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Understanding the organizational approaches of funders and project implementers to strengthen women’s empowerment through agricultural collectives
Rubin, Deborah. 2024
Rubin, Deborah. 2024
Abstract | Link
This paper reports on approaches for strengthening women’s empowerment that were implemented by project partners involved in the International Food Policy Research (IFPRI)-led Applying New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment (ANEW) project funded by the Walmart Foundation. The study explores the partner organizations’ websites and publications, project materials, and selected staff interviews to better understand how each envisions women’s empowerment and the pathways for supporting it. The four implementing project partners are Grameen Foundation, Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) in India, Root Capital in Mexico, and TechnoServe in Guatemala. Their programs and their organizational approaches vary in whether they primarily focus on women rather than more broadly targeting both women and men and their gender relationships. Some organizations are more “organic” in integrating attention to gender and empowerment into their programs, designing and implementing an approach on a case by case basis. Others are more intentional in establishing organization-wide policies, strategies, and monitoring systems. The organizations also differ in their positions on supporting “economic empowerment” and clear economic benefits such as prioritizing increased income or assets in contrast to those that also seek to actively change social norms and achieve other social dimensions of empowerment that encompass behaviors around decision-making, mobility, and self-confidence. Another variation is in the organizations’ attention to enterprise development and, consequently to entrepreneurship and upgrading, and what aspects of women's empowerment are most critical for achieving those goals. This paper offers implementers and their funders insight into organizational differences in approaches to women’s empowerment. The review demonstrates that both funders and implementers continue to focus on strengthening women’s economic empowerment by increasing women’s incomes and assets, often with good results. However, they often lack clear theories of change or explicit strategies to strengthen other dimensions of women’s empowerment. More nuanced, evidence-based theories of change and targeted actions could strengthen program design to expand and support women’s achievement of empowerment across all its dimensions.
Task or time? Comparing methods for measuring the gender distribution of work
Banerjee, Archis; Kumar, Neha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. 2024
Banerjee, Archis; Kumar, Neha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. 2024
Abstract | Link
There is growing evidence that gender disparities in the distribution of paid and unpaid work impose constraints on women’s well-being and livelihoods, reducing access to paid employment, and time for education, leisure, and social activities. Yet, gender disparities in unpaid work often go undiagnosed by traditional household surveys. While time-use surveys are well-suited for measuring unpaid work, they are often expensive to administer and take substantial amounts of survey time, leading to respondent fatigue, particularly in multi-topic surveys where other outcomes are also being collected.
Cooperation among community leaders: The role of women’s leadership and exposure to conflict
Nigus, Halefom Yigzaw; Abay, Kibrom A.. 2024
Nigus, Halefom Yigzaw; Abay, Kibrom A.. 2024
Abstract | Link
In rural settings, community leaders play important roles in mobilizing resources and delivering public goods and services. However, little is known about their attributes and incentives in delivering these public goods and services. Exploiting survey, lab-in-the-field experiment, and geo-referenced data, we study the role of leaders, especially women’s leadership, and their exposure to conflict in explaining differences in cooperation among com-munity leaders in Ethiopia. We measure cooperation through a public-good experiment and examine the implications of community leaders’ characteristics. We then merge these lab-in-the field experimental data with geo-referenced data on conflict exposure to examine the implication of different types of conflict on community leaders’ cooperation behavior. We find that female leaders contribute more to public goods than their male counterparts. For example, compared to those assuming the highest official administrative responsibility in the village, women leaders contribute about 11 percent more to the public good. We also document nuanced findings that reconcile existing mixed evidence on the implication of exposure to conflict on cooperation: while conflict events that affect the whole community, such as political violence (including battles) are associated with higher cooperation, other types of conflict (e.g., demonstrations and riots) are associated with lower levels of cooperation. Finally, we identify additional predictors of cooperation among community leaders, including beliefs about other leaders’ cooperative behavior. These findings shed light on potential avenues for facilitating and fostering cooperation among community leaders.
Strengthening women’s empowerment, climate resilience, and nutrition along the goat value chain in Senegal: A qualitative study
Kane, Papa Abdoulaye; Barry, Mamadou Bobo; Eissler, Sarah; Tall, Thiané; Camara, Astou Diao; Sall, Moussa; Fall, Simone; Bryan, Elizabeth; Ringler, Claudia. 2024
Kane, Papa Abdoulaye; Barry, Mamadou Bobo; Eissler, Sarah; Tall, Thiané; Camara, Astou Diao; Sall, Moussa; Fall, Simone; Bryan, Elizabeth; Ringler, Claudia. 2024
Abstract | Link
Goats are an important source of income, nutrition and resilience in Senegal. This study assesses opportunities to strengthen women’s agency, increase resilience to climate change, and improve nutrition along the various stages of goat value chains from the acquisition of feed resources and other inputs to processing, marketing and consumption of various goat products. The qualitative study finds that even though goats are more climate resilient than other livestock, climate change impacts on goat production and productivity are increasingly felt, particularly through impacts on feed resources. The study identified opportunities to strengthen women’s roles along the goat value chain, particularly in goat production and, to a lesser extent, in processing of goat products. Women and their families also benefit from the consumption of goat milk and women have some degree of control over income from the sale of goat products. Strengthening women’s agency in these nutrient-rich and relatively climate-resilient value chains will require improving their access to land resources and better animal feeds, supporting women’s groups and building women’s capacity for processing and marketing goat products, improving access to electricity for cold storage of goat products, and raising awareness regarding the nutritional benefits of goat products, especially for women and children.
Barriers and facilitators to women’s participation in farmer producer organizations: A qualitative study exploring women’s empowerment and collective efficacy in Jharkhand, India
Bhanjdeo, Arundhita. 2024
Bhanjdeo, Arundhita. 2024
Abstract | Link
Over the last decade in India, farmer producer organizations (FPOs) have emerged as a means of collectivizing smallholder farmers and providing them access to extension, innovation, and market services. FPOs that center women farmers, traditionally at a disadvantage vis-à-vis their male counterparts in access to resources and extension, can serve to enhance women’s agency and collective action in agricultural value chains. We used 59 key informant interviews and nine focus group discussions to examine the constraints to, and facilitators of, women’s and men’s participation in three women-only FPOs in Jharkhand, an eastern Indian state. Additionally, we study the gender and power dynamics in such FPOs and the potential of collective efficacy to enhance agricultural and empowerment outcomes. The FPO intervention we evaluated was supported by an NGO that provides FPO members with both agricultural and gender-based inputs to improve agronomic practices, market linkages, agricultural yields and profits, and the role of women both within the FPO and within their households and communities. In this paper, we provide contextual insights on ‘what works’ to empower women in this context. Women’s perceptions of the benefits from FPO membership were heterogeneous. Our qualitative analysis suggests a nuanced picture of women’s autonomy and decision-making within and outside their household, further shaped by women’s and men’s perception of shifts in women’s access to resources and services. The emerging lessons provide inputs for development implementers and policymakers to recognize diverse contextual barriers in designing FPO interventions to enable and enhance women empowerment outcomes. The research also contributes to the body of knowledge on local gender norms and understanding of empowerment.
Social protection and gender: policy, practice and research
Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Kumar, Neha; Lambon-Quayefio, Monica; Roy, Shalini; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Paz, Flor.. 2024
Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Kumar, Neha; Lambon-Quayefio, Monica; Roy, Shalini; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Paz, Flor.. 2024
Abstract | Link
Gender considerations in the design and delivery of social protection programs are critical to meet overall objectives of reducing poverty and vulnerability. We provide an overview of the policy discourse and research on social protection and gender in low- and middle-income countries, focusing on social assistance, social care, and social insurance. Taking a ‘review of reviews’ approach, we aggregate findings from rigorous evaluations on women's health, economic, empowerment, and violence impacts. We show there is robust evidence that social assistance has beneficial effects across all four domains. In addition, there is emerging evidence that social care has positive impacts on women’s economic outcomes, but scarce evidence of its impacts on other domains. Aggregated evidence on the impacts of social insurance are lacking. Key design elements facilitating positive impacts for women relate to gender targeting; quality complementary programming; replacing conditionalities with soft nudges; ensuring the value, frequency, and duration of benefits are sufficient; and gender-sensitive operational components. We close with a discussion of evidence gaps and priorities for future research.
Can gender- and nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs improve resilience? Medium-term impacts of an intervention in Bangladesh
Hoddinott, John; Ahmed, Akhter; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Rakshit, Deboleena. Washington, DC 2023
Hoddinott, John; Ahmed, Akhter; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Rakshit, Deboleena. Washington, DC 2023
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.137085
Abstract | PDF (915.9 KB)
There are few studies that rigorously assess how agricultural and nutrition related interventions enhance resilience and even fewer that incorporate a gendered dimension in their analysis. Mindful of this, we address three knowledge gaps: (1) Whether agricultural interventions aimed at diversifying income sources and improving nutrition have sustainable impacts (on asset bases, consumption, gender-specific outcomes and women’s empowerment, and on diets) that persist after the intervention ends; (2) whether such interventions are protective when shocks occur? and (3) whether these interventions promote gender-sensitive resilience. We answer these questions using unique data, a four-year post-endline follow up survey of households from a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a nutrition-and-gender-sensitive agricultural intervention in Bangladesh. We find that treatment arms that included both agriculture and nutrition training had sustainable effects on real per capita consumption, women’s empowerment (as measured by the pro-WEAI), and asset holdings measured four years after the original intervention ended. Treatment arms that included both agriculture and nutrition training (with or without gender sensitization) reduced the likelihood that households undertook more severe forms of coping strategies and reduced the likelihood that household per capita consumption fell, in real terms, by more than five percent between in the four years following the end of the intervention. The treatment arm that only provided training in agriculture had positive impacts at endline but these had largely faded away four years later. Our results suggest that bundling nutrition and agriculture training may contribute to resilience as well as to sustained impacts on consumption, women’s empowerment, and asset holdings in the medium term. These have implications for the design of future gender- and nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs.
Gender, deliberation, and natural resource governance: Experimental evidence from Malawi
Clayton, Amanda; Dulani, Boniface; Kosec, Katrina; Robinson, Amanda Lea. Washington, DC 2023
Clayton, Amanda; Dulani, Boniface; Kosec, Katrina; Robinson, Amanda Lea. Washington, DC 2023
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.137083
Abstract | PDF (2.9 MB)
Initiatives to combat climate change often strive to include women’s voices, but there is limited evidence on how this feature influences program design or its benefits for women. We examine the causal effect of women’s representation in climate-related deliberations using the case of community-managed forests in rural Malawi. We run a lab-in-the-field experiment that randomly varies the gender composition of six-member groups asked to privately vote, deliberate, then privately vote again on their preferred policy to combat local over-harvesting. We find that any given woman has relatively more influence in group deliberations when women make up a larger share of the group. This result cannot be explained by changes in participants’ talk time. Rather, women’s presence changes the content of deliberations towards topics on which women tend to have greater expertise. Our work suggests that including women in decision-making can shift deliberative processes in ways that amplify women’s voices.
Development and Validation of Women’s Empowerment in Migration Index (WEMI)
Sufian, Farha D.; Alvi, Muzna Fatima; Ratna, Nazmun N.; Ringler, Claudia; Choudhury, Zahid ul Arefin. Washington, DC 2023
Sufian, Farha D.; Alvi, Muzna Fatima; Ratna, Nazmun N.; Ringler, Claudia; Choudhury, Zahid ul Arefin. Washington, DC 2023
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.137066
Abstract | PDF (682.9 KB)
There is little evidence on the association between women’s migration, empowerment, and well-being, driven in part due to difficulty in measuring empowerment in the migration context. To better understand these linkages, we developed a Women’s Empowerment in Migration Index (WEMI) and validated it with survey of 1019 returnee female migrants in Bangladesh, who had returned after working internationally, mostly from countries in West Asia. By incorporating indicators of subjective well-being from migration literature into measures of empowerment, our paper advances research over earlier assessments of women’s experiences in the migration process beyond seemingly objective indicators, such as income, health, and economic welfare. We find that 14% of all migrant women in our sample could be classified as being empowered. Lack of membership in groups, restricted mobility, and lack of asset ownership are the largest contributors to migrant women’s disempowerment in our sample. We find that WEMI is strongly correlated with other measures of well-being, including mental health and livelihood-efficacy. Women with higher empowerment scores are also less likely to experience discriminatory labor practices and unsafe work conditions. With broad applicability to migrants from low and middle-income countries, WEMI can be used as a tool, helping to identify sources of disempowerment, and enabling stakeholders to develop interventions targeting the welfare of women migrant workers.
