:44) conceptualization of empowerment as replacing the dom- visions strengthens the individual agency of both men and women ination of circumstances and chance by the domination of individuals while at the same time it is having a transformative effect on household over chance and circumstances." relationships, increasing co-operation, optimism and resilience. This is contributing towards assets being managed together. Acknowledgements Moves towards dissolving the gender division of labour in farm tasks, and in the designation of crops as women's or men's, are taking This work was implemented as part of the CGIAR Research Program place. Respondents trace causal links between jointness and improved on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), which is yields. Adult men, and boys, are taking on domestic tasks. This is in a carried out with support from CGIAR (P269) Fund Donors and through context where it is culturally almost unheard of for men to do so. bilateral funding agreements. For details please visit https://ccafs.cgiar. The GALS methodology allows household members to 'practice org/donors. The views expressed in this document cannot be taken to fl ffi jointness' in the company of other GALS households. Safe spaces in re ect the o cial opinions of these organizations. which to debate, to identify and challenge social constraints and vulnerabilities and model alternative behaviours, visions, and trade-offs References help to anchor behavioural change over the longer term (Kegan, 2000; Kreber, 2012; Brookfield, 2012). Acharya, D.R., Bell, J.S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E.R., Regmi, P.R., 2010. Women's autonomy in household decision-making: a demographic study in Nepal. Reprod. We can now return to Kabeer's (1999) empowerment framework. As Health 2010, 7–15. a reminder, she posited that the ability to exercise choice can be Alam, N.N., 2017. Extended Family and Women's Household Autonomy in Matlab, thought of in terms of three inter-related dimensions: Resources Bangladesh. Preliminary draft. April 28, 2017. https://www.ioea.eu/students/

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Food Secur. 1 (1), Udry, C., 1996. Gender, agricultural production and the theory of the household. J. 31–50. http://www.agrigender.net/views/Building-gender-transformative- Political Econ. 104, 1010–1046. extension-JGAFS-112015-2.php. UNDP, 2015. Briefing Note for Countries on the 2015 Human Development Farnworth, C.R., Fones Sundell, M., Nzioki, A., Shivutse, V., 2013. Transforming Gender Report.Malawi. . http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/ Relations in Agriculture in Southern and East Africa. Sustainable International MWI.pdf. Agriculture Initiative (SIANI). Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden. UNWomen (no date). In Brief: Economic Empowerment of Women. UNWomen. http:// Farnworth, C.R., Stirling, C.M., Sapkota, T., Jat, M.L., Misiko, M., Attwood, S., 2017. www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment. Gender and inorganic nitrogen: the implications of moving towards a more balanced World Bank, 2012. Levelling the Field: Improving Opportunities for Women Farmers in use in the tropics. Int. J. Agric. Sustain. (IJAS). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ Africa. World Bank. 14735903.2017.1295343. Flora, C., Flora, J., 2008. Rural Communities: Legacy and Change, third ed. Westview Cathy Rozel Farnworth holds a PhD from the University of Agricultural Sciences in Press, Boulder, CO. Sweden. Shehas a strong theoretical and practical background on gender issues in agri- GDSRC, 2012. Helpdesk Research Report: Economic Empowerment and Violence against culture, value chains and climate change. She has twenty years of experience of working Women and Girls (VAWG) 03.02.12. By Erika McAslan Fraser. . www.gsdrc.org/ in many countries around the world on behalf of multi-lateral and bilateral agencies, docs/open/hdq790.pdf. research institutions and NGOs. She has worked for CIMMYT for several years. Email: Gyasi, E., Uitto, J.I., 1997. Environment, Biodiversity and Agricultural Change in West [email protected] Africa. Perspectives from Ghana. University Press, United Nations. http://archive. unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80964e/80964E0f.htm. fi IFAD, 2014. Case Study: Household Approach for Gender, HIV and AIDS Mainstreaming, Clare Stirling is a senior scientist in the Sustainable Intensi cation Program of CIMMYT. She has more than 25 years' experience in tropical and temperate agriculture. Her re- Malawi. Prepared by Frieda Kayuni and Rexy Tolani, DAES, for IFAD Gender, Targeting and Social Inclusion. https://www.ifad.org/documents/10180/bccb9f62- search interests span natural resource management, agroforestry, rural livelihoods and fi 1794-453c-834e-017c9a5f348d. environmental limitations to crop production with a speci c focus on climate change Johnson, Nancy L., Kovarik, Chiara, Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela, Njuki, Jemimah, adaptation and mitigation. She holds a PhD in Environmental Crop Physiology from the Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2016. Gender, Assets, and Agricultural Development: Lessons University of Nottingham. Email: [email protected] from Eight Projects. World Dev. 83, 295–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev. 2016.01.009. Amon Chinyophiro is a rural development expert and agricultural value chain consultant. Kabeer, N., 1999. Resources, agency, achievements: reflections on the measurement of Until April 2017, he worked for 11 years at NASFAM as Community Development women's empowerment. Dev. Change 30 (3), 435–464. Programme Manager responsible for coordinating implementation of interventions that Kassie, M., Stage, J., Teklewold, H., Erenstein, O., 2015. Gendered food security in rural support farmers' livelihoods. He has valuable expertise in managing Gender, HIV and Malawi: why is women's food security status lower? Food Secur. 7 (6), 1299–1320. AIDS, Climate change, Food and Nutrition Security and Child Labour Projects. Email: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12571-015-0517-y. [email protected] Kegan, R., 2000. What “form” Transforms? A constructive-developmental approach to transformative learning. In: Mezirow, Jack, Associates (Eds.), Learning as Andrew Namakhoma holds a Master of Science degree in Strategic Management, Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress. Jossey-Bass, San University of Derby. He works on gender, HIV/AIDS issues, child Labour and project Francisco, pp. 35–69. management with over 15 Kreber, C., 2012. Critical reflection and transformative learning. In: Taylor, E.W., Cranton, P. (Eds.), The Handbook of Transformative Learning: Theory, Research and – Practice. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp. 323 341. years of experience working in the NGO sector in Malawi and Zambia. Andrew was Malapit, H.J.L., Kadiyala, S., Quisumbing, A.R., Cunningham, K., Tyagi, P., 2015. Community and Development Programmes officer at NASFAM for 12 years.Email: ff Women's empowerment mitigates the negative e ects of low production diversity on [email protected]. maternal and child nutrition in Nepal. J. Dev. Stud. 51 (8), 1097–1123. http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/00220388.2015.1018904. fi Marenya, P., Kassie, M., Tostao, E., 2015. Fertilizer use on individually and jointly Rebecca Morahan is a consultant working in the eld of gender in value chains with ff managed crop plots in Mozambique. J. Gend. Agric. Food Secur. 1 (2), 62–83. particular experience of co ee, cocoa and groundnuts. She specialises in participatory Mayoux, L., 2012. Gender mainstreaming in value chain development: experience with methodologies including GALS. She has over 15 years experience working within the gender action learning system in Uganda. Enterp. Dev. Microfinance 23 (4), 319–337. Fairtrade sector and is currently an associate at Twin, the Cooperative College and http://dx.doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.2012.031. InsightShare. Email: [email protected].

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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

Exploring the potential of household methodologies to strengthen gender T equality and improve smallholder livelihoods: Research in Malawi in maize- based systems

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

55 C.R. Farnworth et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 53–61

2.3. Study sites

2.4. Key informant questionnaire 2.6. Gender balance tree questionnaire

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Asset GALS:joint GALS:man GALS:woman non-GALS:joint non-GALS:man non-GALS:woman Pvalue

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Variable GALS:joint GALS:man GALS:woman non-GALS:joint non-GALS:man non-GALS:woman Pvalue

60 C.R. Farnworth et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 53–61

61 Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 62–72

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

The connective strategies of Bedouin women entrepreneurs in the Negev T ∗ Aleksandra Biernacka , Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder, Gideon M. Kressel

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, The Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, Israel

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: The study examines various forms of entrepreneurship of the Negev Bedouin women, mostly within the urban Women self-employment settings, in order to determine strategies applied in their entrepreneurial development. The analysis is based on Ethnic entrepreneurship semi-structured interviews with 28 women entrepreneurs, interviews with representatives of institutions sup- Ethnic enclaves porting entrepreneurship and on participatory observations. The research draws on existing ethnic entrepreneurship theories and the family-embeddedness perspective, which allows for consideration of the relation between economic processes and family system characteristics and transformations which occur simultaneously and have reciprocal impact. The Bedouin women entrepreneurs are found to operate mainly within their urban ethnic enclaves, whereby difficult economic conditions combined with gender pressures create a mostly informal sector that complements insufficiencies of the formal market. These women develop their businesses by applying specific patriarchal connectivity strategies, which were developed due to strong impact of familial factors, such as: transitions in family structure, accessibility to family financial and human resources, adherence to the social codes and values. The impact of the last factor is visible on two levels: gender-separation of economic activities and networks (products and services addressed to women and children) and different roles of male and female family members. Whereas female members become employees or assistants, the male members keep their patriarchal positions as protectors and facilitators between the social requirements and exigencies of the economic activities. The connective strategies of Bedouin women entrepreneurs aim strongly at fulfilling their social roles as women, mothers and wives within the patriarchal order and as such, they bridge the gap between the strategies that previously accommodated desert condition subsistence living and the exigencies of the market economy of their contemporary semi-urban desert environment.

1. Introduction 2014), though research on female entrepreneurship in the non-Eur- opean contexts has been growing since 2003 (Henry et al., 2016). Ap- 1.1. General definition of the problem plication of qualitative methods of investigation and paying more attention to the contexts in which women's business activities are This study examines various forms of entrepreneurship of the Negev embedded have allowed for better understanding of the great hetero- Bedouin women, mostly within the urban settings, in order to de- geneity of women entrepreneurs and the intersectionality of gender, termine strategies applied in their entrepreneurial development. These ethnicity, religion and entrepreneurship; for instance: Essers and women constitute a social group in Israel which suffers from a double Benschop (2009), Al-Dajani and Marlow (2010), Tlaiss (2015). marginalization – as Arab minority in a Jewish State and as women The Bedouin women entrepreneurs researched in this study were within a patriarchal tribal society (Abu-Rabia-Queder, 2016). However, found to operate mainly within their urban ethnic enclaves where dif- so far, there has been little scholarly work done in order to investigate ficult political-economic conditions combined with social pressures current economic developments of these Bedouin women, specifically create a mostly informal sector; which complements insufficiencies of their entrepreneurial activities, notwithstanding, with a closer look at the formal labour market. the intersection of gender, ethnicity and entrepreneurship in the Negev Considering previous studies on women's agency and strategies Bedouin context. applied in business relative to their embeddedness in differing contexts Minority women entrepreneurship, specifically Arab and Muslim (for example Shelton (2006), Brush et al. (2014), Roig et al. (2016)), women, have received scarce attention by scholars (De Vita et al., our study aims at revealing the specific practices that Bedouin women

∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Biernacka). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.10.004 Received 28 May 2016; Received in revised form 6 October 2017; Accepted 9 October 2017 Available online 21 October 2017 0140-1963/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. A. Biernacka et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 62–72 use in navigating between their enterprises and contextual constraints of effects, depending on the local contexts. Aldrich and Cliff (2003) and opportunities. This research found that Bedouin women operate claim that transformations within family structures, shifts in timing of their businesses by applying specific patriarchal connectivity strategies, life-cycle processes, as well as changing roles of mothers and children, which were developed due to strong impact of familial factors, such as: have impacts on creating new business opportunities. Their conceptual transitions in family structure, accessibility to family financial and framework emphasizes relationships between the family's character- human resources, adherence to the social codes and values. The impact istics - such as ‘transitions, resources, norms and values’ - and the of the last factor is visible on two levels: gender-separation of economic processes behind establishing new business entities. activities and networks (products and services addressed to women and In recent studies on women entrepreneurship, understanding their children) and different roles of male and female family members. embeddedness in context helps to uncover the roots of variations be- Whereas female members become employees or assistants, the male tween men and women-led businesses. Such differences have been members keep their patriarchal positions as protectors and facilitators found to arise due to the gendered nature of the entrepreneurial process between the social requirements and exigencies of the economic ac- and could not have been explained in earlier studies conducted with tivities. gender as variable (GAV) approach in which the word 'gender' was This research contributes to the growing body of scholarly work on equivalent to 'sex' and was not problematized (Henry et al., 2016). The women entrepreneurs with applied qualitative methods of investigation degree of family embeddedness of businesses depends on roles and focusing on their embeddedness and the interplay between contexts and social expectations and as such, may be different for men and women, the entrepreneurial processes. By focusing on the family embeddedness affecting the distribution of power, assets and availability of time spent of the Bedouin women within their socio-cultural, family environment, on networking and business development (Brush et al., 2014). Studies this study will add to the extant body of knowledge on the con- on female entrepreneurs point to such factors as family support, role textualised women entrepreneurship shedding more light on the nature models, self-assurance and marriage as having significant impact on the of gendered practices in business and enriching the currently scarce ways that business is run by women (Nikina et al., 2015). scholarship on minority ethnic women entrepreneurship and on the Bedouin women in Israel specifically. 1.3. The gaps in literature on minority women's entrepreneurship

1.2. Theoretical approach of entrepreneurship as a process embedded in The abundant research on women entrepreneurship has been largly context focused on women in developed countries, although a significant share of small and medium business activity is undertaken by women living in This research contributes to the growing body of scholarly work on developing regions (De Vita et al., 2014). These studies focused mostly women entrepreneurs with applied qualitative methods of investiga- on women's characteristics, psychology, motivations, networking action, with focus on their embeddedness and the interplay between tivities, performance and growth (De Vita et al., 2014). Since 2003, the contexts and the entrepreneurial processes. field's research has expanded into emerging economies within the non- In the entrepreneurial theory, both individual action of en- European context, included immigrant women in developed countries trepreneur and organizational operation are seen as dependent on their and delved more into studying social, economic and institutional con- surrounding environment of institutions and social relations, which is text in which female entrepreneurship is embedded (Henry et al., called embeddedness. This term has been introduced by Karl Polanyi in 2016). Although there are common characteristics of women en- 1944 as a characteristic of non-market economies and was later chal- trepreneurs in developing countries, such as entrepreneurial pro- lenged by revealing the embeddedness of market economies as well pensity, sectoral concentration, preference for the domestic sphere as a (Gemici, 2008). The level of social embeddedness of businesses has site of production and the importance of family enterprise (Al-Dajani been found to be higher in collective types of societies, where the in- and Marlow, 2010), the new perspectives allowed for capturing the terdependent self-construal (relative to the social norms) has a more heterogeneity of women entrepreneurs, the differing contexts and their dominant effect on the business decisions and results than business diversified impacts. trainings or experience (Siu and Siu-chung Lo, 2011). Greater em- The reciprocal relation of entrepreneurship and gender has been beddedness has also been found among ethnic entrepreneurs (belonging examined from two angles: how gender effects entrepreneurial pro- to immigrant or an ethnic minority group), though it should be viewed cesses, for example, the impact of societal legitimation on en- rather as an outcome of intersectional influences (gender, minority trepreneur's activity (Singh et al., 2010) and how the gendered systems status, class, etc.) than mere cultural characteristics (Anthias and are effected by entrepreneurship (Al-Dajani and Marlow, 2013). Mehta, 2003). Studies on the complexity of institutional, economic, A popular theme includes analyses of the microcredit programmes political and socio-cultural factors impeding on the ethnic entrepreneur aimed at alleviating the poverty levels in developing regions among led to the development of mixed-embeddedness theoretical approach, women and their families and their effect on women's status; finding applied specifically to immigrant entrepreneurship (Brush et al., 2014). that these efforts do not challenge patriarchal systems (Al-Dajani and Entrepreneurial embeddedness as a theoretical concept has devel- Marlow, 2010), but keep women in home-based industries with low- oped further to distinguish four types of embeddedness: structural, paid jobs (Erdoganaras et al., 2013), and may lead to debt accumulation cultural, institutional and family embeddedness (Brush et al., 2014). (Girón, 2014). Structural embeddedness refers to networks, alliances and ties. In- Women were also found to be more affected by informal institutions stitutional embeddedness places the entrepreneurial process in the such as social norms and perceptions than men (Roig et al., 2016). context of formal and informal institutions, policies and legal systems. Research on women's agencies proves that undertaking entrepreneurial Cultural embeddedness focuses on the impact of norms, values, tradi- efforts requires women to enact certain strategies and negotiation in tions and customs on entrepreneurship. Since cultural norms and values situations challenging the existing social orders and to navigate be- affect mental processes of decision making, cultural embeddedness is tween exigencies of business, family and society (Shelton, 2006) – a associated with the cognitive embeddedness approach and has proved practice common to women globally. to have both constraining and an enabling effects. In studies of en- The number of studies of Muslim and Arab women entrepreneurs is trepreneurship, the family embeddedness is a relatively recent ap- still relatively scarce (De Vita et al., 2014), though examples include proach (Aldrich and Cliff, 2003) and aims to re-establish the links be- studies of women in their home countries (such as Lebanon - Jamali, tween the seemingly divided worlds of work and family, the public and 2009; Saudi Arabia - Ahmad, 2011) as well as Arab women ethnic en- private domains. These mutual impacts were found globally to be sig- trepreneurship (Arab women in Spain - Roig et al., 2016; Muslim nificant for small and medium enterprises (Welsh, 2006), with a variety women in the Netherlands - Essers and Benschop, 2009) which point to

