Women in Rural Areas

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Women in Rural Areas

• By
• Prof. Magdy Madkour
• ALARI, Ain Shams University, Egypt
• Senior Advisor, Bibliotheca Alexandrina
• Supervisor, AGERI, ARC-Egypt

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• Women are a great human asset for any country and
  their role in society is critical for
  development.
• Women represent 18.6 of the total labor force in
  Egypt. 2.8 million
• Rural Women constitute 65 of the total number of
  women in Egypt, and provide 51 or more of
  the Agriculture Labor Force.

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• Women share with men most of the agricultural
  duties and labor either inside or outside the
  house, and they play a pivotal role in
• Child Education, nutrition and health,
• Family Planning,
• Animal and Poultry production,
• Food and Dairy processing,
• Crop production, marketing and sales,
• Different agricultural practices
• (Seeding Weeding Fertilizing)

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Distribution of Women Labor Force in Egypt by AGE
Age Category Women Labor
15-19 13.3
20-24 11.7
25-29 11.8
30-34 10.4
35-39 12.9
40-44 10.4
45-49 9.6
Total 80.2

50-54 6.0
55-59 3.8
60 and above 2.0
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Distribution of Women Labor Force in Egypt by
EDUCATIONAL LEVEL
Educational Level Women Labor
Illiterate 55
Read and/or Write 11
Up to High School 27
University Degree 6.4
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Distribution of Women Labor Force in Egypt by JOB
CATEGORY
Job Category Women Labor
Agriculture Labor, Farming, Fishing 71.3
Science Related Jobs 10.1
Technical Jobs 3.1
Office/Clerical Jobs 6.9
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• 15.1 of FAMILIES IN EGYPT are supported
  exclusively by women labor in RURAL and URBAN
  communities.
• However, 82 of those families are present in
  URBAN areas, and are usually families small in
  number and are lead by widowed mothers.

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• In RURAL AREAS, women are not usually empowered
  to manage the agricultural land they INHERITED,
  and therefore the land is rented to the closest
  MALE relative.
• (Ownership of agricultural land by women amounts
  to 5.3)

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Role of Women in Rural Extension

• A number of obstacles hinders the performance of
  Female Extension Workers (FEW) in Rural
  societies including
• Inadequate planning, implementation and
  evaluation of training programs.
• Lack of knowledge and skills for information
  dissemination.
• Lack of communication skills.

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• IF properly empowered,
• Female Extension Workers (FEW) could
• Play a vital role in the economic development
  of Rural Communities by creating employment/job
  opportunities and by empowering Rural women who
  form the backbone of agricultural labor force in
  Egypt.

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Thank You