Women’s Empowerment in Agrifood Governance (WEAGov) assessment framework: A pilot study in Nigeria
Ragasa, Catherine; Kyle, Jordan; Onoja, Anthony Ojonimi; Achika, Anthonia I.; Adejoh, Stella O.; Onyenekwe, Chinasa S; Koledoye, Gbenga; Ujor, Gloria C.; Nwali, Perpetual Nkechi. Washington, DC 2023
Ragasa, Catherine; Kyle, Jordan; Onoja, Anthony Ojonimi; Achika, Anthonia I.; Adejoh, Stella O.; Onyenekwe, Chinasa S; Koledoye, Gbenga; Ujor, Gloria C.; Nwali, Perpetual Nkechi. Washington, DC 2023
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.137059
Abstract | PDF (2.7 MB)
Women’s equal participation and leadership in political and public life can boost a country’s long-run economic growth, foster social inclusion, and help countries reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Beyond these important outcomes, women’s inclusion in public life is a basic human right: women deserve a role in making decisions, controlling resources, and shaping policies. Despite the importance of women’s voices and their empowerment in policy and decision-making processes, it is far easier to lament their absence than to define and measure them. We know that political empowerment, measured in terms of the share of women in government ministries and parliament, is low and is the weakest dimension in the Global Gender Gap. Yet such national statistics, while important and informative, risk mismeasuring women’s participation and influence in public life and do not give policymakers and advocacy organizations traction on specific gaps and opportunities for increasing women’s voice in policymaking. With this situation in mind and focusing on agrifood systems, which are crucial for delivering the SDGs, we developed an assessment framework—Women’s Empowerment in Agrifood Governance (WEAGov)— to assess women’s voice and empowerment in national policy processes in agrifood systems. This paper presents the first pilot-testing of WEAGov in Nigeria. In this paper, we present how the WEAGov tool works in the Nigerian context, analyze the data, and provide diagnostic on the status of women’s voice and empowerment in the agrifood policy process. As discussed in this paper, the pilot-testing in Nigeria provides useful lessons toward improving the measurement for future use and provides valuable policy insights on critical entry points for increasing women’s voice and empowerment in the national agrifood policy process.
Reverting to traditional views of gender during times of relative deprivation: An experimental study in Nepal
Kosec, Katrina; Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung; You, Soosun; Boittin, Margaret. Washington, DC 2023
Kosec, Katrina; Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung; You, Soosun; Boittin, Margaret. Washington, DC 2023
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.137020
Abstract | PDF (1020.7 KB)
Do individuals’ perceptions of their relative economic status affect their attitudes regarding gender roles in patriarchal societies? What role does hearing messages designed to increase support for women’s empowerment play in moderating these effects? Leveraging an original survey experiment in Nepal, we find that a prime conferring feelings of relative deprivation causes women to revert to traditional views of gender in economic decision-making; they become less supportive of women having equal control over household income, sharing house hold chores with men, and working outside the home. Women’s empowerment messaging does not attenuate these effects. Priming men to feel relatively deprived causes declines in gender equitable economic and political views, but women’s empowerment messaging nullifies these effects. The results suggest that among populations feeling relatively deprived, regressive gender norms may take hold. However, light-touch efforts to spur support for women’s empowerment may counter some reversion to traditional views of gender.
Development of a Women’s Empowerment metric for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WE-WASH)
Heckert, Jessica; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Myers, Emily; Ramani, Gayathri V.; Faas, Simone; Ferguson, Nathaniel; Seymour, Greg; Malapit, Hazel J.; Paz, Flor; Chiwasa, Febbie; Chilalika, Joan; Kamwaba-Mtethiwa, Jean; Chirwa, Gowokani Chijere; Simkoko, Abigail; Chilungo, Abdallah; Upadhyaya, Rachana; Pradhan, Meeta S.; Joshi, Nira; Shrestha, Sanish. Washington, DC 2023
Heckert, Jessica; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Myers, Emily; Ramani, Gayathri V.; Faas, Simone; Ferguson, Nathaniel; Seymour, Greg; Malapit, Hazel J.; Paz, Flor; Chiwasa, Febbie; Chilalika, Joan; Kamwaba-Mtethiwa, Jean; Chirwa, Gowokani Chijere; Simkoko, Abigail; Chilungo, Abdallah; Upadhyaya, Rachana; Pradhan, Meeta S.; Joshi, Nira; Shrestha, Sanish. Washington, DC 2023
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.137008
Abstract | PDF (1.2 MB)
There is a growing focus on gender-sensitive approaches and women’s empowerment in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sectors. At the same time, there is a lack of metrics to measure women’s empowerment in the WASH sector. Such metrics are important for understanding the types of programmatic interventions that are most needed for addressing women’s empowerment, as well as for assessing their impacts on women’s empowerment. In this report, we describe the development of a Women’s Empowerment metrics for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WE-WASH). We collected data from individual women and men in 812 households in Malawi and 826 households in Nepal. Using the data, we develop 14 indicators and establish cutoff thresholds (i.e., whether the individual is empowered) in the areas of intrinsic, instrumental, and collective agency in WASH; instrumental and intrinsic agency in menstrual hygiene management; and the empowerment environment (or resources for empowerment). In each country, we observe differences in empowerment levels between women and men, that favor men on most outcomes. Notably, in both countries, we find that women are much less likely than men to contribute to WASH infrastructure decisions, and most women are spending an undue amount of time contributing to WASH-related labor. In Nepal especially, agency related to menstrual hygiene management is also a substantial area of disempowerment for women.
A multi-country validation and sensitivity analysis of the project level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (Pro-WEAI)
Seymour, Greg; Faas, Simone; Ferguson, Nathaniel; Heckert, Jessica; Malapit, Hazel J.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; van Biljon, Chloe; Gender Agriculture Assets Project Phase 2 Study Team. Washington, DC 2023
Seymour, Greg; Faas, Simone; Ferguson, Nathaniel; Heckert, Jessica; Malapit, Hazel J.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; van Biljon, Chloe; Gender Agriculture Assets Project Phase 2 Study Team. Washington, DC 2023
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.136974
Abstract | PDF (995.3 KB)
We discuss the evolution of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) from its initial launch in 2018 until early 2023. We explain the reasons motivating changes to the composition of pro-WEAI and the adequacy thresholds of several indicators and discuss the implications of both for the overall measurement of project impacts on women’s empowerment. We present supporting empirical results comparing projects’ impacts calculated using the abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) (the predecessor to pro-WEAI with fewer indicators and less stringent indicator cut-offs), the pilot 12-indicator version of pro-WEAI, and the final, revised 10-indicator version of pro-WEAI, based on longitudinal data from six agricultural development projects in East and West Africa and South Asia as part of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2). In addition, we assess the sensitivity of the revised pro-WEAI to an alternative weighting scheme, namely inverse covariance weighting (ICW). Overall, we find that the revised pro-WEAI performs well: In comparison to A-WEAI, pro-WEAI—regardless of version—identifies larger and more frequently significant impact estimates, indicating that pro-WEAI is more sensitive to detecting project impacts on women’s empowerment than A-WEAI. And we find only minor differences in impact estimates produced using the 12-indicator, 10-indicator, or alternate weighting scheme versions of pro-WEAI. We conclude with reflections on six years of work on pro-WEAI during GAAP2.
The digital divide in rural Ethiopia: Determinants and implications of sex-disaggregated mobile phone ownership and use
Warner, James; Mekonnen, Yalew; Habte, Yetimwork. Washington, DC 2023
Warner, James; Mekonnen, Yalew; Habte, Yetimwork. Washington, DC 2023
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.136868
Abstract | PDF (1 MB)
Mobile phones are rapidly being adopted in less developed countries, with widely acknowledged commensurate socio-economic benefits, including United Nations SDGs advocating for increased ownership of mobile phones to promote women’s empowerment. While overall mobile phone ownership is rising quickly in Ethiopia, it is lagging for rural women, particularly married rural women. Overall, we find that married men are approximately five times more likely to own a phone than their wives even though married women with phones are more active in agricultural decision making. This lack of female mobile phone ownership should be considered within the broader context of several recent Ethiopian digital initiatives, including mobile banking and mobile payments. These initiatives are likely to provide greater benefits to those individuals that own a mobile phone. By applying gender analysis to phone ownership, we believe that we can anticipate some potentially unexpected negative consequences for women created by these mobile phone initiatives. This paper outlines current rural sex-disaggregated phone ownership trends, determinants of phone ownership, and related impacts on intrahousehold decision making. We believe that by identifying these gender differences in mobile phone ownership, policymakers can better target their digital economy initiatives.
Is women’s empowerment bearing fruit? Mapping women’s empowerment in agriculture index (WEAI) results using the gender and food systems framework
Myers, Emily; Heckert, Jessica; Faas, Simone; Malapit, Hazel J.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2023
Myers, Emily; Heckert, Jessica; Faas, Simone; Malapit, Hazel J.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2023
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.136722
Abstract | PDF
We conduct a synthetic review of the literature examining relationships between domains of women’s empowerment and food system outcomes. Many studies report significant positive associations between women’s empowerment and intrahousehold gender equality with child dietary and nutrition outcomes, household food security, and agricultural production, but which aspect of empowerment matters for a particular outcome varies across contexts. Others document significant but mixed associations between empowerment indicators and women’s dietary diversity scores. The findings suggest women’s empowerment contributes to improved diets and nutritional status, especially for children, but that household wealth, gender norms and country-specific institutions remain important. Most papers reviewed were based on observational studies and therefore estimated associations; future research using experimental and quasi-experimental methods would add significantly to the evidence base.
Measuring empowerment across the value chain: The evolution of the project-level Women’s Empowerment Index for Market Inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI)
Malapit, Hazel J.; Heckert, Jessica; Adegbola, Patrice Ygué; Crinot, Geraud Fabrice; Eissler, Sarah; Faas, Simone; Gantoli, Geoffroy; Kalagho, Kenan; Martinez, Elena; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Mswero, Grace; Myers, Emily; Mzungu, Diston; Pereira, Audrey; Pinkstaff, Crossley; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Ragasa, Catherine; Rubin, Deborah; Seymour, Greg; Tauseef, Salauddin; GAAP2 Market Inclusion Study Team. Washington, DC 2023
Malapit, Hazel J.; Heckert, Jessica; Adegbola, Patrice Ygué; Crinot, Geraud Fabrice; Eissler, Sarah; Faas, Simone; Gantoli, Geoffroy; Kalagho, Kenan; Martinez, Elena; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Mswero, Grace; Myers, Emily; Mzungu, Diston; Pereira, Audrey; Pinkstaff, Crossley; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Ragasa, Catherine; Rubin, Deborah; Seymour, Greg; Tauseef, Salauddin; GAAP2 Market Inclusion Study Team. Washington, DC 2023
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.136606
Abstract | PDF (1.3 MB)
Many development agencies design and implement interventions that aim to reach, benefit, and empower rural women across the value chain in activities ranging from production, to processing, to marketing. Determining whether and how such interventions empower women, as well as the constraints faced by different value chain actors, requires quantitative and qualitative tools. We describe how we adapted the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agricultural Index (pro-WEAI), a mixed-methods tool for studying empowerment in development projects, to include aspects of agency relevant for multiple types of value chain actors. The resulting pro-WEAI for market inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI) includes quantitative and qualitative instruments developed over the course of four studies. Studies in the Philippines (2017), Bangladesh (2017), and Malawi (2019) were intended to diagnose areas of disempowerment to inform programming, whereas the Benin (2019) study was an impact assessment of an agricultural training program. The pro-WEAI+MI includes all indicators included in pro-WEAI, plus a dashboard of complementary indicators and recommended qualitative instruments. These tools investigate the empowerment of women in different value chains and nodes and identify barriers to market access and inclusion that may restrict empowerment for different value chain actors. Our findings highlight three lessons. First, the sampling strategy needs to be designed to capture the key actors in a value chain. Second, the market inclusion indicators cannot stand alone; they must be interpreted alongside the core pro-WEAI indicators. Third, not all market inclusion indicators will be relevant for all value chains and contexts. Users should research the experiences of women and men in the target value chains in the context of the programto select priority market inclusion indicators.
Conceptualizing women’s empowerment in agrifood systems governance: A new framework
Ragasa, Catherine; Kyle, Jordan; Kristjanson, Patricia; Eissler, Sarah. Washington, DC 2022
Ragasa, Catherine; Kyle, Jordan; Kristjanson, Patricia; Eissler, Sarah. Washington, DC 2022
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.136489
Abstract | PDF (1.3 MB)
This paper develops a new framework to measure and track women’s empowerment in governance of countries’ agrifood systems. All too often, women’s needs, priorities, and voices are missing from the policy process, even when women may be disproportionately affected by shocks or have distinct policy preferences. The Women’s Empowerment in Agrifood Systems Governance (WEAGov) is an assessment framework to help countries and stakeholders measure the extent of inclusion and leadership of women in agrifood systems governance and to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. WEAGov looks across three stages of the policy cycle: policy design, policy implementation, and policy evaluation. At each stage of the policy cycle, WEAGov asks three questions central to women’s empowerment in governance: Are women considered? Are women included? And are women influencing? This paper describes the process of conceptualizing and developing the WEAGov assessment framework by drawing together evidence, experience, and lessons from the literature and from over 30 stakeholder consultations across several countries and sectors to develop a practical and theoretically grounded framework.