63 A. Biernacka et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 62–72 the intersectionality of gender, ethnicity and entrepreneurship. The within their socio-cultural, family environment, this study will add to level of women's engagement in the labour market in Middle Eastern the extant body of knowledge on women entrepreneurship in its closest countries is still low in comparison to other regions (De Vita et al., contexts, shedding more light on the nature of gendered practices in 2014). Countries in this region also vary in levels of women en- business and enriching the currently scarce scholarship on minority trepreneurship, with the Persian Gulf women taking the lead what is ethnic women entrepreneurship and on the Bedouin women in Israel attributed to higher rates of financing and training available to them specifically. Considering previous studies on women's agency and (Roig et al., 2016). strategies applied in doing business in relation to their embeddedness in Embeddedness in the patriarchal environment and patriarchal differing contexts, our study aims at revealing the specific practices that gender order is seen as the causal factor for the low rates of labour Bedouin women use in navigating between their enterprises and con- market participation by women (Ahmad, 2011). Despite the common textual constraints and opportunities. perception of self-employment as a convenient option for combining work and family duties, Arab women entrepreneurs point out that 1.4. The context finding this balance constitutes for them one of the greatest challenges in doing business (CAWTAR report 2007 cited in Roig et al., 2016). In The arid environment of the northern part of the Negev Desert in their study on Palestinian women entrepreneurs in Jordan, Al-Dajani Southern Israel has been for centuries home to the nomadic tribes that and Marlow (2010) found little spill-over of work into family life and made use of its scarce natural resources to develop their economic concluded that entrepreneurship is done in a way that maintains the subsistence system based on pastoralism and agriculture. The global patriarchal order, rather than challenges it. processes of sedentarization, urbanisation and transformation into Researchers have also explored interconnections between en- market economy have been intensified in this community by the poli- trepreneurial identity of Muslim women and Islam (Tlaiss, 2015) and tical process of the creation of the State of Israel and the enforcement of impacts of secular and Islamic feminism on entrepreneurs. The focus on the closed area in northeast part of the Negev 'siyagh' (Arabic word for gender and community justice of the Islamic feminist approach is seen “the permitted area”) in the 1960's, where the Bedouin tribes were as a stronger factor in reshaping the gender relations in both home and relocated and concentrated under Israeli military control. Their mobi- the public space (Özkazanç-Pan, 2015). In order to facilitate en- lity outside of the siyagh was restricted, requiring permits to leave for trepreneurship, Muslim ethnic entrepreneurs were found to craft in- work and other purposes (Abu-Bader and Gottlieb, 2009). During the dividual religious identities to resists dogmatic interpretations of Islam. 1970's and 1980's, seven towns were designated for the Bedouin po- A religious Muslim identification is believed to be stronger than ethnic pulation in order to curb spontaneous settlement in the desert. The identity and less confining (Essers and Benschop, 2009). Bedouins could move there on the condition they gave up their claims Research on the Arab and Bedouin minority entrepreneurs in Israel to recognition of their rights to the land on which they had lived pre- finds a high degree of embeddedness of the community's businesses. viously. Rejection of moving into the town resulted in becoming a re- Schnell and Sofer, 2002 revealed that Arab male entrepreneurship in sident of an unrecognized settlement (Medzini, 2012). The new towns Israel is over-embedded in their local-Arab milieu and under-embedded (Rahat, Tel Sheva, Laquiya, Kseife, Hura, Segev Shalom, Arara) with a in the Israeli-Jewish milieu, which keeps their businesses within their population of about 117900 (Bedouin Statistical Yearbook, 2010) ethnic enclave and prevents their growth and expansion into the inter- lacked adequate infrastructure and were ill-designed in terms of Bed- ethnic market. A high level of social embeddedness is also a feature of ouin needs, including lack of employment, and negatively affected the Arab women entrepreneurs in Israel (Heilbrunn and Abu-Asbah, 2011). gendered reconstruction of space, in terms of permitted and forbidden By taking into consideration the frequency of contacts with clients and spaces for women (Fenster, 1999). The population size of the un- clients' home locations, they showed that majority of Arab women's recognized settlements currently amount to about 90000 (Abu-Rabia- businesses depend on regular, locally-based residents. This factor was Queder, 2016) and are considered illegal by the State, thus they often related to such business characteristics as operating in the service and lack basic infrastructure: electricity, water, roads, transportation, access retail sector, being homebased and unregistered. The over-embedded- to health clinics and schools, etc., (Abu-Bader and Gottlieb, 2009). ness of this group was also characterized by a higher number of under- Since 2002 ten of the spontaneous Bedouin settlements were recognized aged children, lack of human, financial and social capital; the latter as legal (Berkowitz, 2013), however, some services or building per- including also “social permission”. missions are not provided. The residence of these Bedouin ethnic en- In Israel, Palestinian women entrepreneurs were found to have the claves became dependent on the wage economy created in the Jewish smallest rates of entrepreneurship in comparison to women from other sector. ethnic groups in Israel (veteran Jewish and immigrants from Former The new urban setting had relatively less impact on the employment Soviet Union), they have more difficulties in obtaining financial capital of Bedouin men, since they had entered the labour market mostly in the and handling laws and regulations than other groups. These findings low-paid jobs (while retaining some of their pastoral activities) much point to the lack of institutional support rather than group's inner fac- before the relocation to towns. Its effect was more adverse on the status tors that block the entrepreneurial potential of this group (Heilbrunn of - Bedouin women. Apart from being located near the vicinity of et al., 2014). developed centers, such as Beer Sheva, the new towns, with their poor Regarding the Bedouins in Israel, Meir and Baskind (2006) ex- infrastructure, had no economic alternative to offer for women. amined Bedouin male ethnic business entrepreneurship. They reported Traditionally, most of the work done by the Bedouin women within that employment of brothers, cousins, sons and nephews is the most the society's pastoral, subsistent economy was serving the immediate common practice. Only 45% of the surveyed businesses employed needs of the family: preparing food, making clothes, weaving rugs and women, of whom majority were Jewish women, and in other cases close tents, tending the flock, milking animals, processing the milk and family members: sisters and nieces. According to this study, doing bringing water and wood. Their work significantly contributed to the business is considered to be a man's activity and women play very economic production and reduced the household expenditure (Dinero, minor roles in bringing income. However, they noted cases where 1997). There was a division of tasks with female-male roles and there women's jewellery was used to provide the funding capital for the was interrelatedness and inter-dependence of men and women in business. Women were also found to support their husbands' businesses agriculture and flock raising that created family cohesion and economic in an informal manner. As for perceptions of women's entrepreneurship, solidarity between the members (Abu-Rabia, 1994). Within the market such practice was mostly associated with marginal women economy context of the undeveloped urban structures, the balance was (Jakubowska, 2000). disrupted as there were no economic alternatives substituting pastor- By focusing on the family embeddedness of the Bedouin women alist roles for women within their social context.

64 A. Biernacka et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 62–72

Negev Bedouin women's process of inclusion into the labour market active in the field of Bedouin women entrepreneurship and employment were found to be interwoven with women's family and social status, were interviewed in English: entrepreneurial training and funding where single women of low family status are the first to be employed providers (such as Arab Jewish Centre for Equality, Empowerment and while married women and those of higher social status were not per- Cooperation, MATI-Small Business Development Centers, The Koret mitted to work (Kressel, 1992, 2006; Lewando-Hundt, 1984; Israel Economic Development Funds and SAWA - microcredit program Jakubowska, 2000), what exacerbated the effect of lack of infra- directed at Bedouin Women in the Negev), and representatives of the structure in the mostly underdeveloped desert region (Abu-Bader and Ryan Employment Centre in Hura and in Beer Sheva. Their experiences Gottlieb, 2009). Although Bedouin women employment rates have been and perceptions were important to understand the institutional en- slowly growing, the rate of Arab women's participation in the labour vironment in which Bedouin women develop their businesses in the market in the South is still the lowest in Israel, reaching 9% (Abu-Bader Negev, what kind of support they get and how the institutions perceive and Gottlieb, 2009) and those who succeed face “professional margin- the situation and needs of these women. ality” that blocks their development (Abu-Rabia-Queder, 2016). The interviews were complemented with participatory observation These factors create the socio-political-economic environment of an and unstructured interviews during home stays at some Bedouin fa- ethnic enclave in which most of the Bedouin female entrepreneurs milies in Tel Sheva and Rahat; which included volunteering in an NGO operate their economic activities (informal and formal) in which they ran by Bedouin women and participation in daily tasks of Bedouin apply “connective strategies” to overcome the seemingly incompatible: entrepreneurs. The participatory observation method's aim was to get structural barriers, pressures of the market economy, familial and social acquainted with the Bedouin society and their day-to-day experiences expectations, rules of their enclave and their own aspirations. in order to more deeply understand the context of social relations and practices surrounding the women engaged in entrepreneurship. 2. Materials and methods 2.2. The characteristics of the researched population 2.1. Qualitative methods applied in the research The group of female entrepreneurs interviewed consists of twenty- The proposed research was based on qualitative methods, including eight cases revealing various scenarios of life circumstances, as well as, 28 semi-structured interviews, participatory observation and un- ways of embarking on a business initiative. Their general characteristics structured interviews (Bernard, 1988). The interviews with the women are summarized in Appendix 1. Eighteen of the interviewed women were semi-structured in order to allow the respondents to express their were married, whereas the personal status of the rest of respondents feelings and opinions, and to ensure that a basic set of aspects (personal was diversified: divorced (3), single (3) and abandoned ‘second wife’ and family status, education and work experience, motivation, business (4). Most of the women had 5 or fewer children. The majority of the history, level of income, family involvement, institutional support and women in the sample were between 35 and 46 years-old. Most of these training) was addressed by all respondents. Qualitative methods in re- women started their businesses in their 30's, after already being mar- search into women's entrepreneurship are encouraged within the gen- ried. The majority of respondents were local women (20), living in close dered perspective, as it helps to gain a better understanding of en- vicinity to their family of origins, even after marriage. The remaining trepreneurial work as a ‘gendered activity’ (Henry et al., 2016). The interviewees were either wives coming from other Bedouin locations qualitative methods help to develop theories, rather than testing them; (5) or from the Palestinian Territories (3). The level of education among as one of the goals of this research was to look at the entrepreneurship the women interviewed is diversified and ranges from college and of Bedouin women in order to explore its own unique features. The university level (4) to women with no formal education (4). Eleven fieldwork began between May 2008 and January 2009 and continued women completed only primary education and nine graduated from from March 2010 until December 2011. high school. Only nine of the women interviewed participated in en- A total of 28 Bedouin women entrepreneurs were interviewed. The trepreneurial training, and four of those women have registered their interviewees lived and operated their activities mostly within the businesses officially. Among the women with higher education, one Bedouin towns of Rahat, Tel Sheva, Laqiya, Hura and Segev Shalom. obtained a diploma in business marketing, one in accounting, one in Two of them lived and worked in unrecognized settlements. The in- education, and one started a degree in public administration but did not terviewed entrepreneurs were selected using the snowball method complete it. Vocational courses, which also provide knowledge on (Bernard, 1988). This method resulted in recording of personal stories starting a business, were the most popular, especially the cosmetic, of women of various backgrounds and social status who ran their hairdressing and photography programmes. businesses in very distinct manners, ranging from a small income The types of work experience prior to the business activities of the generating activity at home, to a producer who sells to customers na- interviewed women included managerial position in an NGO, work in tionally and abroad, or to a chain owner of two shops located on a main Matnas (local cultural centre) secretarial jobs, educational positions, street of the town. work in a textile factory or agriculture, and traditional household oc- The field work was conducted by the first author, MA student under cupations (cooking, sewing, animal raising). the supervision of the two co-authors, between the years 2007–2008 and 2010–2012. The first author is a non-native to the Israeli Bedouin- 3. Results and discussion Jewish context, which helped to position the researcher outside of the hegemonic structure of relations between these groups. The two co- 3.1. “Connectivity” as theoretical concept authors are both natives to Israel, however Prof. Kressel belongs to the Jewish majority, while dr. Abu-Rabia-Queder to the Bedouin minority. The analysis revealed the existence of specific strategies applied by The interviews were carried out in Hebrew and a Hebrew-native in- the Bedouin women in their economic endeavours. These strategies, terpreter was present translating into English. Since the translator was a described below, have been divided into three main groups according to woman in her early 60's and a mother of three daughters, it helped to the specific roles: “family dependants” (wives, sisters, daughters), establish more direct communication, especially with elder and married women (in relation to social codes and norms) and mothers. Decision- women who eagerly shared their family stories. In 3 cases where the making strategies applied by Bedouin women in situations that con- respondents spoke mostly Arabic, other local women – their daughters stitute a challenge to traditionally accepted norms are named as “con- or neighbours – helped with their Hebrew and English skills. All in- nective”, using the concept of “connectivity“- ability to connect with terviews were recorded and later transcribed for further analysis. another person, with having fluid boundaries which are less vulnerable Additionally, a number of representatives of institutions that are than fixed ones. This term was used by Suad Joseph, an anthropologist

65 A. Biernacka et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 62–72 specialising in issues of gender, families, children and youth in the income, that she receives support and respect from her husband, Middle East, to build a concept of “patriarchal connectivity” (Joseph, leading to more cohesion in their marriage. In one case of a beauty 1999). It is a helpful concept in understanding social relationships salon, the husband opened the business in his own name and left its within Arab societies, where the domination by males and the elderly is management to the wife. encoded in cultural constructs and in the corresponding codes of re- Women's income is not only invested in ‘their own’ shopping, but it sponding to it. Although “connectivity” - originally a Jungian term – is used as part of the investment in the house, buying a car, paying for implies neither hierarchy nor subordination of women and juniors, the children's education – including the extended family. It takes time, patriarchal context entails certain cultural constructs and social rela- however, before this specific ‘purchasing power’ created by women's tions which are then connectively supported as well as reproduced. hands is recognized by the husband, who has been so far perceived as Similarly, the connective strategies in business decision making as de- the sole breadwinner for the family. In this way, the small businesses scribed in this work serve to explain the entrepreneurial process within bring the Bedouin women back to their capacities of contributing the Arab-Bedouin collectivist-type of society and show both the social economically to their households, an ability lost in the early stages of and family embeddedness of entrepreneurship, as well as, the con- forced urbanisation. nective nature of the entrepreneurs. The “connective” aspect underlines The maintenance of the equilibrium in marital relations is well il- that there is no dysfunctionality implied by the relationality of the self lustrated in a story of a woman who designs ‘Arab salons’ and sews and as understood in Western, psychological terms of “the self”. Rather, it is sells mattresses, pillows and other accessories related to house dec- a sign of maturity in social relations and thus, a maturity in en- orations. Before she embarked on her business, she worked in a local trepreneurial choices that should not be measured according to in- Bedouin NGO. She contributed with her salary to enlarging and dividualistic and economic efficiency scales. equipping their home. When her husband decided to open his own business she sold her wedding gold to support him. He succeeded in his 3.2. Connective strategies as “family dependents” (wife-sister-daughter) business to such extend that they could afford themselves luxuries, such as going on holidays. After some years she decided to quit her job in the 3.2.1. Challenging marital social roles as the family “breadwinner” NGO and turned her design hobby into a business. The Bedouin women entrepreneurs operate within a very un- “I was always afraid, but kept on encouraging myself. My husband favourable socio-economic environment, where the structural obstacles was very supportive, he would come with me to buy the materials, are coupled with constraints stemming from the patriarchal and tribal he would advise me what to buy and with what I should wait. I used social context, in which woman's behaviour casts light on the whole his visa card to buy the sewing machine. (…) He accompanied me to family (Abu-Rabia-Queder, 2007). Consequently, her business is viewed a material fair in Turkey for 4 days. (…) Me and my husband share a in the context of the family and its status. Her economic activities common account, but I always know how much there is in the ac- constitute a challenge to the patriarchal order, where the husband is count. We have a fax and the report from the account comes to us perceived as the family's main breadwinner, a status he seeks to uphold and we look at it and discuss it. My husband earns more than me, vis-à-vis his associates. but then I help him a lot in the house and with the kids. (…)Even if During an interview with the representative of SAWA micro-loan his brothers need to borrow NIS 11000, I am ok with it and I know programme for Bedouin women, the manager of the programme (a that if my children would need money, they will also help them and Bedouin woman herself) explained the approach she took, based on her return it. So I do not protest to my husband about it.” own experience, in her dealing with Bedouin women entrepreneurs and promoting family advancement as a whole, as part of the individual (Arab salon designer and shop owner, Laqiya, 24.01.2011) advancement of the woman. The woman does not see the income from her business as something of individual value. She acknowledges the rights of her husband and his “They (Bedouin women who start their activities) have wisdom to family to draw from these resources, understanding the reciprocal look far into the future, to foresee the conflict and to try not to let it character of family relations. Although she admits that her husband's happen. I know myself, that when I was taking the decision to earnings are higher, she explains that her lower income is compensated continue studying to MA, my husband was just a driver in a private by her additional work at home. She understands her contributions to business. So I encouraged him to do his BA, and get a better posi- the household not only in terms of incomes, but rather the total com- tioned and responsible job in security – he did his military service – plementarity of tasks, which include household chores and childcare. and thus, I could continue with my MA, as I knew my status cannot The negotiations of statuses, roles and individual versus familial be higher than the one of my husband, since it would make the interests found in this research resemble findings in other studies. For people talk bad about us. So the women (who start businesses) also example Singh et al. (2010) show that the social perceptions of en- think of delegating some part of what they do to their husbands and trepreneurship are obstacles which need to be negotiated. Al-Dajani and to make them responsible for important tasks so they are not left Marlow (2010) pointed that Palestinian refugee women in Jordan need behind.” to negotiate their subjected identity at home in a way that it does not (Representative of SAWA, microcredit programme for Bedouin challenge the patriarchal order, even if it means hiding the truth that a women. Rahat, 22.03.2011) women's income is higher than the husband's. On the other hand, wo- In her own case, this woman saw herself as a part of the family that men's ability to contribute to family income in situations of poverty has she created with her husband and knew that in her society, the status of been also found to be the factor for increasing social acceptance for the family comes together with the status of her husband and not the women-led entrepreneurship. wife. Having a wife who occupies a higher position would not bring him Economic empowerment is probably only the first step, and there is honour. a further need for programmes which will change the power relations at For many women, especially those with little education and no home, giving women more control over their income (Kantor (2005). previous work experience, proving their money-making skills is a step According to the findings in this research, the Bedouin women struggle they need to overcome while starting their business. Many women from to negotiate societal approval for their economic activities by making the most marginalized Bedouin families, who came to SAWA to obtain a the individual issue part of the family, in bringing additional income at loan of NIS 1000–2000 to start a small activity in their house, cannot the disposal for nucleus and extended family needs. Comparatively, count on their husbands' support. Starting a new business is very in- other studies found that women tend to have more ethical and socially vasive for a woman's house and family, as she needs to introduce responsible approach to their business (De Vita et al., 2014) and that a changes to make space to do her activities. It is only after she generates communitarian approach in entrepreneurship programmes provided by

