Gendered health hazards of pesticides: A comparison of knowledge, access and gender roles among married rice farmers in North Cotabato
As pesticide use and exposure among rice farmers in the Philippines has long been investigated to have grave effects on their health, there have not been sufficient studies that compare those effects to both women and men. Despite the growing feminization of Philippine agriculture, only mens cultura...
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| Format: | text |
| Language: | English |
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Animo Repository
2012
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| Online Access: | https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4213 https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/11051/viewcontent/CDTG005177_P.pdf |
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| Institution: | De La Salle University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | As pesticide use and exposure among rice farmers in the Philippines has long been investigated to have grave effects on their health, there have not been sufficient studies that compare those effects to both women and men. Despite the growing feminization of Philippine agriculture, only mens culturally mediated dominance and experiences in farming are among those that persist in the attention of the scientific community. This study responds to such gap by describing and comparing the health hazards experienced by ten (10) married women and ten (10) married men rice farmers in Mlang, North Cotabato. This sample was selected purposively and was subjected to in-depth interviews in order to investigate on their gender roles, knowledge about pesticides, access to agricultural extension and training, and pesticide-related practices that all determine health hazards experienced. Results of the study found out that both women and men experienced health hazards of pesticides. Women experience nausea, drowsiness and stomach churning because of inhaling the acrid smell of chemicals while performing supporting roles in farming such as weeding and harvesting. Men, on the other hand experience drowsiness, feeling of losing consciousness, and other dermal complications because of inhaling of chemical fumes and being drenched with chemicals that spill on their backs while performing major roles such as pesticide cocktailing and application. Moreover, these hazards are correspondingly brought about by mens overuse of pesticides and womens neglect of personal protective measures. Furthermore, inadequate knowledge about pesticides saw greatest influence in shaping womens deviant practices. In contrast, while men receive better quality of information and generate more perceptions about pesticides, they deliberately deviate from standard practices. These result from their varying degrees of access to agricultural extension and trainings such that men avail of formal trainings while women are merely informed through small meetings and informal conversations with other farmers and neighbors. While overall findings pin down gender roles as an influencing factor for disparity between womens and mens access to information as well as their direct exposure to health hazards of pesticides, this study also expounds on the economic factor that proved resonant in the prevailing dismissive behavior towards hazards experienced. Bringing this conclusion to the fore, strengthened information campaigns and further studies that does not only mainstream gender but that also takes into account the relationship of farmers to their land are recommended to be undertaken in order to establish equality and equity in agriculture and development. |
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