Women’s involvement in intra‐household decision‐making and infant and young child feeding practices in central Asia, No. 2
Abdurazzakova, Dilnovoz; Kosec, Katrina; Parpiev, Ziyodullo. Washington, DC 2022
Abdurazzakova, Dilnovoz; Kosec, Katrina; Parpiev, Ziyodullo. Washington, DC 2022
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.136487
Abstract | PDF (626.1 KB)
This paper examines the relationship between women’s empowerment and infant and young child feeding practices in Central Asia using Demographic and Health Survey data from 1995–2017. We employ a measure of women’s empowerment with three distinct dimensions available for a subset of recent surveys as well as a measure of a woman’s decision-making power over use of her own income present in all surveys. We identify a positive association between a woman’s decision making power—a measure of her instrumental agency—and adherence to World Health Organization–recommended feeding practices related to achieving minimum dietary diversity and minimum acceptable diet. We find little significant association between a woman’s attitude toward domestic violence, or her degree of social independence, and adherence to recommended feeding practices. Our results further show that women’s decision-making power has the greatest predictive power for adherence to optimal feeding practices among mothers living with a mother-in-law. In contrast, child gender and household poverty do not emerge as important moderators of the relationship between women’s empowerment and feeding practices. We thus provide evidence from Central Asia, a substantially under-studied region, that policies and programs expanding women’s decision-making power can improve child nutrition—especially when directed at extended households in which mothers cohabitate with in-laws. They suggest that all children would benefit—regardless of child gender and availability of complementary household resources.
Comparing delivery channels to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture: A cluster-randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh
Ahmed, Akhter; Coleman, Fiona; Hoddinott, John F.; Menon, Purnima; Parvin, Aklima; Pereira, Audrey; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Roy, Shalini. Washington, DC 2022
Ahmed, Akhter; Coleman, Fiona; Hoddinott, John F.; Menon, Purnima; Parvin, Aklima; Pereira, Audrey; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Roy, Shalini. Washington, DC 2022
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.136473
Abstract | PDF (1001.5 KB)
We use a randomized controlled trial in rural Bangladesh to compare two models of delivering nutrition content jointly to husbands and wives: deploying female nutrition workers versus mostly male agriculture extension workers. Both approaches increased nutrition knowledge of men and women, household and individual diet quality, and women’s empowerment. Intervention effects on agriculture and nutrition knowledge, agricultural production diversity, dietary diversity, women’s empowerment, and gender parity do not significantly differ between models where nutrition workers versus agriculture extension workers provide the training. The exception is in an attitudes score, where results indicate same-sex agents may affect scores differently than opposite-sex agents. Our results suggest opposite-sex agents may not necessarily be less effective in providing training. In South Asia, where agricultural extension systems and the pipeline to those systems are male-dominated, training men to deliver nutrition messages may offer a temporary solution to the shortage of female extension workers and offer opportunities to scale promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture.
Climate change and women’s voice and agency beyond the household: Insights from India
Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kosec, Katrina. Washington, DC 2022
Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kosec, Katrina. Washington, DC 2022
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.136475
Abstract | PDF (770.6 KB)
Women’s Voice & Agency beyond the household (VABH) has increasingly been recognized as critical to strengthening resilience, increasing women’s access to important resources, improving women’s decision-making power, and facilitating broader social networks (Njuki et al. 2022). Despite rapidly intensifying climate change in recent years, a knowledge gap persists as to how climate change may affect women’s VABH in developing countries. This has been particularly challenging in countries like India, which host one of the largest numbers of the poor and has been increasingly plagued by droughts, floods, cyclones, rising temperatures, and increasing rainfall fluctuations. This study provides a conceptual discussion on the linkages between climate change and VABH and analyzes their empirical relationship using multiple rounds of nationwide household data from India (India Human Development Survey 2005, 2012; World Values Survey 2001, 2006, 2012); climate data; and data on women’s political representation at the district level. Our results suggest that in rural parts of India, adverse climate change and natural disasters, such as cyclones and/or floods, have consistently negative associations with a broad range of VABH-related outcomes. Moreover, in rural areas, greater political representation by women in district assemblies broadly mitigates the potential effects of adverse climate change on VABH-related outcomes. These patterns generally hold across various populations, differentiated by marriage status and age groups, and are more robust in rural compared to urban areas. There are also generally consistent gender differences in these associations. Specifically, results indicate that women’s VABH are disproportionately more negatively affected by adverse CC than men’s VABH, while greater female representation at local district assemblies has greater effects in mitigating adverse CC on VABH among women than men. The results underscore the importance of enhancing women’s political representation as a means to improve women’s VABH.
Can agricultural development projects empower women? A synthesis of mixed methods evaluations using pro-WEAI in the gender, agriculture, and assets project (phase 2) portfolio
Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Malapit, Hazel J.; Seymour, Greg; Heckert, Jessica; Doss, Cheryl; Johnson, Nancy; Rubin, Deborah; Thai, Giang; Ramani, Gayathri V.; Myers, Emily; GAAP2 for pro-WEAI Study Team. Washington, DC 2022
Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Malapit, Hazel J.; Seymour, Greg; Heckert, Jessica; Doss, Cheryl; Johnson, Nancy; Rubin, Deborah; Thai, Giang; Ramani, Gayathri V.; Myers, Emily; GAAP2 for pro-WEAI Study Team. Washington, DC 2022
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.136405
Abstract | PDF (1.6 MB)
Agricultural development projects increasingly include women’s empowerment and gender equality among their objectives, but efforts to evaluate their impact have been stymied by the lack of comparable measures. Moreover, the context-specificity of empowerment implies that a quantitative measure alone will be inadequate to capture the nuances of the empowerment process. The Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2), a portfolio of 13 agricultural development projects in nine countries in South Asia and Africa, developed the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) and qualitative protocols for impact evaluations. Pro-WEAI covers three major types of agencies: instrumental, intrinsic, and collective. This paper synthesizes the results of 11 mixed-methods evaluations to assess these projects’ empowerment impacts. The projects implemented the pro-WEAI and its associated qualitative protocols in their impact evaluations. Our synthesis finds mixed, and mostly null impacts on aggregate indicators of women’s empowerment, with positive impacts more likely in the South Asian, rather than African, cases. There were more significant impacts on instrumental agency indicators and collective agency indicators, reflecting the group-based approaches used. We found few significant impacts on intrinsic agency indicators, except for those projects that intentionally addressed gender norms. Quantitative analysis does not show an association between the types of strategies that projects implemented and their impacts, except for capacity building strategies. This finding reveals the limitations of quantitative analysis, given the small number of projects involved. The qualitative studies provide more nuance and insight: some base level of empowerment and forms of agency may be necessary for women to participate in project activities, to benefit or further increase their empowerment. Our results highlight the need for projects to focus specifically on empowerment, rather than assume that projects aiming to reach and benefit women automatically empower them. Our study also shows the value of both a common metric to compare empowerment impacts across projects and contexts and qualitative work to understand and contextualize these impacts.
Does the UN Joint Program for Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE) deliver on its empowerment objectives?
Quisumbing, Agnes; Gerli, Beatrice; Faas, Simone; Heckert, Jessica; Malapit, Hazel J.; McCarron, Catherine; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Paz, Florencia. Washington, DC 2022
Quisumbing, Agnes; Gerli, Beatrice; Faas, Simone; Heckert, Jessica; Malapit, Hazel J.; McCarron, Catherine; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Paz, Florencia. Washington, DC 2022
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.136302
Abstract | PDF (1.9 MB)
This paper compares the empowerment impacts of the UN Joint Program for Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE) in Ethiopia, Niger, Nepal, and Kyrgyzstan using the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI). We assess the extent of empowerment and gender parity, and decompose the sources of disempowerment, separately for men and women and for beneficiary and control groups. We then estimate program impacts on A-WEAI and its component indicators and assess whether estimated impacts are consistent with the activities implemented by the program. We interpret the quantitative results in the light of the qualitative studies undertaken as part of the impact evaluation. Despite the diversity in country and cultural contexts, in all four countries, women are more disempowered than men, although large proportions of men are themselves disempowered. Excessive workload is the most common major contributor to disempowerment, and so is lack of group membership. The program had positive impacts on aggregate empowerment measures for program participants in Niger, Nepal, and Kyrgyzstan. Nevertheless, gender parity improved only in Nepal. The group-based approach was a clear contributor to women’s empowerment in Ethiopia, Nepal, and Kyrgyzstan. In Kyrgyzstan, the GALS/BALI approach contributed to impacts across almost all indicators of empowerment. The positive impact of GALS and GALS/BALI on men and women alike in Kyrgyzstan is consistent with emerging evidence that involving both men and women in gender transformative approaches, rather than focusing on women alone, may be key to effective and sustainable programs. Although impacts on time use were insignificant in the quantitative study, the qualitative work pointed out negative impacts, emphasizing the unintended consequences of increased workload for women who participate in livelihood interventions.
Gender, demand for agricultural credit and digital technology: Survey evidence from Odisha
Kramer, Berber; Pattnaik, Subhransu; Ward, Patrick S.. Washington, DC 2021
Kramer, Berber; Pattnaik, Subhransu; Ward, Patrick S.. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134958
Abstract | PDF (1.1 MB)
This paper analyzes the potential linkages between innovations in agricultural credit and women’s empowerment. We provide survey evidence of lower baseline demand for agricultural credit among women than men. When asked to imagine that their financial institution would use data on past cultivation through observations of smartphone and satellite imagery to review loan applications and insure loans, women reported significantly more often than men that this would increase (and not decrease) the likelihood that they would apply for loans, and their desired loan amounts increased significantly more than those of men. Moreover, we find that the gender gap in demand for agricultural credit is explained, in part, by differences in empowerment between women and men, suggesting that increasing women’s empowerment could help bridge gender gaps in credit access and utilization. Using a cluster randomized trial, we assess whether gender sensitization has an effect on women’s empowerment and demand for credit, but we do not find that gender trainings help shift women’s empowerment or demand for credit. We conclude that improving access to digital credit is not going to be sufficient to empower women. Instead, gender responsive or gender transformative programming is required to improve demand and create an enabling environment in which norms are changed and make it easier for women to take out agricultural credit.
Methodologies for researching feminisation of agriculture what do they tell us?
Farnworth, Cathy Rozel; Lecoutere, Els; Galiè, Alessandra; Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Elias, Marlène; Ihalainen, Markus; Roeven, Lara; Bharati, Preeti; Valencia, Ana Maria Paez; Crossland, Mary; Vinceti, Barbara; Monterroso, Iliana. Washington, DC 2021
Farnworth, Cathy Rozel; Lecoutere, Els; Galiè, Alessandra; Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Elias, Marlène; Ihalainen, Markus; Roeven, Lara; Bharati, Preeti; Valencia, Ana Maria Paez; Crossland, Mary; Vinceti, Barbara; Monterroso, Iliana. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134907
Abstract | PDF (714.1 KB)
An increasing body of literature suggests that agriculture is “feminizing” in many low and middle-income countries. Definitions of feminisation of agriculture vary, as do interpretations of what drives the expansion of women’s roles in agriculture over time. Understanding whether, how, and why feminisation of agriculture is occurring, and finding ways to properly understand and document this process, requires effective research methodologies capable of producing nuanced data. This article builds on five research projects that set out to deepen narratives of feminisation of agriculture by empirically exploring the dynamics and impacts of diverse processes of feminisation—or masculinisation—of agriculture on gender relations in agriculture and food systems. To contribute to the development of effective research methodologies, the researchers working on these projects associate the insights they have derived in their empirical research with the methodologies they have used. They reflect on how their methodological innovations enabled them to obtain new, or more nuanced, insights into processes of feminisation of agriculture. A first insight is that the definition of ‘feminisation of agriculture’ is a decisive factor in determining the evidence we produce on the process. Second, the feminisation of agriculture should be understood as a nonlinear continuum. Research methodologies need to be capable of capturing dynamics, complexity, as well as multiple and diverse context—and time—specific drivers. Third, bias in data can arise from gender norms which mediate whether women are acknowledged by wider society as farmers in their own right. Such norms may result in significant underestimations of women’s roles in agriculture. This observation warrants a critical awareness that data used to measure or proxy aspects of feminisation of agriculture may reflect such biases. Finally, some research methodologies can be useful to identify and leverage entry points to support women’s agency and empowerment in processes of feminisation of agriculture.
Women’s involvement in intra-household decision-making and infant and young child feeding practices in central Asia
Abdurazzakova, Dilnovoz; Kosec, Katrina; Parpiev, Ziyodullo. Washington, DC 2021
Abdurazzakova, Dilnovoz; Kosec, Katrina; Parpiev, Ziyodullo. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134760
Abstract | PDF (1003.8 KB)
This paper examines the relationship between women’s empowerment and infant and young child feeding practices in Central Asia using Demographic and Health Survey datasets collected during 1995–2017. We employ a measure of women’s empowerment with three distinct dimensions that is available for a subset of recent surveys as well as a simpler measure of empowering capturing decision-making power over use of one’s own income among women earning income, present in all surveys. We identify a positive association between a woman’s decision-making power—a measure of her instrumental agency—and adherence to World Health Organization–recommended complementary feeding practices related to achieving minimum dietary diversity and minimum acceptable diet. We find no significant association between a woman’s attitude toward domestic violence or her degree of social independence and adherence to recommended complementary feeding practices after accounting for her decision-making power. Our results further show that women’s decision-making power has the greatest predictive power for adherence to optimal infant and young child feeding practices among mothers who are a daughter-in-law to the household head. We thus provide evidence from Central Asia that empowering women to make household decisions improves not only women’s well-being, but also child health, and that policies and programs intended to empower women are more effective when directed at extended households in which mothers cohabitate with in-laws.