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Islamic feminist organizations tend to be more successful in changing above the economic performance of individual goals. women's status both at home and in the public (Özkazanç-Pan, 2015). As presented above, Bedouin women gain in income, respect and 3.3. Connective strategies as women in relation to traditional roles and permission to be present in the entrepreneurial domain. At the same gender-segregation time, they manage to maintain the equilibrium of gender statuses, inscribed in gender roles distributions, which will be discussed below in Fenster (1999) showed that women's accessibility to the public relation to the roles of mothers. space of the ethnic enclaves within the recognized towns has been additionally complicated by their culturally insensitive planning; which 3.2.2. The 'protectors': fathers, brothers and husbands as agents for women made the masculine public (such as parks, other neighborhoods and entrepreneurship town centers) also “multi-tribal” and thus rendered these spaces even The examples above suggest that obtaining the equilibrium while more “forbidden”. The home and neighbourhood remained the only challenging the bread-winning roles often entails strengthening men's “permitted” areas for Bedouin women, though women associated these status in their superior roles. Fathers, brothers and husbands are the spaces with feelings of “suffocation” due to their density of population. ones who can help the women to extend the limitations set by social However, commercial and service centers located on non-tribal land, requirements and protect her against the society's watchful eye. These accessibility to public transport and heterogeneity of women's statuses responsibilities may result in attitudes of both support and constraint. (age, social status, different mobility norms in various tribes) were Similar roles were described also by Abu-Rabia-Queder (2008) in case factors that helped making public spaces more permittable for women of pioneering women in education and employment. Employment of (specifically in Rahat). brothers in a woman's business did not occur in the studied examples. The entrepreneurship of Bedouin women is also embedded in these But a partnership or help and protection from brothers, fathers and contexts, which lead to creation of new permittable (Fenster, 1999) husbands are frequent phenomena. spaces, expanding female networks and relying on female family One of the innovative professions that have developed among the human resources. Bedouin women in the Negev, is a wedding photographer. This function combines a new demand for keeping memories of those special days in 3.3.1. Bedouin women's traditional roles and permittable spaces in the form of pictures and films, with the cultural requirements of se- commercial activities paration of sexes during wedding celebrations. A wedding photo- The scope of women's activities encompasses traditional women's grapher from Rahat faced strong opposition from her brother to go out home occupations and services targeted at women's and children's to work at night at a different town, despite the fact that she was al- needs and tends to be an extension of women's traditional, domestic ready married and her husband was very supportive in this case. Her roles or women-only services. The economic entrepreneurial activities brother agreed to drive her with his car to every wedding. After three of Bedouin women in this study are: food preparation (bread, milk, months, when he understood the nature of the work, he agreed to let- cheese), sewing clothes and clothes repairing, kindergartens or pre- ting her get a driving license and gave her his car as a present. kindergartens, tents for tourists, shops with clothes and food, jewellery, Another story of a successful business owner illustrates how an interior design, sewing mattress's covers and pillows, hairdressing, unmarried woman manoeuvres between entrepreneurial and patri- cosmetics, bride salons, DJs and photographer's services for weddings. archal challenges. With her father's consent, she managed to build a The low-skills occupations such as food preparation and sewing were full-fledged, tourist-oriented business with a wide network of connec- typical for women between 45 and 55 years old with none or basic tions extending outside the ethnic enclave to the rest of the country and education. abroad. The business is located on a piece of land that belongs to her All the activities described in this study are located within the father. Although she is now in her forties, she needs to ask her father (or public or private space of the Bedouin ethnic enclave, although some in case when he is abroad her mother) for permission whenever she are oriented towards non-ethnic clientele (mostly in the tourism sector). needs to participate in a commercial event, tourist fair, arrange issues Only one woman in this sample (who is of non-Bedouin origin) runs her related to packaging or meet the accountant. She needs to be accom- activities in another Bedouin town which is not the place of her re- panied by a male relative. During events that take place in the evenings sidence. Other businesses relied on co-ethnics. outside her locality, her elder brother usually drives her. He opposed Bedouin women's entrepreneurial operations stem from their gen- her having a car, although she obtained a driving licence a long time dered experiences and traditionally accepted domestic roles. As such, ago. It is her dream to have a car and its realization would mark, not they adhere to the gender-segregation expectations, however crea- only an economic success, but also, would increase her own in- tively, finding new niches and opportunities (Bedouin cosmetics, DJs dependent status in the family. She has chosen not to push this matter, and photographers). They also slowly expand to 'men-only' professions, as it breeds conflicts between her brother and father and she wants to such as work contractors. For example, SAWA provided loans to a avoid it. She claims that if she ever gets married, it would have to be to woman who invested in a car to transport women to work in the someone who will grant her more freedom than what she can currently agriculture sector (not interviewed in this sample). enjoy. Expecting more freedom from a future husband is currently a The new areas of business activities that require learning modern theme discussed during settling marriage agreements. skills, such as photography and wedding DJ, although seasonal, tend to Joseph (1994) describes the brother/sister relationship as both of bring good income of about NIS 20000 within a month. For comparison, love/nurturing and power/violence nature, where men and women the average income of Arab women in Israel is 3500NIS per month, see reproduce and relearn the patriarchal structures, inscribed in father/ Schnell and Shdema (2016). Despite the fact that courses leading to daughter relationships. Both brothers and fathers (or the next closest these professions were supported by the Islamic authorities as permit- male relatives in their absence) maintain crucial roles in the honour/ table and their adherence to gender segregation rules practiced during shame complex, being responsible for restoring the family honour and the weddings, these occupations may be still socially loaded with a the protection and well-being of the sister/daughter. Findings in lit- perception of a low status: erature suggest that women entrepreneur's ability to speak up to the “It is not only if they (the girls) want to KEEP the traditions, they male relative, gaining more self-confidence and assertiveness are im- live in the whole community that will make them keep it and they portant forms of women's empowerment learnt through the business cannot go against them. The photographers, it is not related with the development process (Özkazanç-Pan, 2015; Jamali, 2009; Al Dajani and tradition. It is something new. Before, they would bring someone Marlow, 2010). However, the examples above point to a connectivity in from the West Bank but it was considered to be something CHEAP – decision making – where the cohesiveness on the family level is placed

67 A. Biernacka et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 62–72

the kind of work was of a low status. It is using the girls in a way that 3.3.2. Employment of female members makes them be cheap. I would never allow my daughter to become a Most Bedouin women rely on family members, in particular on their DJ.” sisters, as a pool for employees and assistants in their businesses, especially in cases of women who live in the same locality as their fa- (Personal communiqué, 25.07.2010, female, business owner, 40) mily of origin. This is also acknowledged by the business course pro- The hours of work and necessity to work for other families are ob- viders, economic advisors, and micro-credit providers. vious violations of social norms. Those who travel far and late at night Within the researched sample, there were 12 women who had at do so with the consent and assistance of their brothers or husbands, least one employee or an assistant. In two cases where an unrelated who in this way protect their public visibility. non-kin woman was employed, the business owner either lived in a The location of a beauty salon in proximity to health clinics or town different than her own kin, and thus the people whom she trusted mother and child centers make its accessibility easier for women cus- were her friends from the area, or the business required an employee tomers, who can visit it on the way to the medical centre, without with certain skills, such as hairdressing and cosmetics. There were ten asking for specific permission from their husbands. Women running cases where family members were employed or assisted in the business: tourist-oriented businesses remain cautious not to create ‘unacceptable’ sisters (5 cases), niece (2), daughter (1), a son (1) and a more distant situations of being alone with male visitors. family relative (1). These data suggest strong preference for engaging Most of these business sectors of the Bedouin women are extensions family members in the business. of domestic roles, similar to findings on low-income women in micro- One of the business women employs two sisters and one niece (her enterprises in other countries such as Tunisia (Berry-Chikhaoui, 1998) sister's daughter). She points to the importance of existing relationships or the USA Smith-Hunter 2006). They also tend to provide goods and in the family which underlie the decisions on employment: services for the needs of women and children. Abu-Rabia-Queder The relationship in the family - she (a woman) likes her mother's (2007) called this strategy ‘reviving tradition’ in their struggle for family more than her father's family; the woman will make her kids to economic survival: older women who lacked access to education adhere like her family than her husband's family. This is against the Islam. The to traditional roles and products, such as weaving traditional rugs, or sheikh says we should not do it but we do. Not only in business. Because they create professions which can suite the traditional gender separa- I have good relations with them (my own relatives), this is the start. If I tion by offering products and services only to the women's sector or had a good relationship with the others (in-laws), I would ask them to children. In Jordan, resorting to traditional crafts was also connected help. with greater social permission for women to engage in business (Al- (Personal communiqué, 26.05.2010, female, business owner, 40) Dajani and Marlow, 2010). The result of such a cooperation is that the sisters, who are married Respecting the societal demands regarding patriarchal control and and live with their husbands' families, increase their visits with their gender-segregation gives the woman legitimization to advance in her younger children to their original homes (where the businesses are economic activities and becomes a ‘source of power and not oppression’ located). Despite belonging to their nuclear families, their small chil- (Abu-Rabia-Queder, 2007, p. 75). Finding creative niches resulting dren keep on being socialized in their mother's families, and by having from gender segregation norms like driving school with female in- common meals, they are still part of the household economic expenses. structors or resorting to self-employment to avoid working for a male On the other hand, family employees lead to a conflict of power. My boss were also an advantage for Muslim women in the Netherlands female respondents admit that there are no ‘business relations’, and the (Essers and Benschop, 2009). Özkazanç-Pan (2015) states that Islamic sisters rarely take ‘orders’ as unrelated workers would do. Especially, if feminism, based on the notions of gender and community justice rather efficiency, quality and time are important. Such conflicts may affect the than individual achievement, has a power to create legitimization for family life and the business. One applied solution was to pay the women's economic practices and thus, has a greater potential for dis- workers per item of work and not per hour. This helped, though the mantling the gender relations at home as well as in the public space. control of an efficient production process is difficult to keep and be- Considering the heterogeneity of identities constructed by Muslim comes a barrier in business expansion. Family workers feel freer to women entrepreneurs at the inter-sections of gender, ethnicity and demand very flexible work time, or even refuse, if there are other un- entrepreneurship (for example Essers and Benschop, 2009) there are resolved conflicts between them and their employer. Although the en- ambient possibilities for business development. trepreneurial trainers try to encourage the women to pass the family The central public space within the ethnic enclave of the Bedouin boundaries, this is rather difficult in practice in a small business. First of towns seems to be perceived as the ‘permitted space’ (Meir and Gekker, all, it is the family that constitutes the closest social network. Secondly, 2011) in which female entrepreneurs may find opportunities to expand the fact that the female relatives tend to be the ones with least em- their home businesses. The findings of this research can shed a new ployment opportunities on the one hand, and strong loyalty to the fa- light on Fenster's findings (1999) who showed that women in Bedouin mily on the other, leave little choice for hiring external working hands. towns are confined to their neighbourhoods and those who frequented Studies on the employment of family members showed that this the centre in the city of Rahat were in minority. Almost twenty years practice has a rather impairing effect on micro and small enterprises, later this research has revealed that more and more women open their especially if they were the main source of income (Cruz et al., 2012). businesses, not only in their neighbourhoods, but also in the town Such practices were associated with increased sales, however, the centers. Rahat's central market is visited by non-local customers who profi ts were reduced at the same time. Within the Bedouin context, shop also in women-owned businesses. The factors which turned this employment of female family members can be viewed also as having an public space into permitted space in which women entrepreneurs could empowering effect on the larger family, by providing income to women fi nd their niche may include: the relative proximity to their homes, the who otherwise would not have other options. Such economic assess- existing demand for culturally-specific products and services and that ments should thus consider the business within the larger context of its social norms are expected to be adhered to much more than in the non- embeddedness, keeping in mind that the connective approach will ethnic localities. Although women enter with their businesses to central imply a strategy that is beneficial in a more holistic rather than in- locations within the towns, and thus enter the ‘public’ space, they do so dividual meaning. by creating a feminine space of their own that starts to legitimize the presence of Bedouin women as business owners in the public sphere 3.3.3. Creating female networks in a gender-separated environment separated but not secluded. Embeddedness in a local milieu may have both positive and negative implications if we consider the marketing networks that it creates. Bedouin women who operate their business from home on a small scale,

68 A. Biernacka et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 62–72 reach customers who are usually women from their neighbourhood and The husband's family's attitudes to women's work may have stra- relatives. In most cases, women advertise by means of word-of-mouth tegic consequences for childcare. A woman who opened a hairdresser's supplemented with a business card. Only in a few cases they advertised salon in Laqiya, with financial support of her husband, admits that she in a local newspaper. One informant, who used to sell cosmetics as a would prefer to open the shop in Rahat, which is her hometown. Her brand company representative, pointed out, that the social norm pre- own parents support her ideas and she could entrust her children to vented her from door-to-door sales. Those women, who were interested them while being at work. Her husband's family oppose her idea, de- in the products, had to come to her and spread the word further. manding that she stay at home with her kids. As a result, her children According to representatives of the micro-credit programme SAWA, the come from school straight to her salon and she keeps a shorter working Bedouin women's businesses usually start from home and only after the schedule between 9:00–15:00 and says that she does not want to ad- businesses reach certain maturity or as more inter-ethnic links are vertise and attract more customers than she has, as she feels responsible made, the location is changed to a more central one in the town. The to dedicate her time to her own children. This woman was unwilling to creation of a mutual support group in paying back the loans has also leave her youngest children in kindergarten. She admits that: been found to be an important factor for sustainability of their busi- “Making a profit is not everything, it is not the most important nesses, similarly in Jordan (Al-Dajani and Marlow, 2010). thing. What counts, is what kind of an example you give to your Reliance on close neighbourhood networks works well in cases of children, what kind of a role-model you will be for them. The next selling daily products, such as milk and bread, and may bring in a generation depends on it.” steady income. The most difficult items to market are traditional crafts, like ornaments on walls and colourful trays used for distributing sweets (Married, owner of hairdresser salon, Laqiya, 06.12.2010) during the henna nights of the wedding week. Lack of connections to This woman's example shows how women with small children seek seek out potential customers is mentioned as a factor preventing the profit-making opportunities on one hand, and on the other are pres- women from selling their products to shops outside of their own town. sured to fulfil their roles as mothers. Other women feel that putting Locally established tourist businesses and NGOs help other local women small children into kindergarten instead of bringing them up at home, to sell their handcrafts. could be equivalent to neglecting them. It is noticeable that the established businesses, as well as NGO's, are “Women work, but still, they have to work in the house. The hus- usually those who cross the inter-tribal limitations and serve customers band cannot do housework, as the woman does, he cannot take care or cooperate with women (and sometimes men) from different families, of the children in the same way as women do, and to make money at as well as from other ethnic groups. Developing networks that would the same time, so in the end, the woman is the person who is the reach beyond close relatives and friends is an important factor in the manager of the house. “ development of their businesses, as it is very often related with more investments and may lead to the decision to register the business offi- (Married, DJ, part-time employed as assistant in kindergarten, cially. Rahat, 06.01.2011) Development of female networks among Bedouin women increased Women themselves feel responsible for this task, and as long as their with the settled way of living and dependence of men on the wage work children will need it, they will not make an effort to expand their outside of home, which opened for them new possibilities for group businesses so as not to lose the balance. The women, who decided to activities (such as shopping in the town that could not be done in- expand their businesses, did it at a time when their children were old dependently) and access to information by means of new visiting pat- enough not to require their attention at home so much, which will be terns (Lewando-Hundt, 1984). The dependency of Bedouin women on discussed in the last section on family life-cycle. female (including family) networks resembles characteristics of other Another woman, who spent her lifetime working in an NGO and ethnic entrepreneurs (example of Indian women entrepreneurs in New now created her own business, admits that one of the results of the Zealand, Pio, 2007) and may be the factor for their over-embeddedness, advancement of women is that it takes her away from her children. In and similar to what has been found for other Arab male and female her own experience, leaving her children for the whole day and not entrepreneurs in Israel (Schnell and Sofer, 2002; Heilbrunn and Abu- being able to fulfil her role as a mother was one of the biggest inner Asbah, 2011). According to Crowell (2004), the female networks, al- struggles. Looking back, however, she admits that despite these diffi- though wider in comparison to male networks, have also been found to culties, the results of these changes are worth it. be weaker in terms of access to business support and information. Over- Such a strong investment in children is not only dictated by social dependency on female family networks may hold back women's busi- expectations, but in case of older women, it is also a way of securing nesses from new opportunities, unless such networks get strengthened one's future. Asked if they save money for their own retirements, the by expansion of “weak ties” - meaning acquaintances and social net- women say no. They invest everything in their children, expecting that works beyond “strong ties” in family circles. More formal workplaces they will be the ones to care for them when they get old. A woman, for women within the towns and more institutional support for women's whose husband abandoned her eight years before, runs a clothes store networking would develop Bedouin women's competences as well as in Rahat's shuq. If she saves any money, it is because she has two sons business contacts. These could be factors enabling women to cross the that need to get married. Two other daughters are already married and family and tribal divisions and could help them establish more di- live in Ramle. A third daughter, 18 years old, is not married and studies. versified customer base, even within the co-ethnic circles. Increased The shop owner thinks she will leave the store to her, once she retires. presence of Bedouin women in local, regional and national institutions She made an important investment of buying the land for her children for entrepreneurial development would be of value. in Rahat and she currently pays back 3000 NIS per month. The wellbeing of her children, once they grow up, is her only guarantee for the 3.4. Connective strategies in combining mother and business roles time when she is too old to work. These examples, point out how central the family is in women's Although the Bedouin urban settings lead to the creation of more perceptions about their roles as entrepreneurs. Whether they are em- independent, nuclear families, parents in-law may still exercise pres- ployed, self-employed or engage in academic careers, it is very difficult sures due to the conflict between women's engagement in business and to separate themselves from responsibilities towards their families their roles as wives and mothers. Parents in-law, who are concerned which, in the case of the Bedouin women – needs to be considered in about their son's social standing as it is dependent on his wives beha- their wider, social context. viour, may oppose or be distrustful of their daughter in-law's business In the research on work and family balance in female en- ideas. trepreneurship, Smith-Hunter (2006) found that self-employment

