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separate food farms (i.e., vegetable or crop
plots) as well as with work on their husbands'
farms. Wives are generally responsible for
most of the household chores. Within the
households, a higher level of illiteracy was
also observed among the adult women than
among the men. All (1 OOO/o) female farmers
interviewed were illiterate while 70% of
the male farmers had some form of edu-
cation. However, this trend may change
with time since almost all the farmers
interviewed were providing both their male
and female children with formal education.
Looking at the occupational trend of the
households, it was also observed that male
full-time farmers engaged in basket weaving,
wood carving, masonry, fishing, etc., on
a part-time basis while their female
counterparts engaged in trading. The male
part-time farmers were government workers,
e.g., teachers and employees of the cocoa
services. Their female counterparts were
traders.
Division of Labor by Gender
and Activity on the Farm
From the survey, it became evident that
tedious farm operations such as land
clearing, tree felling, grass cutting, burning,
final land preparation, yam mound making
and staking were normally done by the
men while the women and children par-
ticipated in the sowing or planting, weeding,
fertilizing, harvesting and carting of farm
produce for storage and marketing.
Marketing of the produce was done by both
men and women.
Within the forested communities,
although the men may have small food
farms (i.e., plots), they tend to concen-
trate on tree or cash crop production (mostly
cocoa or oil palm). The women concentrate
on food crops such as maize, cassava,
plantain, yam, cocoyam and vegetables
such as tomatoes, pepper, eggplant and
okra, which are usually intercropped.
Both males and females reared sheep,
goats and poultry on a subsistence basis.
Time Allocation
Men in most agricultural systems have
different patterns of time use than women
(Cloud 1982). On a typical farming day in
the communities visited, a male farmer may
spend from seven to eight hours on the
farm and use the rest of his time either in
performing minor household activities such
as roof mending, attending to livestock,
etc., and socializing with friends or relax-
ing at home. A female farmer may spend
from four to five hours on the farm and
use most of her time in performing house-
hold chores and maintaining human capital
resources to sustain life at an acceptable
level no matter what other work is under-
taken.
Nonfarming days, normally taboo days
which often fall on a Sunday, are used by
both genders for funerals, marketing, com-
munity work, church or other part-time jobs.
Access to Credit, Land
and Property
In many rural systems, women have
generally less access to land, capital, credit,
technology and training than men (Cloud
1982).This survey showed that within
indigenous household units, most men had
easier access to land than women since,
in most of these cases, women may only
have customary user rights but not
ownership rights to the use of their farmland
(Andah 1978). This is due to the tradition
in which land is usually passed on from a
father to a male heir. This discrimination
against women in land ownership has not
only reduced their status in society but
has also made them economically
dependent (BIRD 1986) as they tend to
operate mostly under their husband's