Did a microfinance ‘plus’ programme empower female farmers and pastoralists and improve intrahousehold equality in rural Ethiopia? Evidence from an impact evaluation using a Project-Women’s Empowerment in Agricultural Index (pro-WEAI) survey tool
Hillesland, Marya; Kaaria, Susan; Mane, Erdgin; Alemu, Mihret; Slavchevska, Vanya. Washington, DC 2021
Hillesland, Marya; Kaaria, Susan; Mane, Erdgin; Alemu, Mihret; Slavchevska, Vanya. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134482
Abstract | PDF (1.4 MB)
Using the project-Women’s Empowerment in Agricultural Index (pro-WEAI) survey tool developed by GAAP2, this study aims to estimate the impact of a microfinance ‘plus’ programme on women’s economic empowerment in communities in Oromia and Afar, Ethiopia. The programme incorporates multiple interventions, which are implemented through women-run rural savings and credit cooperatives (RUSACCOs), with the intention of improving beneficiary women’s decision-making over productive assets, control over income, and leadership in rural institutions. A major component of the programme is aimed at rural women’s greater access to credit, but interventions also include agricultural livestock and technology transfers, business training, as well as a community gender awareness component. A difference-in-difference estimator with Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW) is used to evaluate the impact of the programme on women’s empowerment in Oromia. Because of conflict in the area, baseline data collection was delayed and data was collected after some interventions had already begun in Oromia. As such, nearly all beneficiaries already had access to credit through the RUSACCOs at baseline, and both women and men were already empowered in a number of dimensions at baseline. Among households with beneficiaries who continued in good standing between baseline and midline, the programme positively contributed to both women’s and men’s empowerment with regards to respect among household members. It did not lead to additional impacts in terms of overall empowerment and gender parity within the household or across the other pro-WEAI indicators. However, it appears that, by maintaining good standing in the RUSACCOs, female participants were able to maintain high levels of empowerment across the other indicators. A second group of beneficiary women, who either chose to leave the RUSACCO or did not maintain good standing as a member, were also highly empowered across many dimensions at baseline but experienced large average decreases in empowerment across a number of indicators by midline. In Afar, using the midline data only, a single-difference estimator with Inverse Probability Weighting is used to evaluate the impact of the programme. In Afar, the programme had a significant impact on women’s overall empowerment. As we expected, given the nature of the programme, there were significant positive results in terms of access to and decisions on financial services, group membership, and membership in influential groups. There were also positive impacts on control over the use of income, suggesting that the programme contributed to greater control over the use of the output from agricultural activities and control over income from agricultural and non-agricultural activities. On the other hand, the programme also appears to have resulted in reduced empowerment on average with regards to autonomy in income.
Exploring women’s empowerment using a mixed methods approach
Doss, Cheryl; Rubin, Deborah. Washington, DC 2021
Doss, Cheryl; Rubin, Deborah. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134478
Abstract | PDF (571.3 KB)
Interest in the meaning and measurement of women’s empowerment has become a stated goal of many programs in international development. This paper explores a collaborative process of studying women’s empowerment in agricultural research for development using both quantitative and qualitative methods. It draws on three bodies of research around empowerment, growing interest in qualitative methods, and measurement research, especially the conceptualization and adaptations of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Employing mixed methods over more than a decade of cooperation among researchers from the Global South and the Global North has challenged the methods and findings of each approach. The work has led to new insights about gender differences in what empowerment means to women and to men, the importance of context, interrelationships among dimensions of empowerment, and the need for greater precision in terms and measures, particularly around decision-making, asset ownership, and time use. Such collaborative research benefits from a long timeframe to build trust and shared understandings across disciplines. The paper concludes with suggestions for the next phase of research.
A review of evidence on gender equality, women’s empowerment, and food systems
Njuki, Jemimah; Eissler, Sarah; Malapit, Hazel J.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Bryan, Elizabeth; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2021
Njuki, Jemimah; Eissler, Sarah; Malapit, Hazel J.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Bryan, Elizabeth; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134469
Abstract | PDF (656.4 KB)
Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in food systems can result in greater food security and better nutrition, and in more just, resilient, and sustainable food systems for all. This paper uses a scoping review to assess the current evidence on pathways between gender equality, women’s empowerment, and food systems. The paper uses an adaptation of the food systems framework to organize the evidence and identify where evidence is strong, and where gaps remain. Results show strong evidence on women’s differing access to resources, shaped and reinforced by contextual social gender norms, and on links between women’s empowerment and maternal education and important outcomes, such as nutrition and dietary diversity. However, evidence is limited on issues such as gender considerations in food systems for women in urban areas and in aquaculture value chains, best practices and effective pathways for engaging men in the process of women’s empowerment in food systems, and for addressing issues related to migration, crises, and indigenous food systems. And while there are gender informed evaluation studies that examine the effectiveness of gender- and nutrition- sensitive agricultural programs, evidence to indicate the long-term sustainability of such impacts remains limited. The paper recommends keys areas for investment: improving women’s leadership and decision-making in food systems, promoting equal and positive gender norms, improving access to resources, and building cross-contextual research evidence on gender and food systems.
Women and small-scale irrigation: A review of the factors influencing gendered patterns of participation and benefits
Bryan, Elizabeth; Lefore, Nicole. Washington, DC 2021
Bryan, Elizabeth; Lefore, Nicole. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134425
Abstract | PDF (617.5 KB)
Small-scale irrigation is expanding rapidly in parts of the world, especially sub-Saharan Africa, offering smallholder farmers an opportunity to improve their livelihoods, diets, and resilience to climate change among other benefits. Growing research focuses on the potential for small-scale irrigation to offer a pathway for women’s empowerment, yet the factors conditioning the relationship between small-scale irrigation and women’s empowerment are not well understood. The evidence tends to be scattered across context-specific case studies that focus on targeted outcomes, without distinguishing between technology types, scales, or approaches to irrigation systems or technologies. This paper synthesizes the issues related to gender and small-scale irrigation using a conceptual framework that highlights the linkages between elements of women’s empowerment and small-scale irrigation. Because gendered dynamics with small-scale irrigation play out differently depending on the scale of irrigation and the technologies used, this paper applies the framework to examine case studies across a typology of small-scale irrigation systems. The case studies cover a range of farming and livelihood systems in which women’s roles and gender relations vary, highlighting the importance of the opportunity structure or context in which irrigation takes place. This paper then draws lessons on the various ways in which small-scale irrigation, gender relations, and women’s empowerment interact and highlights areas where research gaps remain.
Changes in women’s empowerment in the household, women’s diet diversity, and their relationship against the background of COVID-19 in Southern Bangladesh
Lecoutere, Els; Van den Berg, Marrit; de Brauw, Alan. Washington, DC 2021
Lecoutere, Els; Van den Berg, Marrit; de Brauw, Alan. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134380
Abstract | PDF (2.4 MB)
The COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh, associated public health measures, and people’s responses to these measures are projected to have caused job losses among women, who tend to be in more precarious jobs, a decline in women’s empowerment and reduced diet diversity among women. Using a November 2020 telephone survey to re-interview adult women respondents of a November 2019 in-person survey, we test the way and the extent to which women’s employment outside their homes, women’s decision-making power with regard to income use and food purchases, and women’s diet diversity in rural Patuakhali and Faridpur districts changed over the year partly marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. We further examine the relationship between change in women’s empowerment and change in women’s outside employment, and the relationship between change in women’s diet diversity and change in women’s empowerment. Contrary to expectations, we find more women found, rather than lost, jobs over the past year. The chance that women gained outside employment was 12.2 percent, while the chance they lost employment was 3.5 percent. However, we observe a negative trend in women’s involvement in food purchase decisions in their households. Changes in women’s decision-making power over food purchases are not statistically related to change in women’s outside employment. Gaining employment outside the home is associated with a decrease in women’s autonomy over the use of household income. Contrary to expectations, we find the number of food groups consumed by women increased over the year with COVID-19. The chance that women gained achievement of minimum diet diversity over the year is 38 percent; the chance they lost it 11.5 percent; the chance it did not change is 50.5 percent. Change in women’s diet diversity is positively related with change in women’s decision-making power over food purchases but negatively with change in women’s autonomy over income use.
Does market inclusion empower women? Evidence from Bangladesh
Raghunathan, Kalyani; Ramani, Gayathri; Rubin, Deborah; Pereira, Audrey; Ahmed, Akhter; Malapit, Hazel J.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2021
Raghunathan, Kalyani; Ramani, Gayathri; Rubin, Deborah; Pereira, Audrey; Ahmed, Akhter; Malapit, Hazel J.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134317
Abstract | PDF (1.1 MB)
Increased market inclusion through participation in agricultural value chains may increase employment and household incomes, but evidence on its empowerment impacts is mixed. In societies with restrictive social norms, greater market inclusion can enhance existing income and empowerment inequalities by relegating marginalized groups, including women, to low value chains or lower value nodes within those chains. We use primary data from rural Bangladesh to investigate the associations between households’ primary economic activity – agricultural wage-earning, production, or entrepreneurship – and absolute and relative levels of men’s and women’s empowerment. Women in producer households, on average, fare better on empowerment outcomes than women in wage-earner or entrepreneur households; the opposite is true for men. The gap between men’s and women’s empowerment scores is also lowest in producer households. A decomposition of these results into composite indicators yields insights into potential trade-offs, while accompanying qualitative work highlights the importance of social and cultural norms in shaping the economic roles women can adopt. With a push towards diversification of agriculture into higher value market-oriented crops, more careful programming is needed to ensure that market inclusion translates into an increase in women’s empowerment.
"It takes two": Women’s empowerment in agricultural value chains in Malawi
Ragasa, Catherine; Malapit, Hazel J.; Rubin, Deborah; Myers, Emily; Pereira, Audrey; Martinez, Elena M.; Heckert, Jessica; Seymour, Greg; Mzungu, Diston; Kalagho, Kenan; Kazembe, Cynthia; Thunde, Jack; Mswero, Grace. Washington, DC 2021
Ragasa, Catherine; Malapit, Hazel J.; Rubin, Deborah; Myers, Emily; Pereira, Audrey; Martinez, Elena M.; Heckert, Jessica; Seymour, Greg; Mzungu, Diston; Kalagho, Kenan; Kazembe, Cynthia; Thunde, Jack; Mswero, Grace. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134302
Abstract | PDF (1.9 MB)
Inclusive agricultural value chains (VCs) are potential drivers for poverty reduction, food security, and women’s empowerment. This report assesses the implementation of the Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education Training for Women Program (ATVET4Women) that aims to support women with vocational training and market linkages in priority agricultural value chains. This report focuses on Malawi, one of the six pilot countries of the ATVET4Women; and focuses on vegetable value chains in which some non-formal training sessions have been conducted as of October 2019. This report presents (1) program experience of stakeholders; (2) evidence of program benefits and challenges among ATVET4Women non-formal training graduates; and (3) baseline data on value chain and empowerment indicators, using a pilot household survey-based instrument for measuring women’s empowerment in agricultural value chains (pro-WEAI for market inclusion) and supplementary qualitative research. Results show graduates’ satisfaction and appreciation of the training provided, and some graduates reported having access to more lucrative markets as a result of the training. However, positive changes in several outcome indicators were reported by only some graduates: 30 percent of graduates reported increased production and sales. There is no significant difference in the reported changes and levels of vegetable production and income between graduates and non-graduates. Qualitative findings suggest that constraints to accessing agricultural inputs and funds to upgrade their production may be why there are no measured differences. Results on empowerment status reveal that 73 percent of women and 85 percent of men in the sample are empowered, and 73 percent of the sample households achieved gender parity. The main contributor of disempowerment among women and men is lack of work balance and autonomy in income. Fewer women achieved adequacy in work balance than men. Adequacies in attitudes about domestic violence, respect among household members, input in productive decisions, and asset ownership are generally high for both women and men, but significantly lower for women. While this report is mainly descriptive and further analysis is ongoing, it offers some lessons and practical implications for improving ATVET4Women program implementation and its outcomes on women’s market access, incomes, and empowerment.
A qualitative assessment of a gender-sensitive agricultural training program in Benin: Findings on program experience and women’s empowerment across key agricultural value chains
Eissler, Sarah; Diatta, Ampa Dogui; Heckert, Jessica; Nordehn, Caitlin. Washington, DC 2021
Eissler, Sarah; Diatta, Ampa Dogui; Heckert, Jessica; Nordehn, Caitlin. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134300
Abstract | PDF (807.4 KB)
This study presents qualitative findings from an assessment conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute and Cultural Practice, LLC of the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) Agricultural Technical Vocational Education and Training program for women (ATVET4Women) in Benin, supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). ATVET4Women in Benin targets women working in value chains for four target commodities (soy, rice, chicken, and compost) to support capacity building in their respective nodes (production, processing, and marketing). The contributions of this study are multifold. First, it assesses program experiences and impacts. Second, it examines the gender dimensions of production, processing, and marketing activities in four specific value chains. Third, this research is a component of a broader study to adapt and validate the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index for market inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI) on key agricultural value chains in Benin and Malawi for ATVET4Women.
This study employed multiple qualitative methods to assess beneficiaries’ program experiences and impacts. Fifteen key informant interviews were conducted with various actors along the value chain and agro-processing center managers involved in ATVET4Women. Thirty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with women beneficiaries of ATVET4Women, husbands of beneficiaries, women that were involved in the value chain but did not participate in ATVET4Women, and ATVET4Women trainers. Structured observations were conducted of five ATVET4Women training centers.