69 A. Biernacka et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 62–72 enables women to balance their work and family life (in the Western The connective strategies enumerated in the previous sections are context). Al-Dajani and Marlow (2010) show that the work-family in- strongly related to family and social-embeddedness of the entrepreneur. terface is considered as a stressful factor, and family concerns are ex- The family-embeddedness perspective (Aldrich and Cliff, 2003) en- pected to prevail over the business development, which, in turn, keeps courages the researcher of entrepreneurship to examine also the impact women from earning more. Otherwise, women's economic activities do of transformations within family structures, shifts in timing of life-cycle not receive social approval (Jamali, 2009). The socio-cultural context, processes and changing in roles of mothers and children on establishing with all its social roles and expectations, influences not only the ac- and developing of business ventures. As in the provided examples, these ceptance of female entrepreneurship (De Vita et al, 2014) but also its transitions signify a shift in the context, which in turn, may affect the feasibility - capability and confidence to act - and desirability - beliefs in perception of the entrepreneur on opportunities and obstacles, such as socio-cultural support, expectancy for performance and outcomes - change in status and social expectations related to it. When such tran- (Brush et al., 2014). Thus, female and male decisions on creating and sitions are connectively explored, they reveal potential for a balanced running a business will be different, as well as, their notions of per- business development. ceived success. Similarly, in the Bedouin women's case, the work-family balance means keeping their working hours under a certain threshold 4. Conlcusion and not expanding their profits. Özkazanç-Pan (2015) claimed that if the roles in the private sphere are not negotiated, then the economic The Bedouin women living in the Negev desert have been subjected activity does not bring about change. The question arises, as to what is to a number of political and socio-economic transformative processes the time span for change to be expected, since the connectivity concept that led them from a pastoralist, subsistence model of economy to rapid implies that social structures are rather be reproduced than challenged. urbanisation and self-employment guided by market economy rules. As entrepreneurs, they are effected by their ethnic status as a minority in 3.5. Family-life cycles and their impact on entrepreneurial decisions Israel and as women within the Bedouin, patriarchal society. This paper demonstrated results of a qualitative study of 28 Bedouin The cases in this study, show that family transitions impacted wo- women entrepreneurs, exploring the family embeddedness of their en- men's work experience and created female role models, which in turn, trepreneurial practices. These women were found to navigate between could affect their perceptions of entrepreneurship and economic deci- the two domains of family and business by means of certain strategies, sions in adulthood. In the majority of cases, the women were raised in which were called “connective” to underline their unifying nature. large families (around 10 siblings, with a majority of sisters in many Family embeddedness of the Bedouin female entrepreneurs revealed cases). It resulted either in an early marriage (at the age between 15 itself on a level associated with their status, vis-à-vis, other family and 17) or in taking up a job in agriculture or packaging industries, members (fathers, brothers and husbands), with social values and which delayed their marriage. Women born first or second took the norms related to gender separation and with the social expectations responsibility of earning money that enabled their siblings to study related to the roles of mothers. Female networks, expanded due to the longer. In 8 cases, the respondents' mother became the heads of processes of settling down and urbanisation, enable women to find household due to polygamy (5) or father's death (3). These mothers customers, employees and assistants, though these aspects pose also worked outside (cleaning or in agriculture) or started a small business limitations for business development. activity at home, thus creating the first role models for their offspring. These strategies serve to minimize or avoid conflicts by: operating Two women benefited from strong support from their fathers. In one businesses from home or nearby locations, by creating feminine spaces case, the father taught her to deal with accounts so that she could help and networks and by expanding the social perceptions of permitted him in his businesses, as his sons were still too young to support him. roles through maintaining equilibrium of statuses among spouses and The entrepreneurial decisions of the women in this study have also obtaining permission and support from their male relatives. The find- been found to be related (in twelve cases) to fluctuation in family ings bring to light the complexity of the family embeddedness of the structures and their own life-cycles: getting married, divorced, be- Bedouin women's businesses. Considering the findings by Heilbrunn coming an abandoned wife, having school-age children, disabled or et al. (2014), who showed no significant difference in terms of family unemployed husband. support between Palestinian, veteran Jewish and Former Soviet Union A married woman with 3 children opened her own salon in a rented immigrant, one could argue for a further qualitative investigation of building away from home, once her family obligations at home were this topic among these three groups in Israel. reduced: The shift, from a strictly domestic space into operating from non- domestic space within an ethnic enclave, is often a marker of their “All my children are already big and in school, and I wanted to do development and maturity as entrepreneurs and may be accompanied something else, not just being a housewife.” by other changes in the family life-cycle. The micro-loan programme (Married, 32, hairdresser salon, Laqiya, 03.11.2011) SAWA, operating in the Negev, strengthens this process by providing There were three instances of women who took to money-making as financial support and guidance for activities that start from home, as it a result of losing the material support from their husbands, who got is considered a stage in the entrepreneurial process. married to new wives. Two of the businesses showed enormous po- Although Bedouin women businesses rely on co-ethnics for custo- tential, leading the women to open stores in central locations of town mers, a distinction should be made between locals and non-locals and were motivated by the necessity to provide for their children. (visitors from other Bedouin towns or nearby unrecognized settlements) Another woman described how she worked in a textile factory when and further research could examine such links as important markers of single to help her widowed mother and 4 siblings. After marriage, at the business development of Bedouin women. This is especially important age of 24, she was forbidden to work outside and continued to sew at while considering the competition of Bedouin women's businesses. home. Her income was essential for the family's daily needs, since her Heilbrunn et al. (2014) found that Palestinian women businesses suffer husband's earnings were almost completely invested in a 4-story family less difficulties in tackling their competitors due to their concertation in building. Eight years prior to the interview, at the age of 42 and with 5 the ethnic enclave. However, due to the rising number of similar grown-up children, her husband left her for another wife. She started businesses within the enclave (such as hairdressers, beauty salons, etc) trading clothes in the local open market and after five years, she moved the local and ethnic competition is growing while the local markets are to a small store. To expand her business, she obtained 3 loans from limited. SAWA micro credit programme. Currently, she enjoys customers, not Castelles and Portes (1986) claimed that family strategies and in- only from her own town, but also from other Bedouin localities. formal economy are the basis for economic survival during periods of

70 A. Biernacka et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 62–72 rapid urbanisation. The Bedouin women entrepreneurs seem to re- particular circumstances. semble these trends: they apply family-focused strategies, operate Bedouin women contribute in ways which go beyond simple ‘sur- mostly in the informal economy (which should be considered as a stage viving’, such as: renovating homes, investing in a real estate, buying in a process rather than their permanent feature). They also combine cars or educating their children. This earning power helps them to win resources available to them from both formal (part-time employment, the acceptance of their husbands, brothers and parents in-law. These social security, other family members' income) and informal sectors. achievements stand in contrast to the general perception of a business Although the fear of losing the stable income in form of social benefits owner as a male role, dominant in the Bedouin society (Meir and is a blockade for business registration, provision of professional coun- Baskind, 2006). For this reason, it would be worthwhile to give more selling and small financial loans (such as SAWA programme) is a way to public visibility to the success stories of the Bedouin women and overcome such obstacles (Allasad Alhuzail, 2013). Following the find- creating more role models. This could strengthen their impact on the ings of Schnell and Shdema (2016) regarding the high impact of per- development of the potential of the next generations of Bedouin men ipheriality and social integration capital (including social networks) on and women and tackle the stereotypes and discriminatory behaviours Arab inclusion in the Israeli labour market, it could be recommended to within the larger society that still undermine their achievements. increase institutional support for strengthening Bedouin women's networks to help their businesses grow outside of the family and tribal (ethnic) circles, making these entrepreneurs less embedded and con- Acknowledgements fined. Abu-Rabia-Queder (2016) showed how highly skilled and educated, professional women suffer from tribal and gender penalties, The authors would like to thank Mrs Mariam Abu Rqaiq and Mrs sustained additionally by lack of institutional support in overcoming Galila Elkrenawi for their invaluable support during fieldwork, Mrs them which blocks their achievements. That poses a question, whether Yochevet Gordon for her generous contribution as interpreter during the connective strategies applied by the less-educated and im- research and to The Robert H. Arnow Centre for Bedouin Studies and poverished women who run low-income businesses are their leverage or Development and Erasmus Mundus Programme for the financial sup- will become barriers if the wider political set-up remains blind to their port.

Appendix 1. List of interviewees

No Age Personal Origins Education Entrepreneurial Location of Legal status Commercial Sector Status background Course business

1 46 married Local 8th grade None home Non- milk selling registered 2 46 married Local 8th grade None home Non- sewing registered 3 55 abandoned Local None None home Non- sewing and traditional wife registered ornaments 4 32 married Local hischool None home Non- tourism registered 5 41 single Local BA MATI home Non- tourism registered 6 54 married Local None None home Non- sewing and traditional registered ornaments 7 45 divorced West highschool None home Non- bred making Bank registered 8 38 married Local highschool SAWA home Non- sewing and teaching sewing registered 9 38 married Local highschool None close-to-home Registered NGO 10 36 married Local highschool SAWA close-to-home Non- hairdressing registered 11 42 married Non- None None close-to-home Non- tourism local registered 12 40 single Local BA MATI close-to-home Registered cosmetics and tourism 13 38 married Local above highchool None out-of-home Registered interior design, mattresses 14 32 married Local highschool None out-of-home Non- clothes shop registered 15 37 abandoned Local highschool AJEEC out-of-home Registered wedding photographer wife 16 48 married Local 8th grade None out-of-home Non- clothes shop registered 17 35 abandoned Non- none None out-of-home Non- clothes shop and foodstore wife local registered 18 40 married Local 8th grade None out-of-home Non- wedding DJ registered 19 50 abandoned Non- 8th grade SAWA out-of-home Non- clothes shop wife local registered 20 32 married Local 8th grade Beer Sheva out-of-home Registered hairdressing

71 A. Biernacka et al. Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 62–72

21 30 married Non- 8th grade Beer Sheva out-of-home Registered hairdressing local 22 32 married Local 8th grade None out-of-home Non- hairdressing registered 23 38 married Local 8th grade None out-of-home Registered NGO 24 38 single Local highschool None out-of-home Registered NGO 25 39 married Non- highschool None out-of-home Registered NGO local 26 45 divorced Local BA None out-of-home Registered NGO 27 42 divorced Gaza 8th grade None out-of-home Registered NGO 28 46 married West 8th grade SAWA out-of-home Non- jewllery selling Bank registered

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72 Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 73e79

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Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

