Gender and People’s Oil Palm Plantations: Study of the Impact and Potential of Women Sosial Entrepreneurship in the Dayak Ethic of West Kalimantan

Abstract

This study aims to identify the impact of oil palm community development on the role of women in productive, reproductive and sosial activities in the Dayak ethnic area of ​​West Kalimantan. The present study used mixed method. The data were collected through survey, in-depth study, focus group discussion, and analysis of secondary data. Beginning with a survey, then an in-depth study and focused group discussion (FGD/Focus Group Discussion) were carried out, and the use of secondary data. This research was conducted specifically on the Dayak ethnic group in West Kalimantan where sosial relations between men and women are determined by the character of the patrilineal system. Respondents are household owners/controllers of smallholder oil palm plantations, and the informants are women owners/rulers/workers of smallholder oil palm plantations. The main data are activities in smallholder oil palm plantations (productive work), reproductive and sosial work and entrepreneurship which were analyzed using gender analysis techniques.

The results showed that in the village of Amboyo Inti, the majority of oil palm farmers were originally Dayak ethnic with a patrilineal kinship pattern. 74% of men in this village work as farmers and farm labourers, and 51% of women work as oil palm farmers and farm labourers. The division of gender roles in oil palm activities is dominated by men, such as land clearing, nurseries, maintenance, harvest, and transportation. Women do work helping with marketing, managing finances, and picking up scattered palm oil. In terms of access and control over land, working capital, nurseries, equipment and training are dominated by men. Women control working capital and the provision of wages. Meanwhile, all domestic work is done by women. As beneficiaries, women are more dominant, indicated by financial control. Entrepreneurship opportunities for women in this village are very low, jobs open to women are raising pigs and making plates from palm sticks. Limited capital and the "falling" price of palm oil are the main obstacles