| Abstract: | The author discusses some recommendations that arose out of field research in northern Honduras. The research included policy recommendations to the International Development Research Center Project for Participatory Research in Central America (IPCA) on gender issues. The IPCA aims to build the research capacity of small hillside farmers by involving them in the design and evaluation of appropriate agricultural technologies. The author states that women are not an "underused asset" as Ostergard (1992) contends. Women are heavily burdened workers who provide in their reproductive roles essential services for maintaining agricultural production and for sustaining the family for the next agricultural cycle and the next generations. Women's housework is hard and time-consuming. There is a need for time- and energy-saving technology for domestic chores if living conditions are to be improved. IPCA programs must develop flexible programs to fit women's needs and to include women fully in the participatory process. Useful technologies could be community mills for grinding corn and improved stoves. Cooking and grinding corn are both labor-intensive tasks. In another community outside the study area, women travel to a community mill under private ownership for corn grinding that costs about 30 cents per day. The women reported that the cost is worth the time and energy saved. The mill also serves as a community gathering place. Women could potentially pool resources and operate a cooperative mill service. Lorena stoves are popular due to reduced fuel consumption, time saved in collecting wood, savings in cooking time, and fewer respiratory problems. Decisions would need to be made about venting smoke outside or continuing to use the smoke to dry grains in lofts overhead. Men need to be made aware of women's needs and women's opportunities to engage in income generation activities owing to the time saved. |
