Report of the ICA Womens' Committee/ ICA ROAP/ SCC/ JCCU Asia- Pacific Conference on Gender Planning in Cooperatives- Japan 1993

Abstract

The global socio-economic environment which influences the gender issues has changed considerably since 1985. Many international conferences starting from the UN Conference in Nairobi have highlighted the necessity to search for new strategies to deal with new situations arising out of these changes. In Co-operatives, their actual strength lies with the human resources. Equal participation by all adds to the productivity and output of co-operatives. In agricultural economies, women play a vital role. Even though unpaid, their participation is no less than men and often higher than men. Still the inheritance laws and traditions as well as financial institutions’ regulations have prevented women access to services such as credit.