Women’s subsistence contributions include a huge amount of time and effort –essentially work- that is not adequately valued as labor to most nation economies, and in turn their real contribution is often underestimated in gross national calculations (Verschuur, 2019). Drawing on the capital bias, described by Federici, the systematic measures of labor are often biased in favor of production for the market and direct contribution to the Gross National Product of a state. Hence, what is categorized under ‘housework’ or ‘domestic responsibilities’ is still not considered by many as ‘real work’ (Federici, 2004). Subsistence labor for the needs of their respective families: which include the unpaid household duties that women shoulder; such as child care, cooking and cleaning, as well as drudgery labor such as fetching fuelwood and water common in developing countries, is not only underestimated in national economies, but also reflects the failures of a state’s public services and welfare system (Wodon, et. al, 2018). In this paper, we will provided quantified evidence on the value of rural women’s subsistence agricultural labor on the food security of their households to advocate the potential outcomes of empowerment initiatives for women in agriculture production.
To answer the research query, we analyze the data from the nationally representative fourth wave of the Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS 2018). As a representation of household wellbeing the analysis will compute the categorization of household food security developed by Coates, Swindale, & Bilinsky (2007). The definition of Food Security by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is focal to identifying the determinants of household food security (FAO, 2008). As such the associated variables under the integral components of Food Security will be derived from a review of empirical research conducted on multiple developing countries by Drammeh, Hamid, and Rohana (2019). The results will quantify female versus male subsistence agricultural labor using a detailed time-use survey of ELMPS 2018, to substantiate the validity of generalized hypothesis that women in agriculture are the main subsistence farmers in rural households with contemporary data evidence specific to the Egyptian context. Subsequently, the analysis will expose the significance of female subsistence agricultural labor on the probability of their respective household’s food security, while controlling for the effect of other influential variables identified in the literature.
Subsistence agricultural labor in developing countries is a protuberant feature of most rural traditions and most rural livelihoods. Subsistence agricultural labor is generally assumed to be taken-on by the women in the rural household to produce and farm food for their family’s consumption (Krall, 2015). Thus the term ‘Subsistence Farming’ or ‘Subsistence Agriculture’ is widely associated with female agriculture and is often categorized under household responsibilities and not real work (Federici, 2004), which effectively limits women’s time for other typical forms of income-generating economic activities (Huyer, 2016). This form of social reproduction in gender roles is focal to the continued underestimation of women’s agriculture activities in labor force statistics; due to the fact that women and others are less likely to define subsistence activities as agriculture work despite working longer hours than men (FAO, 2011). The implications of this has led to the marginalization of women in the agriculture development process, which includes unequal benefits, rights, protection and space for political participation (Verschuur, 2019). Despite the fact that the latest international statistics show that women account for almost half of the agricultural labor force, constituting 43% of the agricultural labor force in developing countries (FAO, 2011) and 60% of agriculture employment in least developed countries (UN classification) (ILO estimate, 2019; WB, 2019), archaic gender norms imped the development of the sector and threaten the sustainability of national food security systems (de Brauw, Kramer, & Murphy, 2021).
Throughout history women in agriculture have been consistently confined by colonists, and subsequently in modern times by developers, to a gendered division of labor based on women’s subordination to men. This included unpaid labor to assist the male head of the household in the cultivation of commercial cash-crops. To this day women continue to be the primary subsistence farmers despite the commitment of contemporary independent governments to economic development along capitalist means. While in reality, many scholars in humanitarian fields contribute the work of women in subsistence farming to reproducing cheap labor for international capitalism by ‘liberating’ male workers to be employed in the waged work for the cultivation of cash-crops. On the other hand, subsistence agriculture has also undoubtedly played a vital role in pressuring for fair treatment and better work conditions, supporting waged workers during times of conflict in labor strikes and political protests. This theory highlights the strategic importance of rural women’s access to land and agricultural resources for their communities, and consequently, the capitalist schemes of companies and governments. Means to cultivate crops and other agriculture practices - even in urban centers- allows to maintain a degree of autonomy from the market (Federici, 2004).
However, despite the importance of subsistence farming for rural welling and sustainability, especially in Africa and Asia where most of the world population lives, it is very difficult to measure. The most obvious reason is the fact that many women themselves do not describe it as work, as it is unwaged work and often is not done on a formal farm. Secondly, the definitions used internationally to monitor labor participation statistics have previously failed to sufficiently capture women’s real contribution to the national economy. Noted for instance the discrepancies in national surveys to capture women’s real contribution to the national economy in Pakistan. Where women’s labor force participation varied from 3% (1981 Population Census) to 12% (1981 Labor Force Survey), while the 1980 Agriculture Census estimated 73% of women in agriculture households were economically active. Moreover, in their subsequent 1990/91 Labor Force Survey women’s economic contribution ranged from 7% using the conventional questionnaire and 31% with questions on specific activities typically considered domestic responsibilities of women, such as transplanting rice, picking cotton, grinding, drying seeds and tending livestock (FAO, 2020). As such research scholars have sought time-use surveys as an adequate measurement approach to estimate labor force; in which the frequency and duration of each activity is recoded (Pentland, Harvey, Lawton, & McColl, 2002).
In the context of agricultural development, most of the focus has been on men as the typical image of rural farmers. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to substantiate evidence on the true importance of rural women’s contribution in agricultural productivity to increase household food security. The analysis here will assess the impact of male versus female subsistence agricultural labor on household food security in order to substantiate the potential impact of investing in women in agricultural productivity. The aim is to corroborate evidence to entice development interventions directly targeting gender equality, by rebalancing the scales of power by tailoring agriculture development projects sensitive to the contextual gender-bias against women (Quisumbing, et al., 2014). An empowered female in agriculture, with access to needed inputs and resources, is able to make decisions on crops to cultivate on her plot and will be more productive in agriculture.