The Influence of Gender Relations on Extension Delivery in Dangme West District of Ghana

Abstract

Extension delivery involves a relationship between an extension agent and a farmer who participates in extension activities. The general perception of the extension services in Ghana is that it is skewed positively towards men as against women farmers. This study was therefore directed towards looking at the nature of gender relations between extension agents and farmers to find out how it affects extension delivery. The study was conceptualized with ‘gender1 as a social construct that defines the roles and responsibilities of men and women in society and ‘extension delivery’ as a social interaction between extension agents and farmers. The social interaction is characterised by interpersonal relationship, conceptualised as a A'' system composed of internal and external. The internal components are characterized by interaction, sentiments and activities operating between the agent and farmer; (Homans, 1951). These are elaborated the external components made up of the extension organisation, agents and the farmers social system. The elements of interaction measured in the study were acquaintance, frequency and duration of interaction. Sentiments in this study were measured by its intensity, that is, the feeling of liking, sentience, trust, reciprocation and group size. Activities were measured by involvement and relevance. Participation was conceptualised as taking part or Cupertino in extension activities.

The study was conducted in the Dangme West District, an agricultural District in the Greater Accra Region with a purposive sample of 62 men and 44 women from ten villages that had experienced the services of both male and female agents. All the extension agents in the district, 14 males and 3 females were administered with questionnaires, and the Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension Services was also interviewed. The findings of the study confirmed that the relationship and participation in extension activities involving both male and female agents and farmers are skewed positively towards men as against women farmers. This skewed situation has come about as a result of the relatively lower status of women that makes men and not the women the recipients of agents visiting the household. This is compounded by constraints such as work overload and time that make it difficult for most women to avail themselves for extension activities. The agents lack of gender sensitivity and knowledge about gender and its effects on extension delivery captured by the fact that, the DAES has no strategies in place that is known to the agents by which they could reach women farmers, left the field staff operating as they wished. It was also found that farmers were indifferent to the gender of the agents, all they wanted was help from a government official. While both men and women farmers feel comfortable with female agents and vice versa, male agents felt more comfortable with men than women farmers. The main reason is the fear of suspicion of intimate relations between them by society. The male agent conducted more gender-neutral activities for both men and women farmers, while the female agents conducted gender neutral and women biased activities with women farmers, which are relevant to them. The study recommends that extension delivery to women farmers could be improved if the organisation translated its policy to reach women farmers into gender sensitive strategies. Also information for monitoring and evaluation of extension activities should be by segregated by gender. This would motivate front-line agents to make conscious efforts at reaching women farmers.