The suburbanization of rural life in an arid and rocky village in western Turkey

Kimberly Hart

SUNY Buffalo State, United States article info abstract

Article history: In this longitudinal and qualitative study of rural life in western Turkey, I argue that ecological conditions, Received 19 April 2016 state policies, and villagers’ agency play a significant role in the suburbanization of villages. This paper Accepted 20 March 2017 traces the history of how villagers in the Yuntdag north of Manisa, an arid and rocky region, used Available online 1 April 2017 nomadic heritage and Islamic culture as economic resources. I argue that villagers have gone from being cultural heritage entrepreneurs to wage laborers, incorporating and identifying with the ethno-national Keywords: identity of the nation while adjusting their lives to the state. In so doing and with the bureaucratic Anthropology redefinition of the villages in the region as urban neighborhoods, the meaning and definition of rural life Ethnography fi fi e Turkey gradually is erased. Based on over fteen years of ethnographic eldwork, 2000 2015, this paper con- Rural siders the suburbanization of rural life and the highly gendered economic decisions villagers make. Village © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction reason, like many other ecologically and politically marginal places, villagers in Kayalarca turned to culture as an economic resource Rather than a story about the dissolution of villages due to (Cohen, 1999; Milgram, 2000). Through savvy entrepreneurial ac- migration, this paper traces the ecological and cultural foundations tivities, villagers created employment in carpet weaving by of villagers' integration into an urbanizing region as they shift focus founding a cooperative with the assistance of foreigners, Harald from sustaining rural life through heritage-based entrepreneurship Bohmer€ and Josephine Powell who were knowledgeable about to becoming wage laborers. As this existential, economic, and ma- dyeing and export markets in textiles. Islamic education has also terial transformation takes place, the definition of the village begins been an important source of employment as men have a tradition to vanish until the very nature of villages is erased through a of aspiring to become imams. bureaucratic redefinition of these spaces as urban neighborhoods. Through an historically attentive analysis of villagers' lives over the 2. Method twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, this paper considers the move to more closely integrate psychically, economically and This piece is based on approximately twenty-eight months of culturally into urban-oriented state structures and national ideol- ethnographic research spanning from 2000 to 2015. As an ethno- ’ ogies. I argue that ecological conditions, state policies, and villagers graphic and qualitative study, I strove to understand village life agency play a significant role in the transformation of rural life in from many dimensions. While I initially began with a study of the the arid and rocky region of western Turkey called the Yuntdag, women's carpet weaving cooperative in 2000, due to tension in the north of Manisa. village resulting from suspicion about the cooperative director, I In the past, a residual nomadic economy kept village households diverted this work to consider marriage practices. I then connected alive. In this area, heritage and culture, carpet weaving and religion, the two by studying household economy and the economics of as well as herding and cheese making have been economic re- marriage. This became my dissertation. Typically working in blocks fi sources, while agriculture has not been a signi cant source of in- of three weeks to a month, I visited the ninety-plus households come generation. Due to the aridity of the region, villagers can only with questions I used as a guide for conversation. I interviewed the fi cultivate vegetable gardens and small elds of wheat. For this women, although I also made an effort to interview men when I turned to studying household economy and later, Islamic practice (2008e2010). After gathering material based on these questions, E-mail address: [email protected]. allowing my informants to elaborate or change the direction of the http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.03.011 0140-1963/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 74 K. Hart / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 73e79 discussion, I would return to Istanbul to consider my findings and these efforts has lead many to conclude that migration is a good formulate a new set of questions for another round of research. In solution to trying to eek out an existence in villages. This is the addition, I participated in events such as weddings, funerals, and same conclusion millions have arrived at in Turkey but my point is special prayer events, as well as lent my labor to the many tasks of that there are multiple reasons why rural people migrate to the rural life, such as baking bread, cooking, preparing feasts, collecting cities (Kiris¸ çi, 2008). Aside from those fleeing war, in most cases, it firewood, harvesting olives and so on. Because this is a small village is the failure of the government to address the lack of services to with about one hundred households, I easily met and interviewed rural regions, which pushes people to move. But the choice to move every household several times, though I formed closer relation- is also based in the agency of rural people who carefully consider ships with some. To understand the shifting nature of rural life, I their options. The fact that regional economic development has visited villagers who had moved to the city. Later, as I began to improved some aspects of life without the government catching up study Islam (2008e2010), I studied two imams from the region and to provide health and educational services, demonstrates that vil- their communities in two mosques in Germany, as well as saint lagers consider the accessibility of state services when they balance veneration, the legacy of Islamic education and contemporary out the equation. In short, development projects, such as the one Koran schools in nearby villages (Hart, 2013). undertaken by the UN, need to be accompanied by state resources and infrastructure in order to assist in the reduction of out- 2.1. A nomadic heritage: history and ecology migration. During my last visit to the region in 2015, I learned that the This longitudinal research uncovers an interesting case of Manisa government was adjusting to the reality of a shifting nature women's agency in making illiberal choices, much as Mahmood of rural and urban spaces. As of 2016, the government changed the argues (2005:5e10). To understand why women weavers who were status of the villages in the Yuntdag region to become neighbor- once engaged in an internationally famous carpet-weaving coop- hoods (mahalle). Therefore, in the future when villagers choose to erative would aspire to become urban housewives, it is important move to the city, they will simply be changing neighborhood and to consider the ecological and cultural foundations of rural life in not “migrating.” Redefining villages thereby eliminates them and this region and their critical assessment of life in such a place. The bureaucratically erases the visibility of migration. From an eco- southern end of the Yuntdag is a strikingly arid place with rough nomic standpoint, this redefinition will have an immediate volcanic rock and little vegetation. The region has recently been the consequence on one entrepreneurial effort. During my visit in 2015, subject of work by the Food and Agriculture Association of the I learned that the minibus cooperative would most likely close United Nations (http://www.fao.org/forestry/18491-0837d2 because urban bus services would extent into the mountainous fa2485fed48fef42843053ebf80.pdf). The project was designed to Yuntdag region. This much cheaper means of public transportation assist people living in marginal mountainous regions, including the to the city, villagers speculated, would assist many in commuting to Yuntdag to decrease their tendency to migrate out. Describing this job and to schools. Thus, in recent years, the municipal government region, Ceci and Hofer write, is working to improve living standards for rural residents and is increasingly more involved in creating projects to help villagers “Economic conditions are poor there, and livelihoods depend sustain their lives, yet there is more work to do, such as garbage mainly on crop production, livestock and forest resources. The collection and indoor plumbing. Yuntdagi Mountains are affected by problems that include soil To contextualize life in this area, I will step back a few genera- and forest degradation, limited agricultural productivity, lack of tions and answer the question as to why people live here from an access to markets, low living standards, unemployment, and historical standpoint. The answer to this question addresses the out-migration (2009:95).” nature of regional cultural resources. This history demonstrates how rural people accept national ideologies of ethnic identification While it is admirable that a project to assist villagers was and work to integrate themselves into the narrative of national developed, one should consider the fragility of the environment identity. Therefore, I am making the argument that national ide- € and past mistakes in development (Ozden et al., 2004). This ologies and state structures do not merely penetrate into rural re- development scheme fails to note that agriculture has not been the gions and force people to integrate into their narratives of identity primary means of economic survival for the obvious reason that the and culture but that rural people can chose to accept these iden- land is too arid and rocky for intensive farming. The villagers are tities and ideologies, structures and services. former nomads who survive on the basis of a residual nomadic While my village informants assert a Turkish identity because economy based on herding, cheese making, and carpet weaving. they identify with the ethno-national and sectarian identity of the Considering the many efforts villagers have made to create busi- state, that of being a Turkish Sunni Muslim (White, 2013:19), upon nesses, such as weaving cooperatives, minibus cooperatives and closer inquiry, some are willing to include being Yorük€ (Yürük) or cheese-making workshops, it is clear that culture and heritage have Türkmen. While the term Türkmen refers to an ethnic group, been economic resources for generations. While it is true that Yorük,€ in a confusing manner, refers to nomadism (though Türk- weaving requires water (for dyeing wool and washing finished men were also nomadic) but also gestures towards ethnicity (Bent, € carpets) and cheese-making needs water for raising animals and 1891; Geray and Ozden, 2003). This means that at some point in the cleaning the equipment, neither of these businesses is as depen- past, the people who now populate the small villages of the dent on water as is agriculture, especially in the cultivation of Yuntdag region were nomadic, regardless of how they choose to delicate plants like strawberries. As well as working to create identify themselves ethnically. It would be good to know exactly businesses based on a residual nomadic economy, religion is when and under what conditions they settled, but clues to these another resource of economic survival. As I learned, religious ed- questions are buried in the Ottoman archives, beyond my ability to ucation with the goal to becoming an imam, has been an aspiration access. It is safe to say, however, that the villagers in this region of men for over a hundred years (Hart, 2013). most likely are part of the people who migrated with flocks of In other words, the villagers are well aware of the challenges of domesticated animals to pastures in tune with the land's seasonal survival in their arid and rocky environment and they have made variations during the Ottoman Empire (Kasaba, 2009). efforts to maintain village life over the decades using the cultural Though there is a denial of a Yorük€ identity, there is evidence of resources available. Yet, as I argue in this paper, the outcome of a former nomadic life in the geography of the place. Many names K. Hart / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 73e79 75 of villages reflect a nomadic heritage. The term for winter pasture, 2.2. The importance of water Kıs¸ la, for instance, is a name of a village, as is Yayla, summer pasture. And many villages are named after their lineage, with the Though villagers deforested the land in an effort to participate in ancestral man of the group now the village name, such as Uzunlar urban markets, it would not be surprising if this location were the (the tall ones) or Karaahmetli (the ones with black Ahmet). Vil- summer pasture of formerly nomadic groups. Now settled, the lagers from the neighboring village were able to describe where village divided the land south of the village over the generations their groups once pastured in the landscape, though villagers in with their neighbors in the abutting village. Between these two Kayalarca could not. I learned from amateur historians in Manisa places, there are kinship ties and issues over land rights. In these that this village was one of the first settled in the region, based on carefully divided fields, surrounded by stonewalls and topped with archival documents now in Ankara (Hart, 2013:18). There are a unpleasant thorny branches to dissuade grazing animals from number of reasons why groups may have settled including being climbing into gardens, are wells. These wells help villagers main- forced to by the state or for economic reasons, as Inalcik notes tain the almond, quince, and çitlembik (Celtis)–now grafted with (1994:159). Though settlement established the villages, their pistachio, and fig trees, grape vines, and small garden plots. The borders, and created land holdings, nomadism was a useful means water is rarely drunk because it is bitter to the taste. It is useful to of survival in an ecologically marginal area. As ethnographers note that there is not enough water to irrigate fields, rather villagers describe, nomads exploit the ecological resources without use old canisters as buckets and simply water their small gardens stressing the environment beyond its capacity to support pop- with the well water. ulations grazing their animals or planting when there is little rain At first, when I saw these piles of stones around a deep hole, I (Lees and Bates, 1974). In short, pastoral nomads are able to sur- did not realize that more than practical access to water was being vive on what to an agriculturalist would be a harsh landscape signified. Providing access to water fits into a spiritual system of (Chatty, 1996; Cole, 1975; Espinosa, 2009; Shahrani, 2002). performing good deeds or hayır. Wells are dug upon the inheritance Nomadic economic survival includes trade. Nomads traded with of land as a good deed, an act of hayır, to give thanks for the gain in settled people, supplementing their livelihoods. Textiles, cheese, property and to memorialize the parent, whose death prompted and animals would have been products coming out of the the redistribution of wealth. Creating a water source is a spiritual mountains, as well as herbs, nuts, acorns, and fruit, and as I gesture of goodwill towards the community, to the parent, and to describe later, charcoal. God (Hart, 2013:74e89). In addition to digging wells, villagers The location of the village and its architecture are further clues traditionally have dug small watering holes for animals as hayır as to a past nomadic existence. The village was built on the side of a well. mountain and composed of one-room stone houses. The elderly Rural practice regarding the use of water parallels that in cities. generation's house interiors are spatially organized in a manner During the Ottoman era, the wealthy provided water to urban imitating a nomadic tent. Thus, one can surmise that the time from neighborhoods by constructing a çes¸me (fountain) (Kara- settlement might not be significant. No doubt the villagers' an- Pilehvarian et al., 2004; Singer, 2008:108) or a sebil cestors needed this strategically defensible and ecologically useful (Kumbaracilar, 2008). A çes¸me had spigots for water and sibil were position, as did people to the south as Luke and Cobb discuss in small booths from which water and fruit juice were distributed for their ethnographically astute archaeological study (2013:162). In free to the community. Though some new çes¸meare constructed in addition to being able to see strangers approaching, living in the provincial cities as charity, sibil to my knowledge are not. In the windiest, rockiest, and driest location, freed up the fields slopping rural regions and provincial cities, these practices of hayır below the mountain for cultivation and pasture. As Inalcik de- expressed through access to water continue. There is a recently scribes, “peasants frequently chose to have their main settlement constructed çes¸ me, for example, outside Kayalarca, which was built sites on the hillsides and maintained a mezraa (cultivated property) by the parents of a young man who was killed in a car accident. The down the flatland as a satellite exploitation” (1994:159). family is not related to anyone in the village. They constructed the Though the land today is mostly deforested, the elderly describe çes¸me in memoriam as a good deed to assist villagers. a different landscape in their youths. Estimating this era to be in the Though the villagers struggled with very limited water for 1930s and 40s, it seems the region was forested during the early generations, in 2008 I was pleased to learn that a new water system twentieth century. Before his death in about 2013, I had the op- was in place. Before as I wrote in my field notes, “we rushed around portunity to frequently interview the eldest man in the village who filling up buckets and containers for the very brief time water went by the nickname “Deveci” or camel herder. As one of the flowed, about 40 min per week.” With the old system, there were richest men in the village, he drove his camel caravan to the city pipes connecting water to houses but it was only turned on once a trading goods. He carried out charcoal and brought back salt, cloth, week. Women frantically ran home when it came on. Not surpris- and other useful goods, such as lamps and knives. Asking how it ingly, an even older system involved hauling water from wells. was possible that they traded charcoal in a place with few trees, he Though a chore, many elderly women recounted how visiting the described how the land had once been heavily forested. I am wells provided women and girls with the opportunity to socialize. assuming that the trees cut down were the same that grow more With the decade-long effort at creating an easier system, the men sparsely on the mountains today, mainly oak. The oak tree in this dug canals for pipes. But these pipes needed a pump house and a region is Quercus macrolepis or Velonia. According to Atalay and connection, from which water could be drawn continuously. The Efe (2010:68), these trees grow in the Mediterranean transitional government assisted in the cost of the pump house, which con- region. Interestingly, the acorn of this tree has a large cap high in nected all the houses and provided them with running water, tannins and is used in dyeing black. Even now, villagers collect though a few remained outside the system because they were them for the cooperative. In the past, as the Deveci described, men unable to pay water bills. cut down the sturdy oak trees and converted them to charcoal, Villagers refer to their water source as the “koca dere” (big deforesting the region. They sold the charcoal in the city as fuel for stream) but on maps it is called Koca Çayı, also meaning big stream. heating homes. In 2010, in a wetter, forested village to the north, I This water originates at the Aegean Sea just north of a harbor at the learned this activity continues even though the government owns town of Aliaga. At this point, the source is referred to as the all the land outside villages and the trees are supposed to be pro- Güzelhisar Deresi (beautiful castle stream). After passing through an € tected (Geray and Ozden, 2003). industrial zone, the Aliaga Organize Sanayi Bolgesi€ (Aliaga 76 K. Hart / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 73e79

