The role of women in agriculture and extension have been issues that have been addressed by the programme at several occasions. While gender aspects have been agreed to be of cross-cutting nature and thus have to be considered in the preparation and implementation of programmes and activities, also a separate budget allocation has been set aside in order to address the gender aspects in agriculture.

At a seminar ”Women in Agriculture” held in Cairo in November 199, professional staff from the agricultural sector from Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Palestinian Authority identified the lack of awareness of gender issues at all levels of the society as specific constraints for women’s full and equal participation in agricultural development. The lack of awareness of policy makers and planners is reflected in the fact , that women, in general, are excluded from participating in a decision-making process which concerns their incomes, property rights and their ability to influence their standard of living and of their families. It is considered important to make the role of women and gender gaps in the agricultural sector visible increasing awareness of gender issues among policy-makers and also as an instrument to enhance the status of rural women.

Information is an important resource to impact on the planning and implementation of activities raising awareness on gender aspects. The availability of quantitative data measuring gender gaps in the agricultural sector and complemented by in-depth qualitative studies would provide substantial information for enhancing measures that could more specifically address the gender aspects in the implementation of the Regional Agricultural Programme.

For this purpose it has been agreed that first phases of an activity will be implemented that would

1. highlight gender gap issues in the agriculture sector, with specific focus on the activties defined within the Regional Agriculture Programme and

2. improve the status of rural women and enhance their quality of life.

The activity which is presently being implemented aims at the identification of concrete needs of women in pre-selected areas within the four countries in the region facilitating the integration of activities benefiting women in particular when implementing the planned activities within the framework of the Regional Agriculture Programme. A survey is being carried out that is primarily based on existing literature and data that is available. Once the analysis is available ( September 1999), proposals for the continuation of the activity will be reassessed according to the agreement by the Steering Committee. Next phases to be implemented include the gender gap analysis, which will be conducted in the rural areas of the participating countries.