In general, women beneficiaries and their husbands shared positive reviews of ATVET4Women in that the program increased women’s confidence in their abilities and taught women best practices for producing and selling higher quality products, generating higher incomes for women. Women noted several challenges and barriers to participate in ATVET4Women, including limited availability to travel to or partake in the trainings due to competing demands and priorities on their time, requiring their husbands’ permission to attend, and limited means to support travel to and from trainings. Related to findings around empowerment, results suggest that an empowered woman is closely tied to her ability to generate income, regardless of her decision-making autonomy, whereas an empowered man is one who generates higher incomes and is autonomous in his decision-making. A woman is expected to be submissive to her husband and defer to his decision-making, which holds implications for her ability to participate in activities outside of the household, including but not limited to ATVET4Women and similar programs. This study concludes with specific recommendations for ATVET4Women and similar programs to consider in future iterations of further programming to increase women’s empowerment in Benin.
This study employed multiple qualitative methods to assess beneficiaries’ program experiences and impacts. Fifteen key informant interviews were conducted with various actors along the value chain and agro-processing center managers involved in ATVET4Women. Thirty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with women beneficiaries of ATVET4Women, husbands of beneficiaries, women that were involved in the value chain but did not participate in ATVET4Women, and ATVET4Women trainers. Structured observations were conducted of five ATVET4Women training centers.
In general, women beneficiaries and their husbands shared positive reviews of ATVET4Women in that the program increased women’s confidence in their abilities and taught women best practices for producing and selling higher quality products, generating higher incomes for women. Women noted several challenges and barriers to participate in ATVET4Women, including limited availability to travel to or partake in the trainings due to competing demands and priorities on their time, requiring their husbands’ permission to attend, and limited means to support travel to and from trainings. Related to findings around empowerment, results suggest that an empowered woman is closely tied to her ability to generate income, regardless of her decision-making autonomy, whereas an empowered man is one who generates higher incomes and is autonomous in his decision-making. A woman is expected to be submissive to her husband and defer to his decision-making, which holds implications for her ability to participate in activities outside of the household, including but not limited to ATVET4Women and similar programs. This study concludes with specific recommendations for ATVET4Women and similar programs to consider in future iterations of further programming to increase women’s empowerment in Benin.
Exploring gendered experiences of time-use agency in Benin, Malawi, and Nigeria as a new concept to measure women’s empowerment
Eissler, Sarah; Heckert, Jessica; Myers, Emily; Seymour, Gregory; Sinharoy, Sheela; Yount, Kathryn M.. Washington, DC 2021
Eissler, Sarah; Heckert, Jessica; Myers, Emily; Seymour, Gregory; Sinharoy, Sheela; Yount, Kathryn M.. Washington, DC 2021
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134275
Abstract | PDF (616.9 KB)
Time use, or how women and men allocate their time, is an important aspect of empowerment. To build on this area of study, we propose and explore the concept of time-use agency in this paper, which shifts the focus from the amount of time spent on activities to the strategic choices that are made regarding how to allocate time. We draw on 92 interviews from qualitative studies in Benin, Malawi, and Nigeria to explore across contexts the salience of time-use agency as a component of women’s empowerment. Our results indicate that time-use agency is salient among both women and men and dictates how women and men are able to make and act upon strategic decisions related how they allocate their time.
Our findings suggest that time-use agency is important for fully understanding empowerment with respect to time use. Importantly, this study highlights the gendered dynamics and barriers women face in exercising their time-use agency. These barriers are tied to and conditioned by social norms dictating how women should spend their time. Women often make tradeoffs throughout any given day with respect to their time, balancing their expected priorities with the barriers or limitations they face in being able to spend any additional time on tasks or activities that further their own strategic goals. Additionally, these results on time-use agency echo similar themes in the literature on gendered divisions of labor, time poverty, and decision-making, but also add new subtleties to this work. For example, we find that women can easily adjust their schedules but must carefully navigate relationships with husbands to be able to attend trainings or take on new income generating activities, results that align with previous findings that women consistently have higher involvement in small decisions compared to large ones. While these themes have been observed previously in studies of women’s empowerment, to our knowledge, our study is the first to connect them to time use and time-use agency. Our study contributes the conceptualization of time-use agency, and the identification of themes relevant to time-use agency, through the emic perspectives of women and men across three diverse settings in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As a concept, time-use agency goes beyond measuring time use to understand the gendered dynamics around controlling one’s time use to advance their own strategic goals and highlights any barriers one faces in doing so. It is a particularly relevant concept for interventions that aim to increase (or at least, not diminish) women’s empowerment by promoting women’s involvement in remunerated activities. Although time-use agency, as a concept, has yet to be addressed in women’s empowerment literature. A next step in this area of inquiry is to develop survey indicators on time-use agency, which may reduce bias and cognitively burden compared to existing time use surveys.
Our findings suggest that time-use agency is important for fully understanding empowerment with respect to time use. Importantly, this study highlights the gendered dynamics and barriers women face in exercising their time-use agency. These barriers are tied to and conditioned by social norms dictating how women should spend their time. Women often make tradeoffs throughout any given day with respect to their time, balancing their expected priorities with the barriers or limitations they face in being able to spend any additional time on tasks or activities that further their own strategic goals. Additionally, these results on time-use agency echo similar themes in the literature on gendered divisions of labor, time poverty, and decision-making, but also add new subtleties to this work. For example, we find that women can easily adjust their schedules but must carefully navigate relationships with husbands to be able to attend trainings or take on new income generating activities, results that align with previous findings that women consistently have higher involvement in small decisions compared to large ones. While these themes have been observed previously in studies of women’s empowerment, to our knowledge, our study is the first to connect them to time use and time-use agency. Our study contributes the conceptualization of time-use agency, and the identification of themes relevant to time-use agency, through the emic perspectives of women and men across three diverse settings in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As a concept, time-use agency goes beyond measuring time use to understand the gendered dynamics around controlling one’s time use to advance their own strategic goals and highlights any barriers one faces in doing so. It is a particularly relevant concept for interventions that aim to increase (or at least, not diminish) women’s empowerment by promoting women’s involvement in remunerated activities. Although time-use agency, as a concept, has yet to be addressed in women’s empowerment literature. A next step in this area of inquiry is to develop survey indicators on time-use agency, which may reduce bias and cognitively burden compared to existing time use surveys.
Gender equity considerations in food environments of low and middle income countries: A scoping review
Twyman, Jennifer; Talsma, Elise F.; Togka, Konstantina; Ferraboschi, Chiara; Brouwer, Inge D.. Washington, DC 2020
Twyman, Jennifer; Talsma, Elise F.; Togka, Konstantina; Ferraboschi, Chiara; Brouwer, Inge D.. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134225
Abstract | PDF (1.1 MB)
This study presents the results of a scoping literature review of gender equity in food environments of low- and middle-income countries. We start by examining the concept of food environments; and find that dividing the concept into two parts, one related to the food supply chain, and the other related to consumer behavior is useful for categorizing literature. One key finding is that although we specifically concentrated our search on articles related to gender in the food environment, the articles found focus more on the food supply chain and/or consumer behavior rather than specifically on the food environment. Most of the articles related to the food supply chain are based on studies conducted in Africa while most of the consumer behavior articles are from studies done in Asia. While gender equity is a topic of interest and is often said to be a priority for international development, relatively few articles were found about how gender equity impacts and/or is impacted by food environments. Those that do exist suggest that a food systems approach to healthier diets consider gender roles and responsibilities (i.e. gender division of labor and time use concerns), gendered access to and control over resources, and gender in decision-making processes. Gender norms related to these issues can present barriers to achieving the desired outcomes of food system interventions; on the other hand, they may also offer opportunities or clues about how to better move forward to achieve both food and nutrition security, and gender equity and equality goals.
Measurement of intra-household resource control: Exploring the validity of experimental measures
Ambler, Kate; Jones, Kelly M.; Recalde, Maria P.. Washington, DC 2020
Ambler, Kate; Jones, Kelly M.; Recalde, Maria P.. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134200
Abstract | PDF (2.4 MB)
We study the validity of experimental methods designed to measure preferences for intra-household resource control among spouses in Ghana and Uganda. We implement two incentivized tasks; (1) a game that measures willingness to pay to control resources, and (2) private and joint dictator games that measure preferences for resource allocation and the extent to which those preferences are reflected in joint decisions. Behavior in the two tasks is correlated, suggesting that they describe similar underlying latent variables. In Uganda the experimental measures are robustly correlated with a range of household survey measures of resource control and women’s empowerment and suggest that simple private dictator games may be as informative as more sophisticated tasks. In Ghana, the experimental measures are not predictive of survey indicators, suggesting that context may be an important element of whether experimental measures are informative.
Women’s empowerment, extended families and male migration in Nepal: Insights from mixed methods analysis
Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Pereira, Audrey; Pradhan, Rajendra; Doss, Cheryl. Washington, DC 2020
Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Pereira, Audrey; Pradhan, Rajendra; Doss, Cheryl. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134159
Abstract | PDF (820.7 KB)
Women’s empowerment is dynamic across the life course, affected not only by age but also by women’s social position within the household. In Nepal, high rates of male outmigration have further compounded household dynamics, although the impact on women’s empowerment is not clear. We use qualitative and quantitative data from Nepal to explore the relationship between women’s social location in the household, caste/ethnicity, husband’s migration status, and women’s empowerment. The study first examines the factors affecting overall empowerment as measured by the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI), followed by more detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of how each factor affects individual domains including asset ownership, access to and decisions on credit, control over use of income, group membership, input in productive decisions, and work load. We find that women’s empowerment is strongly associated with caste/ethnic identity and position in the household, but this dynamic interacts with husband’s migration status. Despite patriarchal norms of high caste groups, high caste women are more empowered than others, reflecting the disempowering effects of poverty and social exclusion for low caste and ethnic groups. Daughters-in-law in joint households are more likely to be empowered when their husbands are residents in the household and disempowered when their husbands are migrants, while wives in nuclear households are more likely to be empowered when their husbands are migrants. While qualitative findings indicate daughters-in-law are disempowered compared to their mothers-in-law, especially in time use, the quantitative results do not show significant differences, suggesting that we need to move toward an understanding of agency over time and intensity of work, rather than simply hours worked. Identifying the factors that contribute to disempowerment of women of different social positions has important implications for the design of interventions and programs that seek to improve women’s empowerment.
Género y seguridad alimentaria en Honduras
Allen, Summer L.; Delgado, Luciana. Washington, DC 2020
Allen, Summer L.; Delgado, Luciana. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134145
Abstract | PDF (1.1 MB)
El presente estudio, con el respaldo del Servicio Holandés de Cooperación al Desarrollo (SNV), obtuvo información sobre una serie de temas relativos a la seguridad alimentaria y la nutrición, el género y el acceso al agua en ciertos caseríos específicos de Honduras. La recolección de datos priorizó un grupo de comunidades de interés para las organizaciones de la sociedad civil que forman parte del programa Voz para el Cambio en Honduras. Dicha recolección de datos, efectuada en 2018, abarcó 647 hogares de los departamentos de Choluteca, Lempira y Ocotepeque. La mayoría de los hogares encuestados enfrentan graves niveles de inseguridad alimentaria. Solo el 26 % de las mujeres entre 12 y 49 años cuentan con una diversidad alimentaria mínima. Además, el acceso al agua y el saneamiento es limitado, ya que el 30 % de los hogares obtienen agua de un pozo o río y el 50 % no la trata antes de beberla. Según el Índice Abreviado de Empoderamiento de la Mujer en la Agricultura (A-WEAI), solo el 34 % de las mujeres encuestadas se consideran empoderadas. Los resultados de la encuesta indican que los mayores obstáculos al empoderamiento de la mujer son la cantidad de tiempo que pasan trabajando y el poco poder de decisión que tienen en cuanto al acceso al crédito y las actividades productivas.
Developing survey-based measures of gendered freedom of movement for use in studies of agricultural value chains
Heckert, Jessica; Myers, Emily; Malapit, Hazel J.. Washington, DC 2020
Heckert, Jessica; Myers, Emily; Malapit, Hazel J.. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.134048
Abstract | PDF (1.5 MB)
Freedom of movement is an important aspect of women’s empowerment, especially in the context of rural transformation as women attempt to transition from subsistence agriculture into more remunerative roles, such as involvement in higher nodes of the agricultural value chain, which often involves marketing activities and traveling away from the home. Nevertheless, there is no agreement on how to measure freedom of movement in large-scale surveys. First, we develop a conceptual framework for studying gendered freedom of movement that considers individual and household characteristics, along with the broader social environment. We then synthesize the existing literature on factors that affect freedom of movement. Next, we review approaches for measuring freedom of movement that have been used in previous surveys. In comparing existing survey-based approaches to the conceptual framework and existing literature, we conclude that existing approaches are limited in several ways. Foremost, they primarily focus on family- and household-based barriers to freedom of movement, and do not consider the barriers present in the broader social environment. Additionally, they lack consideration for how freedom of movement may affect women’s economic participation. To address the need for survey-based modules for studies that examine how freedom of movement is related to economic participation, we propose two new approaches. The first approach is an experience-based module that asks about frequency of visiting specific places, whether they were ever prevented from going to each of these places, and various limiting factors. The second approach uses vignettes designed to understand the relative strength of different social norms limiting women’s freedom of movement and the strength of sanctions that would be imposed for violating these norms. Data collected with these modules have the potential to better understand limitations on women’s freedom of movement and their consequences.