Organized Industry District), the name changes to Koca Çayı and it is the case for many (2014a, 2014b). Thus, water access in rural soon reaches a dam where there is a large reservoir, the Güzelhisar areas helps sustain urban families, as well as rural ones. Baraji (beautiful castle dam). At the point of origin at the Aegean Sea until passing the industrial zone, the stream is in the Province 2.3. An entrepreneurial impulse of Izmir. After passing into the Manisa province, it enters the dam. The villages under question in the Yuntdag are in the province of Life in an arid deforested place meant that villagers devised Manisa and more specifically in the municipality of Yununs Emre. entrepreneurial strategies for survival. The villagers’ strategies Kayalarca is at the tail end of this water source. Having crossed the similarly parallel ethnographies describing how people manage to stream on foot, I can attest to the fact that it is not very deep, but live in marginal environments drawing from animals rather than having swum in a beautiful eddy, the stream has points of depth. agriculture (Chatty, 1996; Espinosa, 2009; Shahrani, 2002), often Village men love to fish and swim in this spot, families picnic, and turning to the commercialization of handicrafts (Cohen, 1999)ora many young people post picturesque photographs of this place on profession gained through education, such as being an imam their Facebook feeds. The koca dere is a source of life, beauty, and (Meeker, 2002). The most recent development, as Oztürk et al. admiration for villagers of all ages. (2014b) and Zeybek (2014) argue, rather than being in a clear dia- The government's interest in creating water systems for villages lectic with urban life, villages and the city change form. Considering is an important aspect of villagers' struggle to obtain water. Luke the twentieth century from the 1930s up to the present, one can and Cobb describe how villages in the Gediz basin, further south of divide these transitions in Kayalarca into three stages. In the first the Yuntdag, in the province of Manisa, were developed for agri- phase from the 1980 era, villagers worked to expand their markets culture during the 1960s with assistance from the US Marshall Plan for products, carpets or religious knowledge but lived in the village. (2013:167). In contrast, the Yuntdag villages were ignored because In the second phase beginning in the 1980s, they began to extend agriculture is not profitable in this mountainous and rocky envi- their interests beyond the village and toward Manisa, the city to the ronment. During the last decade the municipality has begun to south, and abroad. Unlike many other rural Anatolian villagers, few help. But village men, as I described, did most of the work to create joined the migration to western Europe as guest worker (Soysal, the village water system. This was accomplished through a tradi- 2008). One family, however, migrated to France. Interestingly, af- tional practice called imece, collective labor (Delaney, 1991:151; ter growing up in France, the married first cousins of this family White, 2002:70e1) or more specifically salma, referring to the fact moved back to the village after they returned to Turkey because that households could pay to be released from the work. Under this they could not survive economically in the city. In this era, families system, the imam would announce that the village headman was moved to the city or high school students found a place to live with recruiting male members of households to work from the mosque relatives or in a student dorm so that they could attend school. loudspeaker system. For those who could not perform this labor, Middle-aged people began to think about the city as a place where the household would pay a fee. Otherwise, men would work they could retire in comfort. The last stage begins around 2010 together each day until the project was completed. In this manner, when in the final step, the notion of the village as a coherent place all the pipes for the village water system were laid by hand. shifts. The village becomes a neighborhood of the city, a suburb, a According to my correspondence with the village headman in place to escape from the pressures of employment, or a place for 2015, the new water system includes a well dug near the stream. Of summer vacations, for picnicking and for gardening before course, when water became available in houses through the flick of returning to an apartment in the city. the wrist, life became much easier. Women no longer lingered at I discussed the first era through the Deveci's account of life in a home, hoping the water would not run out by the time it reached forested region from which rural products came out via camel their houses. They no longer collected water in bottles, buckets, and caravan and basic supplies entered. In the second phase, the carpet tanks. It became possible to build solar hot water heaters on roof- cooperative is the most obvious example of entrepreneurial effort. tops, to construct bathrooms with showers, to make indoor toilets, This, however, was built on earlier schemes to commercialize and to cultivate small gardens. However, with the ease of using weaving. Some of these efforts involved a government project water, for which each household has a meter and thereby a while others were more straightforward cooperatives that failed monthly bill, many notice how easy it is to waste it. when the urban managers mishandled the funds. The most suc- In addition to having a house-to-house water system, in recent cessful effort is the current cooperative, DOBAG, the story of which years the municipal government has created a large reservoir with begins with Harald Bohmer,€ a German chemist who studied plants a pump house for gardens. It is interesting that the villagers refer to used for dyeing wool through experimentation and the testing of this act as “hayır” a good deed, rather than regarding it as a normal old carpet fibers during the late 1970s and early 1980s (Anderson, infrastructural service from the government. This interpretation 1998; Bohmer,€ 2002; Is¸ ık, 2007). This knowledge was lost means that they do not fully recognize their full integration into the throughout Anatolia after the introduction of chemical dyes during state bureaucracy in which the state should render services to tax the early twentieth century. After some years of teaching villagers paying citizens in exchange. Rather, they see themselves as sepa- throughout Anatolia how to dye using plants, he founded the rate and self-sufficient, grateful for the charitable acts of the state DOBAG project in the early 1980s in the town of Ayvacık. In this on their behalf. This reservoir naturally fills over the winter and cooperative, village women brought their carpets to the coopera- because it is open, it also is accessible to animals. After the con- tive building in the town, as they once brought them to market. struction of the water system linking all the houses and this small Their husbands were paid for the piece because the head of reservoir, villagers began to cultivate their land more systemati- household was the cooperative member. Bohmer€ helped devise a cally. Some village families even drive to their fields, hook up a long management structure, assisted in registering the cooperative un- hose at the pump house, and water their gardens. These are small der Turkish law, and offered leadership in creating a manager, a plots of land, producing less than what a family of four consumes in local and well-respected man. a year. Yet, with greater resources, a few families now cultivate After a few years, Bohmer€ wanted to expand the cooperative enough vegetables to freeze. This food is often sent to the city for and chose the Yuntdag as a good region for the project because adult children and their families. Though many villagers have there were many skilled weavers. Unlike Ayvacık, a provincial begun to migrate from the village, they maintain important eco- market town, the Yuntdag was more isolated. Bergama, to the € nomic ties after settling in urban apartments, as Ozturk et al. argue north, and Manisa to the south were market centers but accessing K. Hart / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 73e79 77 these towns was difficult. Villagers did not take their textiles to the travel to Manisa to shop, he profited by the constant increase in weekly market for sale. This was due in part to a lack of infra- prices. Not surprisingly, his success, as well as obvious profiteering structure. In the late 1970s, there was no paved road leading out of led many to become jealous and resentful. While men chaffed the villages to Manisa or Bergama. There was no bridge over the under his charisma and wealth, cooperative members also began to stream on the road to the south on the way to Manisa. The villages express frustration. They pointed out that unlike the dyers and were also farther away from these market towns than villages in director, their membership in the cooperative did not include the Ayvacik region. Isolation and relative poverty meant that village retirement or health care insurance, sigorta (bundled into one unit weavers were highly skilled in making carpets, kilims, sacks, and in Turkey). They earned wages calculated on the number of knots in bags but not skilled in marketing them. They produced for dowries, a finished piece, and potential profits if the piece sold. The amount as furnishings for their homes, which had no built furniture. They of profits they might earn was determined by the assessed quality participated in development schemes based on weaving, some- of their carpet. The professor of Fine Arts at Marmara University times wove as piecework, or exchanged old pieces for commercial visited the cooperatives periodically to judge this quality. As one goods when itinerant traders visited the villages. Weaving, there- can imagine, this was a difficult task, considering it affected the fore, was a source of income, but it yielded little. It was not weaver's earnings. While critical assessments and resentment commercialized and labor was not rationalized. It was episodic, simmered under the surface during my doctoral fieldwork, it was built into the life cycle of the household. the director's tragic death from cancer in 2003, which changed Josephine Powell, an American photographer who had been villagers' orientation to rural life, business, and potential enter- living in Istanbul since 1975, was friends with Harald and his wife, prises. This marks the second phase in Kayalarca's rural economy. Renata (Hart, 2009). Powell had also experimented with plants and By 2008, I learned that about twenty-five families had decided dyeing wool and she had spent many decades traveling and pho- to migrate to Manisa. As many described, they wanted access to tographing in Turkey. Powell supported the first cooperative but as higher education for their children, health care, and employment. Harald began to work towards creating a new one, she intervened Some grumbled that the director had prevented women from and made a deal. She would provide the seed money for the new finding employment outside the village and others that he worked cooperative if it were founded as a women's cooperative. She was to prevent families from leaving. Whether this is true to not, it was motivated by liberal feminist ideals of gender emancipation. After clear that the cooperative suffered a blow with his death and introducing the idea for the cooperative structure to the villagers, changed the villagers' interest in entrepreneurship. Many women but not the full import of its philosophical intent, the Yuntdag who once wove carpets all day, cared for the family cow and the cooperative was established as a women's cooperative. Though this children, and tended small gardens were now urban housewives cooperative is a women's cooperative, meaning that women are the living in apartments. Men who once eked out a living through oc- members, there is a male director and two male dyers. Once casional wage labor now worked fulltime in factories. The tendency established, Harald took a backseat to administering the project towards migration was not only evident among established families and allowed the director, a man from the village, to run the coop- with children, many young unmarried women were strategizing on erative. The cooperative, however, was always subject to Marmara how they might marry and migrate. They looked either for a young University's administration and quality control through the expert man with village origins already settled and employed in the city or analysis of a professor of Fine Arts. a fellow villager who might want to make the leap to urban life During the 1980s, the village opened up through the cooperative upon marriage (Hart, 2011). Thus, interestingly, women's agency but also because the government began to take an interest in was directed toward emancipation from rural drudgery and the creating infrastructure. A paved road was constructed. A bridge was choice of a seemingly more confining gendered role of urban built over the stream making Manisa more accessible. The villages housewife, who has limited mobility in the city. were electrified. Now one could see at night and watch television, Looking only at the cooperative to consider the gendered strate- drive a truck to the city, shop in the urban markets, reach the gies for survival creates the impression that men stood on the side- hospital, and send children to middle and high school. All these lines as women stepped forward as weavers. Indeed this is the view of developments also made tourism possible. The cooperative sold village life promoted by cooperative dealers,1 but it is not accurate. As I directly to a handful of foreign dealers, some of whom began to have described the two male dyers and director are important figures create tours for their customers. In this way, an early form of in the enterprise, but the elected female president is powerful and ecotourism developed. All these expansions in the local economy charismatic in her own right. Yet, one needs to include the efforts of required assistance from the government's infrastructural im- husbands in giving their wives permission to participate. In this provements but they also needed the entrepreneurial efforts of the context, women need to ask for their husband's permission to work. villagers to manage the cooperative. So with this reality in view, the willingness of village husbands is an While the carpet weaving cooperative improved women's essential component of the enterprise's success. wage-earning capacities, especially as they note, by providing them with a source of employment better than hoeing and harvesting 2.4. Men's work under the hot sun, many men were frustrated by the enterprise. Not only were only three men employed by the cooperative, but only While women and a few men, with support from foreigners, one, the director achieved real wealth. He funneled his profits, the commercialized craftwork for survival, men drew on Islam as a origin of which was under intense speculation, into investments in source for employment (Hart, 2013). In Kayalarca and the neigh- cows, and the dye house and depot, which he rented to the coop- boring village, the professionalization of religion began with the erative. He was able to buy properties in the city for his sons' future migration of men from the Black Sea region of Of during the marriages and speculated in feed and other goods in the market. nineteenth century. Like the carpet weaving cooperative, therefore, Due to the very high rate of inflation at the time, many surmised the impetus to professionalization and commercialization came that he profited by amassing goods, such as animal feed, storing it from the outside. Meeker, who studied the region of Of described it until the price increased, and then releasing it for sale. He also began to advance goods, such as animal feed, clothing, and dry fl goods (sugar, our) on the basis of future earnings. While this 1 http://www.themagiccarpet.biz/oriental-rugs-d2/dobag-project-c43/, http:// practice seemed to help the weavers by eliminating the need to www.dobag-teppiche.de/english/Production/. 78 K. Hart / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 73e79 as a remote mountainous area (but not arid) (2002), from which learned that village life was in transition. Having worked since the many religious professionals emerged. They worked as quasi- early 1980s in an internationally recognized cooperative, one missionaries during the Ottoman era spreading religious training, would expect the village weavers to be ambitious and excited about establishing schools, and working as imams. The stories of a group the possibilities of craft production and entrepreneurship. Instead, I of three men, a father and his two sons, who settled in the neigh- found many women were disappointed and tired of the struggle. boring village and established a culture of Islamic scholarship, play Upon assessing the benefits of weaving, most decided that an important role in the villagers’ self-identification as pious Sunni becoming an urban or suburban housewife would be better. “The Muslims (Hart, 2013). men,” they often remarked, “can work and we can rest.” Some One can argue, as Meeker did for the region of Of that the moved to the city for marriage, others waited until their children professionalization of religious practice is a type of regional cottage were nearing middle school age to make the move, and a few industry. Sunni Islam is part of the state bureaucracy of the Re- decided that the best solution was having the husband commute to public of Turkey. Imams are state employees and mosques are run the city for work. Men had been disappointed by the constantly by the government. Becoming an imam, therefore, is a path to the changing standards set by the government, which left them un- desirably secure position of civil servant. This official status of Sunni prepared to complete their qualifying exams as imam. As a result, Islam merged in the minds of villagers with all forms of knowledge both men and women, when they made the decision to migrate to and study until about fifteen years ago. Up until that time, the sole the city, turned to reliable and stable work as wage laborers. Of purpose for study, as I learned, was Islam. Village parents sent their course at this juncture in their lives, they have to pay rent and raise sons to study the Koran at the mosque with local imams and at children. While women aspired to become housewives, many had government-run religious high schools (Imam Hatip Okulları). As to supplement the shared household income with occasional wage the government's standards for achieving this position shifted over labor in factories. Yet, the model of the family became one in which the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the number of men who men were expected to become the primary breadwinners, working succeeded in passing the exams required to gain a post fell. In the in factories. present day, a university education in a Faculty of Theology is a Village men often expressed their displeasure at the changing requirement for becoming an imam. Many men in Kayalarca found expectations of women and the shift in their gendered role as these standards difficult to meet, although a few men succeeded husbands expected to carry the burden of earning the household and gained a post. income. They praised the freedom of rural life, the lower cost of Given that becoming an imam was the only imaginable profes- living, and the more relaxed atmosphere. Women, on the other sion for men, those who could not pass the necessary requirements hand, pointed to the fact that they worked hard in the villages while were often stuck with a half-finished education and no other qual- the men were freer. Aside from the dispute over the transforming ifications. These men fell back on cobbling together a number of gendered expectations of work, both mothers and fathers recog- different strategies in the village. They tended a few animals, culti- nized the need to have their children educated. No longer would vated wheat and other crops on small plots of land, hunted and life in the village with its relaxed attitude towards earning money fished, and occasionally found wage employment. These house- and investing in the future be possible. Now, as all adults under- holds, not surprisingly, were the poorest in the village. Given the lack stood, children would need to study, achieve a university degree, of water and therefore few grazing lands, only a few households and enter into a profession. In fact during the past five years, many could sustain a large herd of sheep. A profitable size was at least one children from the village are now attending university, which was hundred. Only two or three men cared for a herd of this size. not the case during my early years of research. Thus, parents' In keeping with the residual nomadic economy, working in a concern for their children's education has driven the move to the mandıra, or cheese workshop, was an option. There are two such city. Around 2010, it seemed that the village would rapidly hollow enterprises in the village. They make feta cheese from local milk, out as young people moved away and the village became a space bought from households. Since most households have a cow, the where the infirm and the elderly survived on the edge of poverty. € milk is an easy source of cash. These two businesses employ family Instead, in the village's most recent iteration, as Oztürk et al. also members and occasionally a few young men. Men from households, argue, the village has become a transitional space. As villages which do not own a workshop or do not have enough resources for become city neighborhoods, the village becomes a suburb for keeping a herd, often leave the village for a few months to work in a commuters, including students. Transportation and better roads workshop elsewhere. This job requires living on site for about four are obvious keys to this transition. Though few village homes have months during the milk-producing season. In a village of about the material comforts of city apartments, due to the lack of indoor ninety households, one can easily see that the number of jobs for bathrooms, a village home is rent-free, spacious, and affordable. In men is low. Aside from these strategies, there is one man who has other words, the villagers need a sewage system to fully make the been the minibus driver for decades. He is turning his job over to transition to suburbia, a task for which they need municipal his son who migrated to the city when he married and works doing assistance. This final step will be dependent on water resources. the same job, driving people to and from the village. Leaving out the number of elderly men who stay at home, sit at a tea house, or in 3. Conclusion the courtyard of the mosque all day, there only are a handful of jobs: one imam, a director of the cooperative, two dyers, two Water, its lack, its accessibility, and its cost has profoundly shopkeepers, and two cheese workshop owners. The lack of shaped the nature of rural life, influencing economic life, shaping employment options pushes more families to leave the village. The spiritual practice, and contributing to the agency of men and picture I have painted is from village life as I understood it during women to make choices about their futures. While village life is the majority of my fieldwork, from 2000 to 2008. For the youngest shaped by an arid environment, almost a hundred years ago, generation, as they come of age, their futures both in the city and humans, by deforesting the area, contributed to the worsening of the village look very different. life in this ecologically marginal region. As Josephine Powell remarked, “it was men with axes,” not grazing animals who € 2.5. Migration and the end of rural life deforested the mountains. As Geray and Ozden argue for a region further to the south, along the Mediterranean, inhabited by Yorüks€ During the final years of my research, from 2010 to 2015, I who raise goats, marginal rural areas could become places where K. Hart / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 73e79 79 formerly nomadic peoples could profit from raising organic meats 269e276. € € (2003:130). But the government has worked to demote herding, Bohmer, Harald, 2002. Koek Boya: Natural Dyes and Textiles. REMHOB Verlag, Gandersee. especially that involving goats, because it is blamed as the cause of Ceci, Paolo, Hofer, Thomas, 2009. Local to global-level sustainable mountain € deforestation (Geray and Ozden, 2003:131). If raising animals is development. Mt. Res. Dev. 29 (1), 93e96. undervalued then the cultural heritage of nomadic peoples be- Chatty, Dawn, 1996. Mobile Pastoralists. Columbia University Press, New York. Cohen, Jeffrey, 1999. Cooperation and Community, Economy and Society in Oaxaca. comes impossible to sustain. As a result, the tendency has been for University of Texas Press, Austin. people to migrate to cities, and in this manner, the villagers in the Cole, Donald Powell, 1975. Nomads of the Nomads. Harlan Davidson, Illinois. Yuntdag are no different from the vast majority of the people in Delaney, Carol, 1991. The Seed and the Soil. University of California Press, Berkeley. Espinosa, Cristina M., 2009. Negotiation landscapes, survival, and modernity: goats, Turkey, millions of whom now crowd into cities. Yet, as I have migration, and gender in the arid lands of northern Peru. Cult. Agric. 31 (1), argued, villagers are willing to remain in the village when they have 39e48. € services they want, such as transportation and access to water. It is Geray, Uçun, Ozden, Sezgin, 2003. Silvopastoralism in Turkey's mountainous mediterranean region. Mt. Res. Dev. 23 (2), 128e131. easy to imagine that more would choose to remain if there were Hart, Kimberly, 2013. And Then We Work for God. Stanford University Press, high schools for their children and a hospital nearby. It seems the Stanford. city's government administration is realizing that providing ser- Hart, Kimberly, 2011. Modernist desires among recent migrants in western Turkey. e vices and infrastructure will help maintain a vital rural life. Nordic J. Migr. Res. 2 (2), 34 41. Hart, Kimberly, 2009. Conflicts and conundrums in a Women's cooperative in As I have argued and demonstrated through the discussion of western Turkey. Hagar Autumn 9 (1), 25e42. empirical evidence, villagers in this region of western Turkey have Inalcik, Halil, 1994. The ottoman state: economy and society, 1300e1600. In: been motivated to integrate themselves into the state structures Inalcik, Halil, Quataert, Donald (Eds.), An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. and national ideologies for a couple hundred years. Early in this Is¸ ık, Damla, 2007. Woven Assemblages: Globalization, Gender, Labor, and Authen- history they settled and created villages near their former grazing ticity in Turkey's Carpet Industry. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Arizona. pastures. Nomadic heritage and culture remained vital to village life ı ı fi fi Kara-Pilehvarian, Nuran, Urfalioglu, Nur, Yaz c oglu, Lüt , 2004. Fountains in and identity for at least a hundred and fty years. Drawing from Ottoman Istanbul. Yapı Yayın. these cultural resources, they tailored economic survival as traders, Kasaba, Res¸ at, 2009. A Moveable Empire: Ottoman Nomads, Migrants and Refugees. cheese-makers, and weavers. As they moved more closely to inte- University of Washington Press, Seattle. Kiris¸ çi, Kemal, 2008. Migration and Turkey: the dynamics of state, society and grate themselves into urban life, the city began to meet them with politics. In: Kasaba, Res¸ at (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Turkey, vol. 4. Cam- much needed infrastructure and services: electricity, a road, a bridge University Press, Cambridge. bridge and a public school. As they learned about the additional Kumbaracılar, Izzet, 2008. Istanbul Sibelleri. Kapı Yayınları, Istanbul. Lees, Susan, Bates, Daniel, 1974. The origins of specialized nomadic pastorialism. advantages of urban life, many chose to leave. Now we see the A Syst. Model 39 (2), 187e193. conceptual border between rural and urban life dissolve. The na- Luke, Christina, Cobb, Elvan, 2013. Dwelling in hacievliler: social-engineering pol- ture of cultural heritage and identity fades and the coherency and icies in the context of space, place and landscape in rural, western Turkey. e integrity of village life vanishes. Villages become urban neighbor- Anatol. Stud. 63, 155 173. Mahmood, Saba, 2005. Politics of Piety. Princeton University Press, Princeton. hoods and villagers are poised to fully merge with state ideologies Meeker, Michael, 2002. A Nation of Empire: the Ottoman Legacy of Turkish of national identity. The next step, as I witness in the virtual space Modernity. University of California Press, Berkeley. of social media, is a nostalgic reflection on rural life, one con- Milgram, Lynne, 2000. Reorganizing textile production for the global market. In: Grimes, Kimberly, Milgram, Lynne (Eds.), Artisans and Cooperatives. University structed on the home pages of Facebook profiles by children who do of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp. 107e128. € not intend to inhabit rural spaces or those lives in the future. In this Ozden, Sezgin, Atmis, Erdogan, Menemencioglu, Kayhan, 2004. Negative effects of regard, the stream makes a frequent appearance as a place villagers recent unplanned expansion on highland ecosystems in Turkey. Mt. Res. Dev. 24 (4), 303e306. € and former villagers turn to when they imaginatively return home. Oztürk, Murat, Jongerden, Joost, Hilton, Andy, 2014a. Commodification and the social commons. Agrar. South J. Political Econ. 3 (3), 337e367. € Acknowledgements Oztürk, Murat, Hilton, Andy, Jongerden, Joost, 2014b. Migration as Movement and Multiplace Life: some recent developments in rural living structures in Turkey. Popul. Space, Place 20, 370e388. This research was supported by numerous short-term grants Shahrani, Nazif, 2002. The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan. University of Wash- from the SUNY Research Foundation (2014, 2008), the Institute of ington Press, Seattle. Singer, Amy, 2008. Charity in Islamic Societies. Cambridge University Press, Turkish Studies (2010, 2008, 2001), the American Research Institute Cambridge. in Turkey (2009, 2008), and Indiana University's Department of Soysal, Levent, 2008. The migration story of turks in Germany. In: Kasaba, Res¸at Anthropology (1998). Doctoral fieldwork was supported by the U.S. (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Turkey, vol. 4. Cambridge University Press, Department of Education Fulbright-Hays (1999). Cambridge. White, Jenny, 2013. Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks. Princeton University Press, Princeton. References White, Jenny, 2002. Islamist Mobilization in Turkey. University of Washington Press, Seattle. _ Zeybek, Ozan Sezai, 2014. Istanbul'un yuttukları ve Kustukları:Kopekler€ ve Nesn- Atalay, Ibrahim, Efe, Recep, 2010. Structural and distributional evaluation of forest _ eler Üzerinden Istanbul Tahlili (Istanbul Mouthfuls and Vomit: An Istanbul ecosystems in Turkey. J. Environ. Biol. 31, 61e70. € Analysis of Dogs and Other Subjects). In: Ozbay, Ayfer Bartu ve Cenk (Ed.), Yeni Anderson, June, 1998. Return to Tradition. University of Washington Press, Califor- _ Istanbul Çalıs¸ maları (New Studies on Istanbul). Metis Kitap, Istanbul, nia Academy of Sciences and Seattle. pp. 263e282. Bent, Theodore, 1891. The yourouks of asia minor. J. Anthropol. Inst. G. B. Irel. 20, Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 80e88

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Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

The economy of survival: Bedouin women in unrecognized villages

* Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder a, , Avigail Morris b, Heather Ryan a a Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University, Sedeh Boker Campus, 84990, Israel b Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Ben-Gurion University, Kibbutz Ketura, Hevel Eilot, 88840, Israel article info abstract

Article history: This paper problematizes the binary division between substantivist vs formalist approaches, and sug- Received 10 February 2016 gests instead that in the case at Bedouin women living in unrecognized villages, within a settler context, Received in revised form deprived from the equal rights for developing an appropriate “rational” economic systems, people turn to 14 June 2017 their limited local economic systems aiming to produce economic safety net for their economic survival. Accepted 20 July 2017 However, lacking the conditions for their maintenance, these sociocultural institutions do not provide a Available online 9 August 2017 sufﬁcient base to maintain their economic systems, thus they recreate their “economy of survival” systems. Keywords: © Bedouin women 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Economic anthropology Feminist anthropology

