VOA标准英语2012--Report: Women Farmers Denied Equal Rights

Report: Women Farmers Denied Equal Rights

 

A humanitarian¹ group says if women farmers had the same rights as men much more could be done to reduce world hunger. Bread for the World says equal access to agricultural resources would help ensure food security and boost economic growth.

Bread for the World’s new report – Empowering Women in Agriculture – says women are “active players” in achieving the Millennium² Development Goals. But Faustine Wabwire says they receive little compensation for toiling³ in the fields. Wabwire, a Kenyan, is the group’s foreign assistance analyst⁴.

“Women constituted half of the agricultural labor⁵ force in not just Africa, but the developing countries as a whole. And when you think of Africa alone it’s more than 60 percent of the total agricultural labor force being provided by women,” she said.

Few women landowners

The reports says, “In most countries, women in rural areas who earn an income are more likely than men to hold seasonal⁶, part time, and low-wage jobs. Women also receive less pay for the same work.”

Wabwire said women farmers lack access to seeds, fertilizer, proper tools, credit and especially land.

“For most of Africa, we have about 80 percent of the population living in rural areas and they subsist⁷ on agriculture. Now women make 60 percent of the agricultural labor force and they have no access to resources. So for example, land is one good example where less than 20 percent of all landholders are women,” she said.

That’s often been the case for both legal and cultural reasons.

“Women, who have lost their husbands, because they have no control, they no legal rights over the land, the only way they could sustain that land is (if) they got married to say a brother of the deceased husband. So constraints⁸ like this are still very prevalent in most African societies and they continue to impede⁹ women‘s ability to fully¹⁰ enjoy their human rights,” she said.

Feeding the future

However, she said the role of women in agriculture has become more visible. For example, the new Kenya constitution grants women the right to own land. But she said there’s still a long way to go. That’s why Bread for the World is lobbying the U.S. to maintain or increase funding for poverty-related development assistance.

“This assistance through programs such as Feed the Future, which is the U.S. government’s agriculture program, is helping¹¹ to elevate the status of women. It’s enabling women to access productive resources such as seeds. They are able to have access to extension services, which will enable them to produce more and contribute to healthy societies,” she said.

But Wabwire said more African governments must recognize the major role that women play in agriculture and elsewhere.

The Bread for the World report said, “Putting more income in the hands of women translates into improved child nutrition, health, and education.” It adds if women change their economic status, they will “transform the economic life of the communities and countries in which they live.”

It estimates that if women had equal access to agricultural resources, hunger could be reduced for an extra 100 million to 150 million people.

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

3 toiling   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• The fiery orator contrasted the idle rich with the toiling working classes. 这位激昂的演说家把无所事事的富人同终日辛劳的工人阶级进行了对比。
• She felt like a beetle toiling in the dust. She was filled with repulsion. 她觉得自己像只甲虫在地里挣扎，心中涌满愤恨。

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

7 subsist   

vi.生存，存在，供养

参考例句：

• We are unable to subsist without air and water.没有空气和水我们就活不下去。
• He could subsist on bark and grass roots in the isolated island.在荒岛上他只能靠树皮和草根维持生命。

8 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 impede   

v.妨碍，阻碍，阻止

参考例句：

• One shouldn't impede other's progress.一个人不应该妨碍他人进步。
• The muddy roads impede our journey.我们的旅游被泥泞的道路阻挠了。

10 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。