Migration, labor, and women’s empowerment: Evidence from an agricultural value chain in Bangladesh
de Brauw, Alan; Kramer, Berber; Murphy, Mike. Washington, DC 2020
de Brauw, Alan; Kramer, Berber; Murphy, Mike. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133936
Abstract | PDF (697.7 KB)
As a substantial portion of the rural labor force migrates to urban areas, it is commonly assumed that women could take over traditionally male tasks in agricultural production, with potentially empowering outcomes for women. We study how changes in the supply of labor may influence female labor participation and empowerment outcomes. Using a detailed panel dataset on jute producers in Bangladesh, we test whether out-migration of household members and perceived labor shortages are associated with the share of household and hired labor performed by women, and women’s empowerment. When a household experiences reduced household or hired labor supply, we observe a relatively larger use of female household labor but not of female hired labor. We find that reduced male household labor supply is associated with improved wages mainly for male laborers, whereas reduced female household labor is associated with improved wages for male laborers and enhanced empowerment of other women in the household. These findings suggest that given existing gender norms, male and female labor are not perfect substitutes for one another, and as a result, male outmigration is not associated with improved outcomes for women in cash crop production. Our results demonstrate a need for better understanding of the role of gender in rural labor markets, particularly in contexts of rapid urbanization.
Designing for empowerment impact in agricultural development projects: Experimental evidence from the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) project in Bangladesh
Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Ahmed, Akhter; Hoddinott, John F.; Pereira, Audrey; Roy, Shalini. Washington, DC 2020
Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Ahmed, Akhter; Hoddinott, John F.; Pereira, Audrey; Roy, Shalini. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133872
Abstract | PDF (1.2 MB)
The importance of women’s roles for nutrition-sensitive agricultural projects is increasingly recognized, yet little is known about whether such projects improve women’s empowerment and gender equality. We study the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) pilot project, which was implemented as a cluster-randomized controlled trial by the Government of Bangladesh. The project’s treatment arms included agricultural training, nutrition behavior change communication (BCC), and gender sensitization trainings to husbands and wives together – with these components combined additively, such that the impact of gender sensitization could be distinguished from that of agriculture and nutrition trainings. Empowerment was measured using the internationally-validated project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI), and attitudes regarding gender roles were elicited from both men and women, to explore potentially gender-transformative impacts. Our study finds that ANGeL increased both women’s and men’s empowerment, raised the prevalence of households achieving gender parity, and led to small improvements in the gender attitudes of both women and men. We find significant increases in women’s empowerment scores and empowerment status from all treatment arms but with no significant differences across these. We find no evidence of unintended impacts on workloads and we note inconclusive evidence of possible increases in intimate partner violence (IPV). Our results also suggest some potential benefits of bundling nutrition and gender components with an agricultural development intervention; however, many of these benefits seem to be driven by bundling nutrition with agriculture. While we cannot assess the extent to which including men and women within the same treatment arms contributed to our results, it is plausible that the positive impacts of all treatment arms on women’s empowerment outcomes may have arisen from implementation modalities that provided information to both husbands and wives when they were together. The role of engaging men and women jointly in interventions is a promising area for future research.
Gender and food security in Honduras
Allen, Summer L.; Delgado, Luciana. Washington, DC 2020
Allen, Summer L.; Delgado, Luciana. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133808
Abstract | PDF (1 MB)
This study, supported by the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), obtained information on a range of topics associated with food security and nutrition, gender, and water access in selected villages of Honduras. The data collection prioritized a set of communities of interest to the civil society organizations that are part of the Voice for Change Program in Honduras. The data collection, done in 2018, covered 647 households across the departments of Choluteca, Lempira, and Ocotepeque. Most households surveyed face high levels of food insecurity. Only 26% of the women between 12 and 49 years are receiving the minimum dietary diversity. Access to water and sanitation is also limited with 30% of the households sourcing their water from a well or river and 51% not treating the water before drinking it. According to the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) only 34% of women sampled are considered empowered. The survey results indicate that the biggest hurdles to women’s empowerment are the amount of time spent working and limited decision-making power regarding accessing credit and productive activities.
Gender, crop diversification, and nutrition in irrigation catchment areas in the central dry zones in Myanmar: Implications for agricultural development support
Ragasa, Catherine; Mahrt, Kristi; Aung, Zin Wai; Lambrecht, Isabel; Scott, Jessica. Washington, DC 2020
Ragasa, Catherine; Mahrt, Kristi; Aung, Zin Wai; Lambrecht, Isabel; Scott, Jessica. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133802
Abstract | PDF (3.2 MB)
This report describes the baseline data collected from 1,835 men and women respondents in 998 households in two irrigation sites in the central dry zone in Myanmar to help diagnose, design, and test interventions to enhance the Myanmar Agricultural Development Support Project’s impacts on gender equality and nutrition. Baseline data show large gender gaps, in which fewer women than men achieved adequacy in all 11 indicators of empowerment. Eighty-nine percent of women versus 64 percent of men respondents were not empowered, and 66 percent of dual-adult households have gender gaps. The main contributors of disempowerment among women were high tolerance and acceptance of intimate partner violence, lack of work balance, and low membership in groups, especially influential groups. Although 95 percent of respondents owned smartphones, women were less likely than men to access Internet or social media through their phones. Thirty-nine percent of respondents received rice-related information and half received health-related information. Nine to 14 percent of respondents attended agriculture- or health-related training courses. Women were significantly less likely to receive agriculture and nutrition-related information and training than men. The dietary diversity score, a common indicator of diet quality and a good proxy for nutrition, is low in the sample. The individual dietary diversity score was 4.32, with no significant difference between women and men and no major differences between irrigation water users and other households. Dairy, nuts and seeds, eggs, vitamin-A-rich fruits and vegetables, and other fruits are not commonly or frequently consumed by a majority of respondents. Beans and dark leafy vegetables, which are relatively abundant in the study context, are consumed by only 38–48 percent of the respondents on a daily basis. Nutrition education highlighting dietary diversity can help the sample communities achieve better nutrition. Overall, most women and men in the sample communities employ good sanitation practices, but more people need to be sensitized on proper garbage disposal, drinking water treatment, and proper and more frequent handwashing.
Project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture: Results from cognitive testing in Myanmar
Lambrecht, Isabel; Sproule, Katie; Synt, Nang Lun Kham; Ei Win, Hnin; Win, Khin Zin. Washington, DC 2020
Lambrecht, Isabel; Sproule, Katie; Synt, Nang Lun Kham; Ei Win, Hnin; Win, Khin Zin. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133796
Abstract | PDF (565.6 KB)
When designing and evaluating policies and projects for women’s empowerment, appropriate indicators are needed. This paper reports on the lessons learned from two rounds of pretesting and cognitive testing of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) in a total of five States/Regions in Myanmar. We assess if respondents understand the modules as intended and which questions require modification based on the cultural context. We find that the questions also present in the abbreviated WEAI are generally well understood, particularly on instrumental and group agency. The challenge to respond to hypothetical and abstract questions did become apparent in the domains representing intrinsic agency, and was problematic for questions on autonomy and self-efficacy. Also, the internationally validated questions on attitudes towards domestic violence were too abstract, and responses depend on the scenario envisioned. We also suggest including an adapted version of the module on speaking up in public, to reinforce the domain on collective agency. Our findings provide an encouraging message to those aspiring to use pro-WEAI, but emphasize the need for continued attention for context-specific adjustments and critical testing of even those instruments that are widely used and deemed validated.
Learning together: Experimental evidence on the impact of group-based nutrition interventions in rural Bihar
Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kumar, Neha; Gupta, Shivani; Chauhan, Tarana; Kathuria, Ashi Kohli; Menon, Purnima. Washington, DC 2020
Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kumar, Neha; Gupta, Shivani; Chauhan, Tarana; Kathuria, Ashi Kohli; Menon, Purnima. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133769
Abstract | PDF (1 MB)
Despite improvements over the last decade or more, India still accounts for a large proportion of the global prevalence of maternal and child undernutrition. We use a cluster-randomized controlled design and two waves of panel data on more than 2000 households from Bihar to analyse the impact on diet quality and anthropometry of a health and nutrition intervention delivered through an at-scale women’s self-help group (SHGs) platform. We find that the intervention had small but significant impacts on women and children’s dietary diversity, with the main impacts coming from an increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables and dairy, however, it had no impact on women’s body mass index. We identify several potential pathways to impact. To the extent that SHGs can effect broad-based social change, their current reach to millions of women makes them a powerful platform for accelerating improvements in maternal and child health and nutrition outcomes.
Women’s empowerment in agriculture and nutritional outcomes: Evidence from six countries in Africa and Asia
Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Sproule, Kathryn; Martinez, Elena M.; Malapit, Hazel J.. Washington, DC 2020
Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Sproule, Kathryn; Martinez, Elena M.; Malapit, Hazel J.. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133732
Abstract | PDF (2 MB)
Although women’s empowerment and gender equality are associated with better maternal and child nutrition outcomes, recent systematic reviews find inconclusive evidence. This paper applies a comparable methodology to data on the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), a recent internationally-validated measure based on interviews of women and men within the same household, from six countries in Africa and Asia to identify which dimensions of women’s empowerment are related to household-, women-, and child-level dietary and nutrition outcomes. We examine the relationship between women’s empowerment and household-level food security and dietary diversity; women’s dietary diversity and BMI; and child-related outcomes, controlling for woman, child, and household characteristics. We also test whether women’s empowerment has differential associations for boys and girls. We do not find consistent associations between dimensions of empowerment and food security and nutrition outcomes across countries, but some patterns emerge. Overall empowerment scores are more strongly associated with nutritional outcomes in the South Asian countries in our sample compared to the African ones. Where significant, greater intrahousehold gender equality is associated with better nutritional outcomes. However, different domains have different associations with nutritional outcomes, suggesting that tradeoffs exist: higher workloads are associated with more diverse diets but lower women’s BMI and child anthropometric outcomes. Identifying the overlap between the top contributors to disempowerment and those most strongly related to nutrition outcomes can inform the design and implementation of nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs.
Gendered participation in poultry value chains: Qualitative findings from an impact evaluation of nutrition-sensitive poultry value chain intervention in Burkina Faso
Eissler, Sarah; Sanou, Armande; Heckert, Jessica; Myers, Emily; Nignan, Safiatou; Thio, Elisabeth; Pitropia, Lucienne Amélie; Ganaba, Rasmané; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Gelli, Aulo. Washington, DC 2020
Eissler, Sarah; Sanou, Armande; Heckert, Jessica; Myers, Emily; Nignan, Safiatou; Thio, Elisabeth; Pitropia, Lucienne Amélie; Ganaba, Rasmané; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Gelli, Aulo. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133726
Abstract | PDF (759.2 KB)
The SELEVER study is a five-year impact evaluation designed to address key knowledge gaps on the impact of a poultry value chain intervention on the diets, health, and nutritional status of women and children in Burkina Faso. This report uses qualitative methods to examine gendered participation in poultry value chains, the gendered opportunities and barriers experienced in poultry value chains, and the SELEVER program’s impact on these factors. A previous report (Eissler et al., 2020) based on the same fieldwork covered questions relating to local understandings of empowerment and dynamics of household food production and allocation. Six villages across five provinces were purposively selected for this study. Data were collected using multiple qualitative methods. In each village, we conducted four sex-disaggregated focus group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews with a man and a woman from two different households. Sex-disaggregated seasonal calendars were created for half of the villages. Interviews were also conducted with project service providers in each community, including group leaders (n=13), voluntary vaccinators (n=10), and poultry traders (n=6). A mix of inductive and deductive coding guided the thematic analysis of the data.