1. Introduction and formalist anthropological approaches within the studied context. Economic anthropological literature has shown that the shift from dependence on subsistence economies to market economies has changed women's roles. In rural settings, women who were 2. Understanding local economic systems: a review of active participants in the group's economic life had to alter their economic anthropology traditional roles or considerably decrease their productive activity. With the introduction of a modern cash, modernity advanced Assessment of structural economic transformations among the technology or colonialism, some women lost their productive role Bedouins requires an understanding of how local economic struc- within the family altogether (Brockington, 2001; Feinberg and tures undergo change and how this affects women's roles. The Helleiner, 1986; Morvaridi, 1992). While men usually found jobs paradigms of economic anthropology have attempted to capture in the public work force, women, who were unable to leave the the meanings that local people assign to their economic activities domestic sphere, found novel ways of modifying their traditional and the motivations behind their economic decisions (Chibnik, roles in order to maintain their contribution to the group's 2011). Furthermore, patterns of economic activity are understood economy. in terms of the conditions under which they developed. This paper examines how women in the unique setting of un- The formalist school of thought (e.g., Herskovits, 1952; recognized Bedouin villages in Israel, which involves land confis- Schneider, 1974), which borrowed from microeconomic models, cation, deprivation of housing rights and proper infrastructure claimed that, cross-culturally, individual economic activity is within the village setting, and reduction in subsistence resources, dominated by rationally chosen transactions motivated exclusively have transformed their economic roles within the family and by self-interest and maximum gain, in market and non-market community. This paper, addresses the implications of this trans- economies alike. For Herskovits (1952), the only variables were formation for the employment of women's traditional skills as cultural circumstances within which economic behavior occurs. significant for the economic survival. Substantivists (e.g., Polanyi, 1968) have challenged some of these In doing so, the article challenges the binary of both substantive assumptions, focusing on how cultural, social and political relations frame the economic decision-making process. According to this view, common even in some economic circles (Wilk, 1996), the human economy is submerged in non-economic relationships and * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S. Abu-Rabia-Queder), avigailmorris55@ institutions. Polanyi (1968; see also Polanyi and Pearson, 1977) gmail.com (A. Morris), [email protected] (H. Ryan). notes that, whereas in modern capitalism the economy is http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.07.008 0140-1963/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. S. Abu-Rabia-Queder et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 80e88 81 embedded in the marketplace, economic systems in other cultures between productive and reproductive work fosters the illusion of a are embedded in other social institutions and operate according to decline in women's contribution to the reproductive household different norms. One economy may be based on kinship relations, economy (Bose et al., 2009; Ember, 1983). Society loses the while another may be embedded in religious institutions or a household as an adaptive, low-cost productive center that can combination of social and cultural institutions. As such, the concept shield its members from the vicissitudes of the market economy of work (including labor for production and distribution) is un- (Elliot, 1977). These criticisms imply that analysis of gender roles derstood and practiced differently by diverse societies. People and relations in a particular society demands knowledge of the relate to work differently, depending on whether they function in a cultural and historical processes in which they take shape, as well subsistence mode or in a market economy. as the cultural and symbolic meanings that the society ascribes to Polanyi distinguished between three types of economic ex- them mainly in times of economic crises. change: reciprocity, redistribution and market exchange (Polanyi, 1957). Accordingly, the substantivists view is based on social re- 3. Understanding the Negev Bedouin economy in Israel e a lations and role obligations identified through reciprocity of goods historical review and services between individuals and social groups who share some common identity (kin, tribal affiliation). The Negev Bedouin are part of the Palestinian Arab people who Substantivists have been interested in how people's economic remained in Israel after 1948. Today they form part of an indigenous decisions are influenced by their cultural perceptions, based on minority, numbering 201,900 people (Noach, 2011b). Their eco- their values, beliefs and world views, as well as social relations and nomic status within Israel is framed within their political history as obligations. Although the formalist/substantivist debate has dis- shaped in a settler context (Amara, et al., 2013). appeared from anthropological discourse, the ideas that emerged Before the 1948 war, about 95,000 Bedouin lived upon from it provide valuable theoretical insights for analysis of eco- approximately 12,000 sq. km in the Negev, using this land for nomic behavior. cultivation and pasturing flocks. In ensuing years, a large number Under the examined context, framed within deprived political left or were evicted, and the 1960 census reported that 11,000 rights, Bedouin women's economic behaviors and choices cannot Bedouin from 19 tribes remained, concentrated in the Sayig,a be understood as a result of free choice. closed area of about 1000 sq. km in the northeastern Negev. Be- tween 1948 and 1966, they were placed under Israeli military rule 2.1. Feminist perspectives of economic anthropology restricted from access to education or employment. While some of the Bedouin had lived in this area before, tribes that had resided In pre-industrial societies, men and women shared re- elsewhere were resettled on “abandoned” lands (Noach, 2011a; sponsibility for family subsistence production and distribution. Abu-Saad, 2008). With the removal of the military administration Women not only contributed substantially to the family and in 1966 Bedouin men entered unskilled, low paying jobs such as household economy, but also played a vital role as primary care- truck drivers, farm workers, builders, and factory workers. Many givers for children, who were considered a significant part of family households continued to raise sheep as an economic safety net production (Brown, 1970; Hurtado et al., 1985; Pahl, 1981; Stoler, (Degan et, al. 1987; Marx, 1977). 1975). In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Israeli government built The growth of trade and industry, modernization, colonialism seven villages with the aim of resettling the Negev Bedouin under and globalization separated the economy from the household in the false guise of modernization (see Dinero, 2010). However, these both Western and non-Western societies. More wealth was towns lacked the essential characteristics of urbanization, such as generated outside of the family sphere, thereby differentiating telephone lines, sewage systems, cultural centers, public libraries, between public and private domains, with the former at the fore- public transportation, banks or post offices and thus they rank at ground of economic productivity. With few exceptions (Stoler, the lowest socio-economic status. By the early 1990s, these per- 1977), this resulted in a dichotomy between gender roles, “taking manent villages had been populated by about 50% of the commu- women out of social production and leaving them in home-based nity. The other half (today, about 93,000 people) remained on their subsistence production only” (Undeland, 2008:123). From soci- ancestral lands, in settlements the Israeli government defined as ety's viewpoint, home-based subsistence assigned women to the illegal “unrecognized villages.” In a territory designated as a “non-productive sphere” of housework, reproduction and con- “restricted area” for the Bedouin in the 1950's (Abu-Saad, 2008; sumption (Wilk, 1996). Their work was not included in GNP cal- Yiftachel, 2009) culations. Considered outside the realm of economic paid activity, This new definition invalidated every activity in these villages women's subsistence production, informal paid work and domestic (Bimkom: Planners for Planning Rights, 2012). Today these villages production have been underestimated (Beneria, 1992; Boserup, have no official status, are excluded from state planning and gov- 1970; Ember, 1983). This has not only labeled home-based subsis- ernment maps. As such, most are denied a basic infrastructure, such tence as “unnecessary” in economic terms, but has also decreased as running water, proper electricity, sewage, access roads, adequate women's access to economic resources and the means of produc- schools and sufficient medical clinics. In addition, penalties are tion (Bahramitash and Salehi-Esfahani, 2011; Boserup, 1970). periodically enforced which involve the demolition of homes Rebelling against the dichotomy between private and public considered to be built illegally, the uprooting of trees, crop spheres, feminists tried to refocus economic anthropologists’ destruction and the confiscation of herds (Gotlieb, 2008; Human attention on household issues to prove that domestic affairs are Rights Watch, 2001, 2017). As a result, residents typically live in economic in nature and should not be excluded. They examined shacks or tents without regular electricity or plumbing. Many how women combined public and private spheres in their eco- households have generators that run 1e2 h a day. One quarter of nomic pursuits; how they bridged gaps between economic and the Bedouin in unrecognized villages lack toilets, showers or domestic production; and the nature of relations among work, kitchens, and 42% have no garbage collection (Rudnitzky, 2012). family and other social spheres (see White, 1994; Wolf, 1992). In 2009, 24% of the Negev Bedouin (about 45,500 people) lived The literature cited argues that the transformation of traditional in 46 unrecognized villages (Abu-Ras, 2006; Rudnitzky, 2012). Of economic systems leads to a steady narrowing of women's social these, only 10 have since become “quasi” recognized (Berkowitz, roles and income-generating capacity. Moreover, the rigid division 2013). The remaining 36 villages are absent from government 82 S. Abu-Rabia-Queder et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 80e88 surveys and statistics, and their needs are generally not addressed vis economic cooperation. by government policy (Abu-Bader and Gottlieb, 2009). Residents of unrecognized towns exist in an illegal no-man's land. Not only can they not build permanent dwellings, they cannot list their ad- 4. Background and methodology dresses on their identity cards (Zaher, 2006). In 1997, residents organized the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages (RCUV) in 4.1. Villages studied response to the need for representation before the Israeli govern- 1 ment. The RCUV has petitioned the Supreme Court for basic ser- The study focuses on four unrecognized Bedouin villages in the vices in the villages and has been working to improve basic Negev (population of each village lies between 1000 and 4000), All infrastructure and recognition. four villages lacked paved roads, adequate electricity (limited Compared to Bedouin in government-planned towns, residents supply of generators) and sewage systems. Two of them were of unrecognized villages have the least access to education (Negev recognized in 2009, nevertheless they have not received an infra- Coexistence forum for civil equality, 2014), and employment. About structure or services nor permission to build permanent housing. 80% are below poverty level (Abu-Bader and Gottlieb, 2009), while Only two had an elementary school and clinic. In all four, most 90% of those employed earn less than minimum wage (Rudnitzky, women were unemployed, illiterate and poor. Even in the villages 2012). with schools, few local women worked as teachers, health workers Schools in unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev are or secretaries. Those who succeeded in acquiring higher education severely overcrowded and poorly equipped. To attend high school, work outside of the village in the Jewish labor market. The families most children must travel 12e15 km, without adequate public we interviewed worked in the “tourist” business trying as much as transportation, to the nearest recognized village (Adalah, 2011:33). they could to make a living out of their traditional way of life. Thus, young girls interested in acquiring education and eventual Within these families most of the men performed contract work work, find it difficult to find access to them. This is because in as tractor or truck drivers. Men's monthly pay, which is below the conditions of lack of transportation and paved roads, they have to minimum wage (approximately $1, 300 NIS), was immediately depend only on gender and tribal mixed buses that fear their spent on household items such as food, clothing, baby products and families from risking their honor by traveling alone in mixed buses school supplies. with boys from other tribes (Abu-Saad, 2001). Before the move to villages, the livelihood of the Bedouin was fi rooted in agriculture and livestock. Every member of the family 4.2. Women's pro le helped tend to flocks, and the traditional economy symbolized the solidarity of the household. Generally, the men watered and fed the Most of the women interviewed in this study were in their mid- e flocks, helped by the children, while the women tended to lambs, thirties to mid-forties; a few were aged 55 60 and only one was in fi milked livestock, maintained the tents made of hair, gathered her early twenties. Nearly all had at least ve children (some had as wood, prepared food and spun yarn. Women and children replaced many as eight), ranging in age from three to sixteen. Most had a e men when they were absent. Wealthier families with large flocks minimal education (5 6 years of primary school). Some of the (ranging from tens of sheep to hundreds of sheep) hired shepherds women were separated from their husbands, involved in polyga- mous marriages or widowed.

Village A Village B Village C Village D

Number of women interviewed 14 22 15 12 Average age 28e38 28e38 30e55 40e50 Marital status Mostly divorced\widowed married married married Average number of children/per woman 7 9 9 8 Educational level 80%: 0e9 years 80%: 0e9 years 80%: 0e9 years 80%: 0e9 years 20%: 13 years 20%: 13 years 20%: 13 years 20%: 13 years Salaried/not 80%- not 80%- not 80%- not 80%- not 20%-yes 20%-yes 20%-yes 20%-yes Engage in livestock raising 2 1 3 5 Run a business from home þ embroidery 12 21 12 7

whose daily meals were prepared by the women and girls. The 4.3. Methods contribution women made to the family economy gave women and girls, a certain measure of power, including participation in The four village studied were selected because they represent decision-making about such issues as relations with neighbors and the three main geographical locations of all unrecognized Bedouin the marriage of their daughters (Meir, 1997). Sheep and goats were villages of the Negev which lie in a triangle between Beer Sheva and crucial to the economic sustainability of all the members of the three Jewish settlements (Dimona, Arad and Ramat Hovav). Bedouin family that served as a source of food, status and income. Semi-structured interviews were held over a period of three Forced urbanization limited livestock-rearing options, compel- years with women from 10 households in each village (40 house- ling Bedouin men to seek external sources of income, primarily in holds) and when necessary return visits were made. Focus groups the Jewish market, where they obtain low-paying jobs (for details, as well as informal meetings were held with women at local clinics, see Abu-Rabia-Queder, 2016; Abu-Bader and Gottlieb, 2008). This also led to changes in family roles, especially among women, who were gradually left without productive roles and without economic 1 alternatives in the urban setting, weakening family solidarity vis-a- Locations and geographical descriptions of villages are omitted to maintain their anonymity. S. Abu-Rabia-Queder et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 80e88 83 neighborhood gatherings, social events such as weddings, and at 5.1. Liminal/survival subsistence economy the market place. The first author conducted interviews within two villages with whom she was familiar, while the third author con- Lack of land and external resources, poverty and the high cost of ducted interviews in two other villages as part of her master degree living drive women to preserve their remaining traditional sub- studies that was supervised by the first two authors. sistence roles as active producers in the poor domestic economic At the end of the three years, a workshop was held with female unit. This situation is paradoxical in that women's unpaid roles representatives of the four villages in order to present the findings become more relevant within this reality and consequently and obtain feedback from the participants. All interviews were strengthen their productive roles and the cohesion of their kin conducted in Arabic language. group, but not for the long term.

4.4. Accessing the field 5.2. Survival subsistence as an alternative to unrecognition and poverty We discovered that the best time to reach most of the women fi was during the mid-morning hours (9:00e10:00 a.m.), when in- The ndings show that, within the unrecognized villages, fi laws, neighbors and acquaintances would gather in one woman's women's traditional productive roles are signi cantly needed, but house to sit and gossip after their children left for school. During partially preserved. Land loss has reduced grazing areas and elim- these group interviews, these women freely related their experi- inated some traditional female roles, as one participant explains: fi ences and dif culties. During our stay, some of the women invited There is no grazing land, so traditional women's work in the other neighbors or relatives to join in. These women would come to field is only partial and very limited. They took the lands, so that ‘ ’ one of the homes to be interviewed. When given the opportunity women's traditional work connected with the land has been we would also interview the women individually. On such occa- totally constrained. sions we would sit and talk to one of them in private or hear her talk and gossip about marital and intimate issues at a wedding. To protect the women's confidentiality and privacy, we refrain from As a result, women's domestic roles became more necessary as divulging the names of the women or their respective village. an alternative source of income. Because there are no permanent At one of the meetings recorded by the first author, it was local sources that supply dairy or meat products, nor storage fa- discovered that the women were familiar with each other's situa- cilities for such products, women who can afford it bear re- e fl 2 tions and sorrows and sometimes would even retell and analyze sponsibility for food production raising small ocks, milking a each other's stories. Their morning group encounters, attended by few goats and sheep, and producing some dairy and wheat prod- relatives and close acquaintances, facilitated emotional support and ucts. Traditional roles are further needed by women to bake saaj allowed their voices to be heard. In their interviews, the women bread on a daily basis, as well as shear sheep and spin yarn (mainly would sometimes say, ‘X is familiar with my story’ or ‘Y knows what among the old women over 50). This is in addition to shopping at I'm talking about.’ Such full disclosure was possible, the author the market to supplement their basic provisions. assumed, because they were members of the same family or Carrying out these subsistence roles constitutes a burden, extended family circle and shared the same troubles, sometimes particularly because of the unfavorable physical conditions in un- even facing them together. Acting as a moderator, the author con- recognized villages. As one woman reports: ducted the interviews in a manner which allowed each woman to We lack stable and solid houses that would enable us to leave have ample opportunity to express herself. Each women was given home without concern. For example, there are many hazards time to speak without interference from others. This type of around our house, such as half-built walls, posing great danger management was a little harsh on the women, as they often tended to our children. I'm always worried about my children because to interrupt each other to stress a point. Some of the younger the surroundings are not physically sound. That's why it's hard women came with their babies, ranging in age from a few months for me to leave the house and leave the children to go to work. I to over a year old, sometimes obliging the interviewer to ask also feel a sense of burden. Those who work in [recognized] women to repeat themselves. villages, for example, are not like us. They eat breakfast and go out to work. Among us, it's understood that women do the 4.5. Data analysis washing; you're at the stove in the morning; you prepare everything. We do not have adequate electricity for refrigerators Data analysis followed Strauss and Corbin's (1990) grounded in which we could keep our food. At times, I even laugh when I theory procedure that calls for open, axial and selective coding of hear women on television say that they cook for the whole week the raw data. Each coding procedure adds a new dimension to the and put it in the freezer.3 data, leading to the discovery of new patterns of economic behavior framed within a specific context. Because of the high cost of purchased items, women prefer to produce homemade items whenever possible. A woman in her 5. Findings sixties, who raises a few chickens, pigeons and a few goats in a size of two square meters, to support her household, reserves the eggs The findings point to two parallel economic systems: which are for her family. When it was suggested that she sell eggs in the both liminal and serve as a mechanism for survival. As a result both systems can be referred to as “economies of survival”. The first involves preservation of enduring subsistence patterns, based on 2 Not all families can afford to raise flocks, because of lack of space, land for reciprocal relations within the family and reliance on traditional grazing and high costs. Thus we refer here to two square meters close to the house, feminine roles and skills. The second addresses a transformation of which also causes poor conditions of hygiene. 3 Since there is no electricity in these villages, the generator that serve a few the traditional subsistence, noncash economy to a limited village- households at the same time, cannot supply sufficient power for all electric ma- based market cash economy that fosters temporarily traditional chines in each household, especially refrigerators that work only few hours a day, female skills and livelihoods. and not at night. Thus, women cannot use them to freeze food. 84 S. Abu-Rabia-Queder et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 80e88 village, she replied: “What do I need money for? With the eggs, I such as mutual aid and shared responsibility for the family and feed my family, my sons, my daughters. From the goats, we produce community. In time of deprivation, understanding the interre- milk and yogurt and cheese, and we eat.” latedness of the economic and social structure among Negev Women's liminal/restrained subsistence roles help them regain Bedouin in terms of raising livestock is crucial for understanding their productive identity and constitute a temporarily economic how social relations frame economic decision-making. As the shield against the uncertainties of poverty and governmental subsistence economy based on raising livestock is embedded neglect. However, although women's subsistence work is a partial within family and kin relations, livestock are not only a source of economic alternative to unrecognition, it is carried out under subsistence, but also “an infrastructure for social relationships” difficult structural constraints. (Abu-Rabia, 1994:20) that strengthens group cohesion. But, since these subsistence resources are scarce, women's productive roles 5.3. Maintaining subsistence through minimal cash within family and community have also been reduced. The limited subsistence economy can be perceived as both Subsistence has been redefined in Bedouin society under helpful in time of deprived resources, but also as a double burden deprived economic resources. This transition has introduced new on educated women, as the bellow stories show: fi expenses to settled communities, including school fees, trans- The rst author visited a family of ten in unrecognized village portation costs, the purchase of commercially-manufactured food, inwhich the husband worked in an unstable low income job. With fl and building materials for houses.4 As one women remarked, the little money he had, he bought a ock of ten sheep and goats. Tending to the animals demanded the involvement of every family We built this house five years ago. We are living in it, but the member, and whenever the author visited the family, she wit- kitchen isn't finished. We live inside, but the kitchen is outside nessed cooperation. When the husband delivered the young lamb, … Little by little, when we have work, we will finish the kitchen. the uneducated wife5 held down and cleaned the birthing mother. The children cleaned the pen, and the wife milked the goats and A significant expense, added by this reality of deprivation, is produced dairy products for her nuclear and extended families. At purchased feed for livestock. Due to the villages’ unrecognized times, the children (aged from 9 to 15) also tended to the young status, Bedouin land has been confiscated, causing a reduction of lambs and kids, grazing them at a nearby ravine or close to the grazing land. Given that a substantial part of their subsistence neighboring houses. In this case, this subsistence-limited system, fi economy was based on these flocks, Bedouin in unrecognized vil- is helpful both as a crucial extra income and accorded signi cant lages consider it a priority to purchase feed for them. subsistence roles to both women and the husband. In another Ethnographic observations revealed that families who owned case, this informal crucial system was a burden on educated flocks breed their livestock with the goal of selling the offspring for women who had to work in both formal and informal jobs to cash; the cash is then used to purchase supplementary feed for provide adequate income for her family. One respondent, a their flocks. When one woman who had produced milk products teacher whose husband was unemployed, noted that her salary fi from her flocks was asked whether she felt the profits sufficed for was insuf cient to support her family of twelve. In addition to her family, she replied: baking saaj bread and tending to their small home, she had to pay for generator fuel, car maintenance, schooling costs and other No, no, not at all. It was barely enough to feed them all! The household expenses. She bought some sheep and goats for her yogurt we sold was barely enough to buy food for them. We husband, but crowded conditions in the village and lack of grazing couldn't save any money at all. We made the yogurt and ghee … land led her husband, together with two older sons and his We'd sell it, and buy grain and straw. mother, to move temporarily to an open field nearby. Although, the chores entailed by this move were shared by all family This finding supports claims made by Stavi et al. (2006) which members, it entailed an extra burden for the educated wife; She state that due to political and climate limitations only 8% of the had to prepare food daily and send it to her family. On weekends, fi fl Bedouin in unrecognized villages raise flocks which provide a very she went to the eldtohelptendthe ock. Her husband and fl small economic profit. children would graze the ock, while her mother-in-law would Despite the high costs of maintaining livestock, in recognized milk, produce dairy products and shear the wool for spinning in villages these animals are kept not only as an economic safety net, the spring. As Stavi et al. (2006:60) claims, this case shows that “ fl but also as added social security (Aref Abu-Rabia, 1994:2). For the the domestic consumption of products of the ock reduces ” fi Bedouin in unrecognized villages, the flock provides a security base subsistence costs , more than, for example, pro ts from embroi- for times of need. Poorer families who cannot afford to raise sheep dery. Although this cooperation, sometimes carried out from a or goats turn to less costly animals. As one woman explains, “With distance, it was a burden for the educated teacher who had to the little money I have, I buy a few chicks, roosters and young hens, maintain both formal and informal work. fi raise them and live off of them.” Reinvestment of pro t for the reestablishment of a subsistence economy could be a guaranteed path towards continuity of the existential security that these people lack as residents of unrec- 5.4. Subsistence as a potential for enhancement of reciprocal ognized villages, if they would have had the land on which they relations raise flocks, mainly for uneducated women who lack the economic security held in formal jobs. Despite limitations and the cost for Each unrecognized village constitutes one community maintaining flocks, they hold a crucial significance in maintaining belonging to one extended tribe; and this collective structure a limited rural way of life for those who need it. provides for reciprocal economic interaction in times of crises,

