بوم شناسی کشاورزی (Jun 2025)
Role of Rural Women in the Sustainability of Iran's Agroecosystems
Abstract
Introduction Following population growth and increasing demand for food, agricultural systems have been considerably altered across the world. Nonetheless, the majority of these changes have been accompanied with many consequences by reason of focusing on economic growth and ignoring the relation between humans and environmental wellbeing. Thus, it seems that any future increase in food production should be done in a sustainable way which considers various issues. Based on this viewpoint, understanding the importance of diverse women’s roles and addressing gender equality are indisputable preconditions for achieving sustainability in the agriculture sector. Women significantly affect the welfare and sustainability of farmer households through numerous tasks assigned to them by societies. However, women do not have the same rights as men in access to productive resources because of gender-based norms. Although the sustainability of agricultural systems has been evaluated by many researchers, they rarely used gender-based analyzes in their assessments. Hence, we aim to determine women’s participation in various agricultural systems and evaluate the impact of women’s activities on the sustainability of agroecosystems in Iran by using a comprehensive approach. Materials and Methods To explore answers to our research goals, a specific questionnaire was utilized, and its validity and reliability were approved by experts and the Cronbach’s alpha test, respectively. We used the purposive sampling method to identify townships and villages and applied the simple random sampling technique to select farmer households. Based on different methods and the results of pre-test surveys, 930 farmer households were considered as the appropriate sample size in this study. Because there are different climatic conditions, agricultural products and subcultures in Iran, this study was carried out in all 31 provinces of Iran to cover differences between regions. The sustainability of farmer households was assessed by applying 15 indicators. Then, scores attained by farmer households were simplified to define three principal thresholds for sustainability: unacceptable (scores≤ 1.5), limited (1.5 <scores≤ 2.5), and good (2.5 <scores). Women’s different activities in market-oriented (male-dominated) agricultural systems were ranked by the Friedman test. The correlation between women’s participation in male-dominated farms and the sustainability of farmer households was determined based on the Tao B. Kendall correlation coefficient. Moreover, the effect of women’s participation in female-dominated agricultural systems (home gardens) on the sustainability of farmer households was assessed by the independent samples t-test. Results and Discussion Results disclose that the majority of rural women are pushed back from market-oriented (male-dominated) agricultural systems, especially from cash crop and fruit production systems. Nonetheless, women continue to play a significant role in subsistence (female-dominated) agricultural systems, with 44.1% of them having home gardens. Our findings reveal that farmer households do not experience the good threshold of sustainability, but households whose women have home gardens succeed in gaining higher scores of sustainability than other farmer households. Home gardens, compared with male-dominated farms, put the minimum pressure on the environment because of their reliance on renewable energy inputs. In economic and social dimensions, women meaningfully improve the sustainability of their households by producing different crops and fruits in home gardens. Farmer households with home gardens are able to offer a wider variety of products for sale, make more profit, and even have better savings and liquidity. Home gardens can also increase women’s economic ability, which subsequently improves the food security, health and education of children. Women positively affect the sustainability of farmer households by participating in male-dominated farms. Nonetheless, women’s participation in these systems is not as effective on the sustainability of farmer households as their participation in female-dominated agricultural systems (home gardens). Conclusion Our findings indicate that women’s agricultural activities influence the sustainability of farmer households in a positive way. Therefore, we suggest that experts and policymakers address issues affecting the agriculture sector through a gender lens. Because, the marginalization of rural women from the agriculture sector means the transformation of rural women from economically active actors into consumers with a different lifestyle, which undoubtedly puts a lot of pressure on the economy, both locally and nationally. It will also lead to numerous environmental and social consequences.
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