The results indicate that while women in the study areas do engage in agricultural labor and various income-generating activities, they must prioritize their domestic responsibilities. Men are primarily responsible for providing staple food ingredients (e.g. grains or meat) for household consumption and earning the primary income, which often requires them to engage in seasonal migration. Men are increasingly aware of women’s time and unpaid labor burdens, and have started sharing in these tasks, a shift in which participants attribute to SELEVER. Additionally, we find that SELEVER has increased women’s capacity and opportunity to engage in poultry value chain activities while reducing barriers to their participation. SELEVER has trained selected women to practice as Village Volunteer Vaccinators (VVVs), which has enabled them to earn additional income. Notably, SELEVER has been effective in challenging and facilitating changing perceptions on traditional gender norms, such that men are increasingly supportive of their wives to engage in income-generating activities or activities outside of the household. Results highlight the importance of SELEVER’s engagement with men, as women’s ability to participate in activities outside of traditional gendered boundaries relies on their husbands’ permission. Without it, a woman cannot raise poultry, cultivate her own crops, practice as a VVV, or participate in women’s associations or income-generating activities. Despite evidence of success, barriers to women’s full participation persist. A lack of sufficient financial capital and autonomy in decision making limit women’s ability to improve upon and manage their poultry endeavors. A lack of financial capacity and time, limited freedom of movement, and restricting social norms further limit women’s ability to practice as service providers in the value chain. SELEVER can continue to address challenging social norms and focus on these more nuanced barriers women face in increasing their capacity for participation
The results indicate that while women in the study areas do engage in agricultural labor and various income-generating activities, they must prioritize their domestic responsibilities. Men are primarily responsible for providing staple food ingredients (e.g. grains or meat) for household consumption and earning the primary income, which often requires them to engage in seasonal migration. Men are increasingly aware of women’s time and unpaid labor burdens, and have started sharing in these tasks, a shift in which participants attribute to SELEVER. Additionally, we find that SELEVER has increased women’s capacity and opportunity to engage in poultry value chain activities while reducing barriers to their participation. SELEVER has trained selected women to practice as Village Volunteer Vaccinators (VVVs), which has enabled them to earn additional income. Notably, SELEVER has been effective in challenging and facilitating changing perceptions on traditional gender norms, such that men are increasingly supportive of their wives to engage in income-generating activities or activities outside of the household. Results highlight the importance of SELEVER’s engagement with men, as women’s ability to participate in activities outside of traditional gendered boundaries relies on their husbands’ permission. Without it, a woman cannot raise poultry, cultivate her own crops, practice as a VVV, or participate in women’s associations or income-generating activities. Despite evidence of success, barriers to women’s full participation persist. A lack of sufficient financial capital and autonomy in decision making limit women’s ability to improve upon and manage their poultry endeavors. A lack of financial capacity and time, limited freedom of movement, and restricting social norms further limit women’s ability to practice as service providers in the value chain. SELEVER can continue to address challenging social norms and focus on these more nuanced barriers women face in increasing their capacity for participation
The role of interactive radio programming in advancing women’s empowerment and crop and dietary diversity: Mixed methods evidence from Malawi
Ragasa, Catherine; Mzungu, Diston; Kalagho, Kenan; Kazembe, Cynthia. Washington, DC 2020
Ragasa, Catherine; Mzungu, Diston; Kalagho, Kenan; Kazembe, Cynthia. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133688
Abstract | PDF (2.3 MB)
The study assesses the effect of interactive radio programming on women’s empowerment and agricultural development, employing nationally representative household panel data and qualitative interviews in Malawi. Four major findings can be highlighted. First, radio programming is the preferred source of agricultural and nutrition advice among many subpopulations: younger women and men used radio more than other sources for their agricultural information needs, while younger and older men used radio more than other sources for nutrition education. Second, results show a positive impact of radio programming on technology awareness but a limited impact on actual adoption of most agricultural practices being promoted, except crop residue incorporation. Third, results show positive impacts on dietary diversity and adoption of other nutrition practices among the rural population. Fourth, results show a strong association between access to interactive radio programming and women’s and men’s empowerment scores. The association is greater for women’s empowerment and younger men’s empowerment, the latter being the most disempowered group in the sample.
The impact of an integrated value chain intervention on household poultry production in Burkina Faso: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial
Leight, Jessica; Awonon, Josue; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Ganaba, Rasmané; Martinez, Elena M.; Heckert, Jessica; Gelli, Aulo. Washington, DC 2020
Leight, Jessica; Awonon, Josue; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Ganaba, Rasmané; Martinez, Elena M.; Heckert, Jessica; Gelli, Aulo. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133686
Abstract | PDF (592 KB)
This article reports on a cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted in 120 villages in rural Burkina Faso evaluating a multifaceted intervention (SELEVER) that seeks to increase poultry production by delivering training in conjunction with the strengthening of village-level institutions providing veterinary and credit services to poultry farmers. The intervention is evaluated in a sample of 1,080 households surveyed following two years of program implementation. Households exposed to the intervention significantly increase their use of poultry inputs (veterinary services, enhanced feeds, and deworming), and report more poultry sold and higher revenue; however, there is no evidence of an increase in profits. This evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the return to inputs in the poultry market may not be sufficient to counterbalance the market costs of these inputs.
Gender dynamics, women’s empowerment, and diets: Qualitative findings from an impact evaluation of a nutrition-sensitive poultry value chain intervention in Burkina Faso
Eissler, Sarah; Sanou, Armande; Heckert, Jessica; Myers, Emily; Nignan, Safiatou; Thio, Elisabeth; Pitropia, Lucienne Amélie; Ganaba, Rasmané; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Gelli, Aulo. Washington, DC 2020
Eissler, Sarah; Sanou, Armande; Heckert, Jessica; Myers, Emily; Nignan, Safiatou; Thio, Elisabeth; Pitropia, Lucienne Amélie; Ganaba, Rasmané; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Gelli, Aulo. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133653
Abstract | PDF (680.4 KB)
The SELEVER study is a five-year impact evaluation designed to address key knowledge gaps on the impact of a poultry value chain intervention on the diets, health, and nutritional status of women and children in Burkina Faso. This report qualitatively examines the SELEVER program’s impact on women’s empowerment and intra-household gender dynamics in relation to food production and allocation, as well as control and use over poultry resources in the study areas. Six villages across five provinces were purposively selected for this study. Data were collected using multiple qualitative methods. In each village, we conducted four sex-disaggregated focus group discussions, and semi-structured individual interviews were held with a man and a woman from two different households. Sex-disaggregated seasonal calendars were created for half of the villages. Interviews were also conducted with project service providers in each community, including group leaders (n=13), voluntary vaccinators (n=10), and poultry traders (n=6). A mix of inductive and deductive thematic coding guided the analysis of the data. Men and women participants described an empowered woman in terms of her confidence, how she spent her time, financial capacity, and freedom of movement. SELEVER beneficiaries illuminated how gender norms were shifting related to household activities and women’s empowerment, such that young boys are now washing dishes and women earn additional incomes from raising her own poultry. Yet results suggest that women’s empowerment may threaten men and their masculinity, an important tension of which SELEVER and other projects should be cognizant. Participants perceived that while SELEVER has increased women’s access to the necessary resources and capacity to raise quality poultry, and their incomes, women still lack full latitude to make decisions around when to sell or kill their bird. Instead they must rely on their husbands’ permission. Beneficiaries are more aware of the benefits of consuming poultry products, yet barriers persist for actual consumption. This report further details the intersectional nature of these findings, which will be important to consider. The differences in women’s role in monogamous versus polygynous households is especially important to consider in interpreting the program impacts and further strengthening the program delivery activities. The SELEVER program has improved outcomes for women across the village sites in terms of empowerment, awareness raising, and behavior change. Yet barriers and challenges, often rooted in social norms, persist for women’s involvement in poultry production, their empowerment, and the potential for the SELEVER program to improve diets of household members.
What does empowerment mean to women in northern Ghana? Insights from research around a small-scale irrigation intervention
Bryan, Elizabeth; Garner, Elisabeth. Washington, DC 2020
Bryan, Elizabeth; Garner, Elisabeth. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133596
Abstract | PDF (857.3 KB)
Women’s empowerment is important to improve the status of women and achieve greater gender equity. It is also an important vehicle for achieving other development goals related to food security, nutrition, health, and economic growth. Increasingly, researchers seek ways to measure women’s empowerment, trace the pathways through which women’s empowerment is achieved, and provide guidance for policymakers and practitioners aiming to facilitate women’s empowerment through their interventions. This paper explores local perceptions of empowerment in the Upper East Region of Ghana in the context of a small-scale irrigation intervention targeted to men and women farmers. Using data collected through qualitative interviews and focus groups, the paper traces the linkages between small-scale irrigation and aspects of women’s empowerment, identified as important to men and women farmers themselves. The relationship between the components of empowerment and small-scale irrigation are placed within a larger context of social change underlying these relationships. Finally, this paper explores the ways that the introduction of modern technologies for small-scale irrigation may contribute to women’s empowerment.
Poultry production in Burkina Faso: Potential for poverty reduction and women’s empowerment
Hoffmann, Vivian; Awonon, Josue; Gelli, Aulo. Washington, DC 2020
Hoffmann, Vivian; Awonon, Josue; Gelli, Aulo. Washington, DC 2020
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133595
Abstract | PDF (920.9 KB)
Poultry rearing is widespread in rural Burkina Faso, and contributes to both the food security and cash income of smallholders farmers. The landlocked status of the country, coupled with increasing demand for poultry in urban areas implies an opportunity for significant, pro-poor growth through this sector. We use data from a survey of 1800 poultry producers to characterize smallholder poultry producers and their practices. We find that 88% of households in program areas raised poultry. While access to vaccination services and veterinary medicines at the village level is high, uptake of these services is limited, especially among smaller producers. Fewer women than men own poultry, but most women report that they control the proceeds from sales of their own birds, indicating the potential for development of the poultry sector to generate relatively equitable gains in terms of gender. Access to credit appears to increase women’s poultry ownership, but remains limited, as does women’s access to poultry output markets.
Towards gender equality: A review of evidence on social safety nets in Africa
Peterman, Amber; Kumar, Neha; Pereira, Audrey; Gilligan, Daniel O.. Washington, DC 2019
Peterman, Amber; Kumar, Neha; Pereira, Audrey; Gilligan, Daniel O.. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133551
Abstract | PDF (983.2 KB)
Over the last decade, social safety nets (SSNs) have rapidly expanded in Africa, becoming a core strategy for addressing poverty, responding to shocks, increasing productivity and investing in human capital. Poverty, vulnerability and well-being have inherent gender dimensions, yet only recently has gender equality been considered as a potential program objective. This study reviews the evidence on the impact of SSNs on women’s wellbeing in Africa, while contributing to an understanding of how SSNs affect gender equality. We first motivate and take stock of how gender shapes the design and effectiveness of SSNs in Africa. We then summarize evidence from rigorous impact evaluations of SSNs on women’s wellbeing across five key domains from 38 studies on 28 SSN programs across 17 countries. We find substantial evidence that, in many instances, SSNs decrease intimate partner violence and increase psychological wellbeing for women, as well as moderate evidence that SSNs increase dietary diversity and economic standing. We find minimal evidence that SSNs improve women’s food security and nutrition; however, few studies measure these outcomes for women. Finally, a substantial body of evidence reports on the impact of SSNs on women’s empowerment and intra-household bargaining power, however, with weak and mixed results. Our findings are generally promising, since most SSNs are not designed specifically to increase women’s wellbeing. However, the results show that household-level impacts do not automatically imply individual women benefit, and further that conclusions from global evidence reviews do not necessarily apply in Africa. There is little research that rigorously identifies the design features and impact pathways from SSNs to gender equality and women’s wellbeing, suggesting a priority for future research.
How do perceptions of relative poverty affect women's empowerment? Evidence from Papua New Guinea
Kosec, Katrina; Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung; Schmidt, Emily; Song, Jie. Washington, DC 2019
Kosec, Katrina; Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung; Schmidt, Emily; Song, Jie. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133537
Abstract | PDF (2.2 MB)
How do perceptions of one’s relative economic status affect gender attitudes, including support for women’s economic participation and involvement in decision-making? We conducted a 2018 survey experiment with female and male adults in approximately 1,000 households in Papua New Guinea. Employing an established survey treatment to subtly alter respondents’ perception of their relative economic well-being, we find that increased feelings of relative poverty make both men and women significantly more likely to support girls’ schooling and women’s paid employment, suggesting that relative economic insecurity can prompt support for women’s economic participation. However, increased feelings of relative poverty may trigger greater intra-household tension. While increased perceptions of relative poverty cause women to want more household decision-making authority, men’s attitudes toward women’s roles in decision-making are unchanged. Results underscore the complicated nature of gender attitudes, and how support for women’s economic participation may rise without simultaneous increases in women’s agency in decision-making.
Gender and assets in rural Myanmar: A cautionary tale for the analyst
Lambrecht, Isabel; Mahrt, Kristi. Washington, DC 2019
Lambrecht, Isabel; Mahrt, Kristi. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133533
Abstract | PDF (535.8 KB)
This paper uses evidence from Southeast Asia to challenge current interpretations of quantitative data on individual, formal asset ownership in relation to women’s decision-making power and empowerment. By overlaying quantitative data with a qualitative understanding of gender norms in rural households in Myanmar, we challenge common interpretations that have been assumed to universally reflect women’s empowerment. The paper warns that measures of individual asset ownership and decision-making may be poor indicators of women’s empowerment in Southeast Asia, and that a proper understanding of context is required for appropriate and meaningful interpretation of what have now become standard indicators.
Women’s empowerment, agricultural extension, and digitalization: Disentangling information and role model effects in rural Uganda
Lecoutere, Els; Spielman, David J.; Van Campenhout, Bjorn. Washington, DC 2019
Lecoutere, Els; Spielman, David J.; Van Campenhout, Bjorn. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133523
Abstract | PDF (1.8 MB)
In many developing countries, agricultural extension services are generally biased towards men, with information targeted mainly to male members of a farming household and in formats that are rarely tailored to female members. Nevertheless, female farmers may also benefit from such services as this may affect their ability to make informed decisions, resulting in increased farm productivity, household income, and welfare. We conduct a gendered field experiment among maize-farming households in eastern Uganda to test whether video-enabled extension messaging affects outcomes related to maize cultivation. In this experiment, men, women, and couples are shown randomly assigned videos about improved maize management practices in which male, female, or both male and female actors are featured. We first vary exposure to the videos by gender to test the effects of changes in intra-household information asymmetries, investigating whether involving women as recipients of information increases their ability to participate in household decision-making, and thus their involvement in household production choices. We then vary exposure to the gender of the actors in the videos to test for role-model effects, exploring whether involving women as information messengers challenges the idea that decision-making is a predominantly male domain, in turn affecting women’s outcomes. Results show that targeting women with information increases their knowledge about improved maize management practices, their role in agricultural decision-making, the adoption of recommended practices and inputs, production-related outcomes, and the quantity of maize women sell to the market. Results for the role-model effects are mixed, and are evident more in joint household outcomes than individual women’s outcomes. Overall, our findings suggest that in the context of our study, extension efforts aimed at directly addressing intra-household information asymmetries may be a first-best means of empowering women in agriculture. Other, more subtle means that seek to influence perceptions and norms about gendered roles in the household may not generate expected effects or work via expected impact pathways, though they remain worth further exploration.
