ABSTRACT
In many African countries, extension programs for women consist of home economics courses that mostly focus on training in "stitching" and "stirring". This chapter examines programs for rural women in Malawi that until emphasized home economics, particularly cooking and sewing courses, and provides instruction in agricultural production. It explores how an Farming Systems Research approach that included farmer-managed demonstrations and trials was used to include women farmers in agricultural programs. The chapter describes a project that enabled extension agents and researchers to work with a group of farmers often by-passed and to re-orient training for women to include agricultural training. It attempts to distinguish between problems that affect smallholders in general and problems that are gender specific, and in particular which affect women agriculturalists. The model has been transferred to many developing countries causing women's programs to focus on domestic and on reproductive aspects of women's roles and to ignore the productive aspects of women's roles.
