Poultry rearing is a traditional activity performed by women for income generation. Feeding livestock, cleaning sheds, securing them properly for the night, and health care are the activities performed by women. Men are involved in the heavy work with the animals such as taking them out of the compound. Women take care of the farmyard manure collection thus reducing recycling, which has important consequences for soil fertility. Environment A number of environmental hazards in Bangladesh have an impact on rural livelihoods in general and on women's lives in particular.
Serious flooding is a constant threat, destroying crops, livestock and human life.
Destruction of mangroves for shrimp cultivation has made women, who usually collect firewood to earn their livelihood, jobless. Though some of them obtained employment in pre-processing factories near shrimp farms, the pay is low. Moreover, mangrove destruction has resulted in the saline inundation of the fields surrounding the homesteads along the coastline, impeding women's contribution through kitchen gardening, livestock and poultry rearing. In families engaged in weaving, pottery or production of oil or syrup, women have fixed responsibilities in relation to the finished product. In weaving, women undertake all the activities prior to loom work.