BBC 6分钟英语 性别歧视：女性农民反击

English from BBC Learning English. Hello.

This is six minute English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil, and I'm Beth. If you ve ever tried growing vegetables, you'll know it's not easy.

They need water, soil and plenty of sunlight, plus you have to keep away weeds

and insects. But in some countries, female farmers face a different problem growing and selling vegetables sexism, the mistreatment of one sex based on the belief that the other is better, usually that men are better than women.

According to the United Nations, over 40% of farmers globally are women, a number which rises to almost 50% in lower and middle income countries.

Although these women manage farms, look after crops and sell their producer markets, female farmers face sexism in societies where women are and expected to raise children and stay at home.

In this program, will be digging into ideas helping female farmers in Bangladesh and Peru to earn a fair price for the food they grow.

And as usual, you'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But 1st, I have a question for you, beth.

According to the un's World Food Program, or WFP, what is the world's most popular vegetable?

Is it A onions, B, tomatoes or C peppers?

I think the answer is tomatoes.

OK, beth, I'll reveal the answer later in the program.

Poppy Farms, a small garden in rural Bangladesh, where she grows cucumbers, spinach and ocra.

Although around half of Bangladeshi farmers are female, they're not always welcome at the marketplace, where they face harassment or are underpaid for their produce.

Now, a Puppy has joined hundreds of other female farmers using a new online app.

The e commerce platform is called farm to Go.

And farmers can sell their produce without revealing their identity, thereby getting a fairer price than at the market.

Here's Poppy telling more to Salmon, said reporter for BBC World Service program.

People fixing the world By sailing here, we get more profit.

E.g., if you sell a product in the market at Party Daga, we can still get here at 32 or $33.

That's what makes us very happy.

It also saves time, as after sailing the products, we can come home and spend time with the families, and can also work in the vegetable garden.

Turkey to Taka is about us cents, with 200 women currently using the app in Bangladesh.

And while the $0.03 extra my son small, over the course of the year, as prices fluctuate, the W-P say the average monthly revenue for each farmer using the app has risen dramatically in the long run.

The hope is that it will also be possible to challenge and change attitudes around gender.

But in the meantime, the extra money she makes per cell makes a big difference to Poppy and her family.

Although the app only increases puppies profits a little, they soon add up because vegetable prices fluctuates, they continually, say, moving up and down.

According to the WFP, the incomes of farmers using the app have risen dramatically.

Theyve increased suddenly. And surprisingly, that makes a big difference to puppy.

To make a big difference is an idiom, meaning to significantly improve the situation.

It's good news for female farmers in Bangladesh, but problems continue in many other places, often because it's the man in the family who controls the household finances.

Here, reporter Craig Langron explains a finance scheme helping female coffee growers in Peru to BBC World Service program people Fixing the world.

So I came across a project in Peru recently, and they're helping female coffee growers to access finance.

So how it works? It's a type of savings and credit union, and people living nearby can each chip in a small amount of money, which can then be accessed by a farmer if she needs a loan to, say, buy a new beam processing machine, or something like that.

Female farmers in Peru have started a savings and credit union.

This is a kind of cooperative bank where members pull their savings together so they can lend funds to each other.

Each member chips in, everyone gives a small amount of money to pay for something together.

Getting back to vegetables, I think it's time to reveal the answer to my question.

Beth, according to the UN, what is the world's most popular vegetable?

I guessed it was tomatoes, which was the correct answer.

Technically, a fruit. Nutritionists count tomato as a vegetable, in fact, the most commonly used vegetable in the world.

OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned in this program on female farmers battling sexism.

That's the mistreatment of one sex based on the belief that the other one is better, usually that men are better than women.

If something fluctuates,

it keeps changing. Moving up and down, to rise dramatically means to increase in a sudden and surprising way.

The idiom to make a big difference, means to significantly improve the situation.

A savings and Credit Union is a cooperative bank where members pool their savings together, so they can borrow money from each other.

And finally, if you chip in, you contribute some money, so a group of you can pay for something together.

Once again, our 6 min are up.

Join us next time for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 min English.

Good Bye for now. Bye.

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