Women in Rural Sabah: A Case Study of a Kadazandusun Village in Ranau District, Sabah
Research Project Report (KOD 23/98) by
S uri ani S uratman and Heiko Schulze
Universiti Malaysia Sabah December 1998
PART I: Kadazandusun Women in Upland Agriculture: Changes and Continuities
1. Synopsis
The study of rural women especially in the context of agriculture has become prominent since two decades. Such research aims to bring to the forefront the direct and indirect contributions of women on family farms and their influence in decision-making activities. But even after considerable research has been conducted worldwide it is still difficult even to give an accu- rate accounting of the women involved in agriculture. This lack of knowledge is even more apparent in the case of traditional subsistence agriculture of shifting cultivators such as the Kadazandusun in Ranau district in Sabah. In this research, it is argued that Kadazandusun women not only playa significant role in agriculture but in fact dominate all aspects of agri- cultural production whereas men tend to look for permanent employment opportunities else- where.
The employment of male villagers has led to a shortage of manpower for agricultural activi- ties, in particular hill-rice cultivation. Farming household have been responding to these changes by shifting their land use from annual subsistence 'crops to perennial cash crops I (fruits). However, the cultivation of subsistence crops such as hill-rice and vegetables is still an important economic activity for a significant number of households. Home-grown rice and vegetables reduce household expenditures and surplus vegetables provide an additional in- come.
The overall structural consequence of the adaptation of households to changes on the gender division of labour is a process of dichotomising of gender roles especially in farming.
2. Introduction
In the last two decades, women in agriCUlture appeared prominent on the research agenda of
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several disciplines including anthropology, rural sociology and feminist research. It was and still is one of the declared intentions of this research to bring to the forefront the direct and indirect ('social reproduction', cf. Friedland et. a!. 1991) contributions of women on family farms and their influence in decision-making activities. Although women are now well ac- knowledged in their agricultural role and are not anymore 'invisible farmers' (Sachs 1983), it is "very difficult even in the mid-1990s to give an accurate accounting of the women involved
