Rural development and women

The project reported in this article aimed to discover how well the needs of women were being met with respect to rural development and to identify the best approaches to communicating information to farmers in Tanzania. Semi-structured interviews of male and female respondents in selected 200 households in Shinyanga, northwestern Tanzania, were conducted. The interviews were conducted in order to record data on gender differences in farming and herding with the aim of determining how to communicate information on development. Findings showed that women continued to be the poorest group in the community. Use of introduced technology was mostly associated with men's work. The activities of Hifadhi Ardhi Shinyanga conducted through communication channels were also more accessible to men than women. The improved stoves specifically aimed at women also failed because of ineffective communication strategies. It is difficult to approach women because they tend to be tied far more closely to the area of their homes. Thus, training through village workshops would encourage the active participation of women. This would enable information to be shared with, and between, as many women as possible

Geography · Herding · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Tanzania · Work (physics · Engineering · ICT Impact and Policies · ICT in Developing Communities · Psychology

• Agricultural Development in Tanganyika. By Hans Ruthenberg. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1964. - Agricultural Change in Tanganyika. By N. R. Fuggles-Couchman. Food Research Institute, Stanford University, California, 1964.

  William Allan•Africa•1966

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