Paul Harrison in his book The Third Revolution Penguin 1993 sees women's education as a link to both reducing population AND caring for privately owned land. More and more males are forced to leave the family plots in search of outside incomes. In Kenya, women form the backbone of the soil improvement schemes. In nearly all countries, women still earn less than men, even for equal work! (This has become worse since people have been encouraged by government to negotiate their income with their employer). Women also spend more time caring and making houses into homes, have lower super-annuation savings, and spend more time in the home with children.

Women's Education

In most 'developed' worlds women are the primary spenders, they are the main consumer power, and determine the path of most consumer waste. These are key aspects of Permaculture. Permaculture is and education, is has to be learnt. In some cultures many common sense traditions ingrain the ethics and basic truths of natural systems design, and build skills in young people for observing and managing elements of a harmonised lifestyle. But in most cultures, especially in western worlds, permaculture is an education.

Permaculture promotes ethical investment, it explores options about procreative rather than degenerative investment.  Procreative investment is to invest in things that will procreate (develop, multiply, grow, have offspring). It includes preventive as well as pro-active measures.  Education is capable of both.

Women are in prime positions to observe the effects of a poor environment on human health and happiness, and they can appreciate changes. Women can see the results of poor water quality, insufficient and inadequately nourishing food, stress, and fatigue. The issue of poor nutrition is global, not just in developing worlds.
In developing worlds women and children regularly endure long hours of farm and home care. They work in direct contact with the aged, the ill and nature herself. The fight to save those in their care is powerfully instinctive. One of our correspondence students works in a UNICEF village near Orissa, India. She wrote in search of something more they can do to reduce the appalling infant mortality.

Women are often the first to benefit from improvements, and unafraid of work to spare them long term ills or extra burdens. (Such as reducing water consumption to avoid carrying extra water through to keeping perfumed sachets of herbs in drawers to prevent silverfish holes or using black socks as a simple alternative to menstral pads).

Nature is close for women, more natural to them than the less-sustainable answers.  Few women have enough disposable income, brute force or destructive inclination to do a lot of damage on the land. Women are practised at thinking, observing, collaborating, forming teams, managing families and communities and motivating others! They come to Permaculture interested in maximising the natural attributes of elements and climate: gently working with nature. The force of nature is intimate to women, especially mothers and carers, we agonise in childbirth and we bleed. There is a cyclic reminder of our ancient brutal roots. We are instinctively caring and so feel the realities of finding food and enduring shelter.

It was initially surprising that over 85% of our enquires for the Correspondence Design course come from women. Yet, what was even more intriguing was that a lot more women sought to include their partners in the discount-for-couples incentive than the men. Men do benefit when they take the risk with their partners. They can invest in their partner and help develop her skills in the same way they would build hopes for their children's future. The rewards will be closer to home too. What good is a lot of money in the bank and a wife busy spending it anyway? Permaculture women can assess the environmental impact of their expenditure and consumption too. They are encouraged to spend less of their hard-won cash and look to spend money on reducing the load or the debt.

Working families are often trapped with a great house by a great debt. One environmentally sound option is to downsize or employ other people in a caring way, and share the surplus as you share the load.  Time and resources are valuable to most people and so their education needs to be geared for high quality tuition.   In cultures where women control most of the family money, permaculture courses must be directed to meet their needs. Child care can be offered and flexibility in times for classes or study.

If you have a story or tips to share, please send them to us: info@permaculturevisions.com

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