4 Building stone roofs in unrecognized villages is considered illegal, thus houses are not ﬁnished and are more vulnerable to weather damage in both summer and winter. This becomes another economic burden that calls for ongoing house maintenance. 5 In this family, the wife never attended school. S. Abu-Rabia-Queder et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 80e88 85

5.5. Minimal cash economy room in their small homes into a shop that contains simple basic products. Examples include a dry goods shop, a gift shop and a shop Two types of minimal cash economies were found in the villages of school supplies for the local community. under study: informal businesses within the living space and the Some women use a room in their home to develop jewelry- implementation of traditional feminine skills. Both types are part of making skills. The idea was conceived by an Israeli entrepreneur the informal/survival market economy in which goods and services who trained women to make the jewelry. Nevertheless, the women are exchanged for minimal cash. were not provided with the skills needed to market their products. A teacher in her thirties who works in the village school initiated 5.6. Home/village-based cash economy: blurring public-private the establishment of the jewelry “factory,” which, for a while, boundaries became a source of livelihood for those who succeeded in marketing their products to tourists at neighboring tourists site. The The literature points to several factors that prevent Bedouin factory did not last, however, as the village's lack of basic infra- (and other Arab) women from equal access to employment outside structure such as access to the village via paved roads, public the village. These include lack of adequate educational and eco- transportation, and internet hindered access to the Israeli market nomic resources in their villages; lack of appropriate choices of and international clients. In addition, located on unrecognized workplaces that would allow women access to both their jobs and territory, the factory was unable to become registered as an official homes (to fulfill domestic obligations); and lack of adequate public business and therefore formal loans, as opposed to informal credit transportation to get to work. Additionally, these women suffer (through friends and relatives), were unavailable to the female from discrimination in public institutions and private companies in workers. the Jewish-Israeli sector, causing a scarcity in job opportunities Meir and Baskind (2006) who studied ethnic business entre- even for those with a higher education (Khattab, 2002; Abu-Rabia- preneurship among the urbanized Bedouin explain that the lack of Queder, 2016). success of these businesses can be explained within the wider For women from unrecognized villages, scarcity of employment context of the political relations between the Bedouin and the state. opportunities is aggravated by lack of infrastructure, paved roads They claim that most Bedouin entrepreneurs do not trust the state and transportation (Abu-Bader and Gottlieb, 2008). Kayan Feminist institutions, in particular the “Administration for the Advancement Organization's (2007) latest report indicates that absence of of the Bedouin”. This was a government body established in the transportation in Arab villages, including unrecognized Bedouin early 1980s to handle the evacuation of 6000 Bedouin who occu- villages, is the key factor preventing women from accessing the pied a space designated for a military airbase following the evac- public sphere. As a result, Bedouin women are forced to seek uation from the Sinai as a result of the Camp David Accords. This employment within a village already deficient in workplace body currently regulates all aspects of Bedouin life e education, choices. Some scholars (Yonai and Krauss, 2010) suggest that lack of economy, and lands. Moreover, Meir and Baskind also found that suitable transportation might reinforce patriarchal codes relating to “Banks in general consider financing Bedouin enterprises as highly restrictions on women, who are not allowed to leave the village risky investments in terms of returns” (2006:85). without a male escort and are limited in their working hours However, despite those obstacles, we witnessed that outside the village. One woman indicated that her husband objects throughout the duration of the factory, working within the confines to her working outside the village because she would be in contact of their homes allowed women to combine domestic duties and with men who would ask: “What is she doing here?” As another child care with work. This strengthened their cultural identity as a woman explained: “good mother/wife” (Sharp et al., 2003) by enabling them to maintain their traditional domestic roles. The above mentioned Perhaps if we did ask to work outside the village they would not young teacher defined the advantages of blurring the public- allow us to because it involves travel. The only options private domains: remaining are to work at home or elsewhere in the village. The idea was that we have women who cannot work outside of the village, so they started to search for jobs inside the villages, For example, the Bedouin home is often converted into a source within their homes. Instead of leaving the family for a long of minimal income by converting it into a tourist attraction. One period of time, a woman works for 2 h. If someone needs her at tribe that had lived in caves until the 1950s converted them into a home, she can go back. community-run, ethnic tourist site by hosting social events, serving ethnic food, and producing and selling ethnic women's products, such as thobs (traditional hand-embroidered caftans), jewelry, Similarly, a woman who runs a home shop described her day: handmade bags, carpets and wall decorations in a traditional I wake up at 5:00 in the morning, bake the saaj, prepare my “authentic” Bedouin atmosphere. In another example, traditional husband's and children's morning meal and after they go to tents built on “unrecognized” ancestral lands serve as a tourist site. work and school, I clean the house, cook their lunch, and sit The women, who use these tents as both a home and a source of down. If I have customers, I'm free to sell. livelihood, serve traditional food they prepare themselves, such as afig (dried milk), mansaf (cooked rice on saaj bread topped with a mixture of chicken or lamb, nuts and yogurt) and Bedouin herbal All these activities occur in the feminine sphere e in the tea and coffee. However, despite the hard work and effort put in women's homes or within the female community; customers are producing these items, customers do not visit on a regular base. usually women. This keeps women close to their reproductive roles Since the tents are located on 'unrecognized' territory, only tourists and enables them to perform productive work while protected who are familiar with these sites visit them. from patriarchal male criticism concerning gender mingling (see Still another type of survival business is home-based shops run also Bahramitash & Kazemipour, 2011). by women, who are usually divorced, abandoned or widowed. They A further advantage of this potential village-based economy is often live on their own or in single-parent households and lack the expansion of the permissible private sphere into the commu- economic support from their husbands. To cope, these women nity and among one's own kin, thus obscuring the boundaries provide themselves with a limited viable livelihood by converting a 86 S. Abu-Rabia-Queder et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 80e88 between public and private space. Homes become the public mar- demonstrates this tension when she describes her dilemma with ket and one's neighbors and kin become clients. One woman her husband's desire to sell her thobs: remarked: “It is not like you are working; it is like you are sitting at My husband used to take my traditional thobs to the tourist shop home.” Another stated: “My customers are my neighbors. My for whoever wants to buy them. Sell my thobs? So that I can see neighbors bring me customers.” Women feel safer working within them on other women passing by? I couldn't stand seeing one the complex of the village, which also conforms to their husbands' on another woman. expectations, as one woman noted: What led them [our husbands] to allow us to work, what helped These cultural materials play a significant role in seeking to us is that we are with our own people and with those close to us maintain women's productive feminine identity, as well as in our village, within the close environment of our community, contributing to the reproduction of culture. As one woman said, with no strangers. “This is … something that makes you proud of your culture,” or, as another remarked: “This is a kind of haneen [yearning] for the past If the appropriate conditions were available, there would be the when women used to sew the tent.” Sewing, as Fabietti (1991) potential for the integration of the private and public domains by points out, is associated with the traditional act of building the creating a shared community-kin space, in which all members home as the principal unit of family production and is the last constitute one community of buyers and sellers. This revised stronghold of Bedouin identity, that has been reduced in the reality public-private space could provide a framework within which of nonrecognition. semi-educated women could negotiate their active roles within society. 6. Discussion

Economic anthropology aims to understand how people engage 5.7. Reproducing female cultural identity through a minimal cash- with networks of economic systems and social relationships, and based economy how economic changes and social relations influence each other. It asks what kinds of economic systems are created and how they are Lacking formal employment opportunities, women turn to their understood. This knowledge helps researchers recognize the traditional skills and turn them into temporal viable commodities. unique conditions within which people operate and reveal the A group of women over 45, who are semi-illiterate and belong to mechanisms people adopt under unequal political and economic the generation that mostly lived a traditional lifestyle, offers spin- conditions. ning services to younger women who lack the time or skills mainly The two leading theoretical approaches to the understanding of in the wedding season (conducted in the summer). Some young economic choices and behaviors within a cultural context range Bedouin women are abandoning traditional sewing, instead from choices based on rational, individual considerations seeking opportunities through modern education; yet, they are still (formalism) to choices embedded in social-cultural institutions expected to possess traditional sewn items when their sons or (substantivism). The case of the unrecognized Bedouin villages daughters marry. The older women reproduce their cultural shows that, in a settler reality of political unrecognition, lack of knowledge by producing for their daughters. As one woman said: educational and economic resources, limited mobility, economic insecurity and poverty, women's economic choices are mainly All my daughter's generation say: “No, we don't want to sew; we limited to systems that are embedded within social and cultural don't want to sew.” But when they get married, the first thing institutions inside the village and thus provide them with the only they say is: “We want sewn pillows.” alternative for economic survival. Isolated geographically, socially, politically and economically Or, as another old woman remarked: “The woman who wants to from the dominant labor market, Bedouin women turn inward sew brings me the fabric and threads and I make it for her. She pays toward their own familial and communal groups as a “safety net,” a few shekels for it and then she takes it.” This very small income is as well as a means of addressing their status as poor in their relo- generated from traditional household items based on traditional cated reality. The cost of living forced upon them by displacement, female skills, such as sewing and weaving, raising sheep, and pro- combined with unrecognition, has compelled both educated and cessing and selling their byproducts, producing cheese and yogurt semi-educated women to employ their traditional subsistence and using the wool to make thobs, mattresses, rugs, pillows and roles, though these subsistence roles are still insufficient and must bags. be subsidized with cash. Consequently, they have turned their fa- The need to preserve cultural products, rooted in cultural ex- milial and cultural resources into limited commodities, relying on pectations for women's roles, is significant for younger and older their traditional skills and cultural female roles that have survived villagers alike in events such as weddings. As one woman explains: which are still strongly embedded within their reciprocal relations “If a woman gets married and does not sew mattresses, people will and thus still highly needed within society. These skills and cultural tell her husband that his wife is maila [incomplete] and not shatrah roles strengthen the women's identity temporarily as producers for [productive].” the family, providing additional income to the family, however, Lacking sources to formal employment within the village, older with an extra burden for educated women. women maintain their traditional roles by asserting them as cul- Despite the advantages of working within a restricted village- tural needs. Creating cultural products maintains women's tradi- based economy, these women face numerous limitations. First, tional female identity. Using the skills of sewing and weaving as a relying solely on this economy may create a segregated ethnic contemporary source of income symbolizes reproduction of the market, which can restrict economic development. Although, as women's traditional productive roles, embodying sentimental and Khattab et al. (2001:1) point out, “living in ethnically highly cultural value. These are among the significant traditional occu- segregated areas [does] not necessarily have to result in a negative pations that had been crucial to surviving life in the desert. impact on employment prospects,” but can even “promote job Consequently, it is difficult for women to transform their products opportunities and facilitate economic success,” this is only true into commodities and accord them monetary value. One woman where “alternative economic channels” and conditions which S. Abu-Rabia-Queder et al. / Journal of Arid Environments 149 (2018) 80e88 87

“support the creation of a prosperous enclave economy” exist. Such traditional resources such as land for grazing, cultivation and conditions include protected access to labor and markets, informal livestock, while providing equal rights such as economic opportu- sources of credit and business information (Khattab et al., 2010:1), nities originating in land recognition, infrastructures, education as well as cash flow from both local and foreign capital, advanced and contemporary job sources that can ensure formal employment technology, potential buyers and sellers, and access to products and of the younger generations as well. services (Khattab, 2002; Souza and Tokman, 1976; Weeks, 1975:3). In this way, families within these communities can both main- For Bedouin women living in segregated unrecognized villages tain the security of a subsistence economy and move towards lacking the most basic services, these conditions are unfeasible. economic advancement (in the conventional sense) when/if the One exception is the home-based tourist business which, in theory, appropriate conditions are given. This will also enable the coop- has the potential to reach a wider clientele. eration of older and younger generations alike. Another potential limitation of a segregated village-based The older women can continue to use their skills in a subsis- economy is the danger of flooding the local market with over- tence economy and, when feasible, pass them on to the next gen- competition between small businesses, which could lead to an eration, while the younger generation can expand their education economic breakdown. Although some informal enterprises are as well as institutionalize their own culture when given the characterized by cooperation as opposed to competition (Tendler, appropriate rights. 1987), the United Nations Center (1995:3) report on women and Governmental neglect and lack of economic opportunities and informal incomes in Africa discusses the dangers of “saturating” economic resources in unrecognized Bedouin villages, force its local markets with informal enterprises. As Long and Richardson members to turn to the scarce remaining traditional resources that (1978:179) argue, the low level of state regulation or interference also require formal institutionalization and preservation. Thus, in segregated village-based economies (or in the case of Bedouin economic choices that Bedouin women adopt in the reality of from unrecognized villages, the non-existence of state interven- shortage gives a different meaning to the substantive\formalist tion/investment in their informal economic activity) suggests that approaches. there is no formal way to control competition between businesses, The case presented in this paper provides a new way of reex- and thus no means of providing secure, low-risk conditions for amining economic systems. It problematizes the binary division small enterprises in these economic enclaves. between substantivist vs. formalist approaches, and suggests Although a subsistence economy supported by cash provides a instead that in the case at hand, lacking the equal rights for means of survival for the older generation, which lacks any formal developing an appropriate “rational” economic systems, people education, this is only a temporary limited solution. Although many turn to their limited local economic systems aiming to produce of the younger generation, both educated and non - educated economic safety net for their economic survival. However, lacking women, are not interested in learning traditional skills which the conditions for their maintenance, these sociocultural in- would allow them to fall back on a subsistence way of living, there stitutions do not provide a sufficient base to maintain their eco- are those who are looking for ways to gain access to a wider range nomic systems. of economic opportunities via NGO's and individual entrepreneurship that offer younger semi-educated women cash employ- Acknowledgments ment in return to teaching them embroidery and sewing skills to be used in these NGO's e an act termed by the first Author (Abu-Rabia- We thank the women who participated in the study as well as Queder, 2007)as“reviving tradition”. Since in these villages, 75% of the Ministry of Science and Technology in Israel for funding this women are illiterate, the only path for paid employment will be study for the last three years. more viable if it occurs within their villages. 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