Empowerment in agricultural value chains: Mixed methods evidence from the Philippines
Malapit, Hazel J.; Ragasa, Catherine; Martinez, Elena M.; Rubin, Deborah; Seymour, Gregory; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2019
Malapit, Hazel J.; Ragasa, Catherine; Martinez, Elena M.; Rubin, Deborah; Seymour, Gregory; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133456
Abstract | PDF (2 MB)
Women’s participation and empowerment in value chains are goals that concern many development organizations, but there has been limited systematic, rigorous research to track these goals between and within value chains (VCs). We use the survey-based project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) to measure women’s and men’s empowerment in the abaca, coconut, seaweed, and swine VCs in the Philippines. Results show that most women and men in all four VCs are disempowered, but unlike in many other countries, Filipino women in this sample are generally as empowered as men. Pro-WEAI results suggest that respect within the household and attitudes about gender-based violence (GBV) are the largest sources of disempowerment for both women and men, followed by control over use of income and autonomy in income-related decisions. Excessive workload and lack of group membership are other important sources of disempowerment, with some variation across VCs and nodes along VCs. Across all four VCs, access to community programs is associated with higher women’s empowerment, and access to extension services and education are associated with higher men’s empowerment. Our results show that, despite the egalitarian gender norms in the Philippines, persistent gender stereotypes influence men’s and women’s empowerment and VC participation.
Gender and preferences for non-farm income diversification: A framed field experiment in Ghana
Kramer, Berber; Lambrecht, Isabel. Washington, DC 2019
Kramer, Berber; Lambrecht, Isabel. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133345
Abstract | PDF (853.7 KB)
Many rural development programs aim at improving women’s economic empowerment in agriculture, but as rural income continues to diversify, women may prefer investing in nonfarm activities. In a framed field experiment with 1,527 men and women in Ghana, we elicit preferences for investments in crop farming versus other business activities. We analyze whether gender differences in preferences for non-farm diversification, if any, can be ascribed to differential access to physical and human capital, and to what extent a gender gap is explained by differences in socio-economic characteristics, skills, perceptions and norms. Despite strong beliefs that men and women are more skilled in crop farming and non-farm businesses, respectively, many respondents invest in both farm and non-farm activities and we find only a small gender gap in revealed preferences for non-farm diversification. This gap can be largely explained by gender stereotyping around perceived skills. Increasing access to physical and human capital does not significantly affect preferences. We conclude that both men and women reveal a strong preference for diversified investments, which needs to be reflected in programs and policies aiming to improve women’s economic empowerment.
Women’s empowerment and crop diversification in Bangladesh: A possible pathway to climate change adaptation and better nutrition
De Pinto, Alessandro; Seymour, Gregory; Bryan, Elizabeth; Bhandary, Prapti. Washington, DC 2019
De Pinto, Alessandro; Seymour, Gregory; Bryan, Elizabeth; Bhandary, Prapti. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133306
Abstract | PDF (1 MB)
The existing literature shows that climate change will likely affect several of the dimensions that determine people’s food security status in Bangladesh, from crop production to the availability of food products and their accessibility. Crop diversification represents a farm-level response that reduces exposure to climate-related risks and it has also been shown to increase diet diversity and contribute to the reduction in micronutrient deficiencies. In fact, the Government of Bangladesh has several policies in place that encourage and support agricultural diversification. However, despite this support the level of crop diversification in the country remains low. Women empowerment has been linked to diversified diets and positively associated with better child nutrition outcomes. Furthermore, although traditionally their role in agriculture tends to be undervalued, women involvement has already been shown to affect agricultural production choices and enhance technical efficiency. This paper connects three different areas of inquiry - climate change, gender and nutrition – by exploring whether women’s empowerment in agricultural production leads to increased diversification in the use of farmland. Specifically, we use a series of econometric techniques to evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence to claim that a higher levels of empowerment lead to greater diversity in the
allocation of farmland to agricultural crops. Our results reveal that indeed some aspects of women empowerment, but not all, lead to a more diversified use of farmland and to a transition for cereal production to other uses like vegetables and fruits. These findings provide some possible pathways for gender-sensitive interventions that promote crop diversity as a risk management tool and as a way to improve the availability of nutritious crops.
allocation of farmland to agricultural crops. Our results reveal that indeed some aspects of women empowerment, but not all, lead to a more diversified use of farmland and to a transition for cereal production to other uses like vegetables and fruits. These findings provide some possible pathways for gender-sensitive interventions that promote crop diversity as a risk management tool and as a way to improve the availability of nutritious crops.
Landownership and the gender gap in agriculture: Disappointing insights from Northern Ghana
Yokying, Phanwin; Lambrecht, Isabel. Washington, DC 2019
Yokying, Phanwin; Lambrecht, Isabel. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133281
Abstract | PDF
Land provides the basis for food production and is an indispensable input for economic livelihoods in rural areas. Landownership is strongly associated with social and economic power, not only across communities and households, but also within households. The link between landownership and women’s empowerment has been relatively well documented in general, but not specifically in relation to agriculture. This paper aims to fill this gap by analyzing how ownership of land is associated with agency and achievements in agriculture among female and male farmers in northern Ghana, a region transitioning from customary land tenure without individual ownership rights towards a more individualized and market-based tenure system. We use a recursive bivariate probit model and focus on eight different indicators in four distinct domains: decisions on agricultural cultivation, decisions on farm income, agricultural association membership, and time allocation. Our empirical estimates indicate that landownership is positively correlated with men’s and women’s agency in agriculture, namely in decisions on agricultural cultivation and membership in agricultural association. Yet, we also find that the gender gaps in participation in cultivation decisions, the use of agricultural earnings, and in agricultural workload continue to persist among those who own land. While the results underscore the importance of land as a resource that can enhance women’s agency, they also point out that policies aiming to solely advance land rights may not be sufficient to eradicate or even reduce gender inequality in agriculture.
Gendered opportunities for improving soil health: A conceptual framework to help set the research agenda
Zhang, Wei; Walker, Dominic; Hernandez, Carlos Calvo; Elias, Marlène; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Nkonya, Ephraim M.. Washington, DC 2019
Zhang, Wei; Walker, Dominic; Hernandez, Carlos Calvo; Elias, Marlène; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Nkonya, Ephraim M.. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133203
Abstract | PDF (984.3 KB)
Healthy soils play a critical role in supporting agricultural productivity, climate change mitigation and resilience, and a range of ecosystem services. Degraded and poorly responsive soils cover large areas of Africa and represent the majority of poor farmers’ fields in certain regions. While there are hundreds of technical options for improving the sustainability of land management and preventing or reversing degradation, there are many sociocultural, institutional, economic, and policy barriers hindering their adoption at large scale. At the same time, there is an emerging consensus within the international development community that gender equality and women’s empowerment are both an end in themselves and an important means for achieving a range of economic and social development objectives such as improved food security, child nutrition and education, and women’s health. Yet, gender inequality remains a wicked problem, whose deep-seated socio-economic and ideological causes are difficult to recognize and address, and which require context- and culture-specific understandings and approaches,
involving multiple stakeholders with different and sometimes conflicting interests and different positions within power hierarchies. There is an urgent need to make more rapid progress on restoring and sustaining soil productivity and ecosystem functions and also to leverage soil health management for progress on gender equality. While there are important interconnections between soil health and gender equality and empowerment, these are seldom recognized, and have not been addressed in a coherent or concerted manner. In this study, we have reviewed relevant gender literature and proposed a conceptual framework to help illuminate important gender considerations for soil health and land management. These considerations are essential for identifying gender-based constraints, opportunities, and unintended consequences in promoting soil management technologies. Moreover, the application of the framework can help guide in priority setting with respect to where gender-responsive interventions are essential. We make several recommendations for setting priorities for gender-soil health research.
involving multiple stakeholders with different and sometimes conflicting interests and different positions within power hierarchies. There is an urgent need to make more rapid progress on restoring and sustaining soil productivity and ecosystem functions and also to leverage soil health management for progress on gender equality. While there are important interconnections between soil health and gender equality and empowerment, these are seldom recognized, and have not been addressed in a coherent or concerted manner. In this study, we have reviewed relevant gender literature and proposed a conceptual framework to help illuminate important gender considerations for soil health and land management. These considerations are essential for identifying gender-based constraints, opportunities, and unintended consequences in promoting soil management technologies. Moreover, the application of the framework can help guide in priority setting with respect to where gender-responsive interventions are essential. We make several recommendations for setting priorities for gender-soil health research.
Women’s empowerment and child nutrition in polygynous households of Northern Ghana
Bourdier, Tomoé. Washington, DC 2019
Bourdier, Tomoé. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133143
Abstract | PDF (855.7 KB)
Weather shocks and other shocks affecting the economy of farm households often trigger a cascade of coping mechanisms, from reducing food consumption to selling assets, with potentially lasting consequences on child development. In polygynous households (in which a man is married to several women), the factors that may aggravate or mitigate the impacts of such adverse events are still poorly understood. In particular, little is known about the complex mechanisms through which women’s empowerment may affect the allocation of household resources in the presence of more than one female decision-maker. Where polygyny is associated with discriminatory social norms, co-wives may have limited bargaining power, which may translate into poorer outcomes for their children. While competition between co-wives may generate inefficiencies in the allocation of household resources, cooperation in the domains of agricultural production or domestic labor may lead to economies of scale and facilitate informal risk sharing. The rank of each co-wife may also have a strong influence on the welfare of her own children, relative to other children. Using the Feed the Future Ghana Population Survey data, I investigate the relationship between polygyny and children’s nutrition, and how it may be mediated through women’s bargaining power. Using the age of each co-wife as a proxy for rank, I also study how the senior-wife status of a mother may influence her children’s nutrition outcomes.
Measurement properties of the Project-Level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index
Yount, Kathryn M.; Cheong, Yuk Fai; Maxwell, Lauren; Heckert, Jessica; Martinez, Elena M.; Seymour, Gregory. Washington, DC 2019
Yount, Kathryn M.; Cheong, Yuk Fai; Maxwell, Lauren; Heckert, Jessica; Martinez, Elena M.; Seymour, Gregory. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133077
Abstract | PDF (1.7 MB)
Given the need for valid measures of women’s empowerment to monitor SDG5 and design advantages of pro-WEAI, an assessment of its measurement properties is warranted. This paper has three aims: 1) to assess in two GAAP2 projects the measurement properties of survey question (item) sets used to compute pro-WEAI indicators, 2) to offer guidance, based on study findings, for questionnaire revisions to shorten the full pro-WEAI to improve it as a measure for women’s empowerment in agricultural development programs, and 3) to make a call for a validated ‘short form’1 version of pro-WEAI and improved measures of women’s collective agency.
Women’s empowerment in agriculture: Lessons from qualitative research
Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Rubin, Deborah; Elias, Marlène; Mulema, Annet Abenakyo; Myers, Emily. Washington, DC 2019
Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Rubin, Deborah; Elias, Marlène; Mulema, Annet Abenakyo; Myers, Emily. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133060
Abstract | PDF (770.5 KB)
There is growing recognition of the importance of women’s empowerment in its own right and for a range of development outcomes, but less understanding of what empowerment means to rural women and men. The challenge of measuring empowerment, particularly across cultures and contexts, is also garnering attention. This paper synthesizes qualitative research conducted conjointly with quantitative surveys, working with eight agricultural development projects in eight countries, to develop a project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI). The qualitative research sought to identify emic meanings of “empowerment,” validate the domains and indicators of the quantitative index, provide greater understanding of the context of each project and of strategies for facilitating empowerment, and test a methodology for integrating emic perspectives of empowerment with standardized etic measures that allow for comparability across contexts.
Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI)
Malapit, Hazel J.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Seymour, Gregory; Martinez, Elena M.; Heckert, Jessica; Rubin, Deborah; Vaz, Ana; Yount, Kathryn M.. Washington, DC 2019
Malapit, Hazel J.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Seymour, Gregory; Martinez, Elena M.; Heckert, Jessica; Rubin, Deborah; Vaz, Ana; Yount, Kathryn M.. Washington, DC 2019
DOI : 10.2499/p15738coll2.133061
Abstract | PDF (904.3 KB)
In this paper, the authors describe the adaptation and validation of a project-level WEAI (or pro-WEAI) that agricultural development projects can use to identify key areas of women’s (and men’s) disempowerment, design appropriate strategies to address identified deficiencies, and monitor project outcomes related to women’s empowerment. The 12 pro-WEAI indicators are mapped to three domains: intrinsic agency (power within), instrumental agency (power to), and collective agency (power with). A gender parity index compares the empowerment scores of men and women in the same household. The authors describe the development of pro-WEAI, including: (1) pro-WEAI’s distinctiveness from other versions of the WEAI; (2) the process of piloting pro-WEAI in 13 agricultural development projects during the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, phase 2 (GAAP2); (3) analysis of quantitative data from the GAAP2 projects, including intrahousehold patterns of empowerment; and (4) a summary of the findings from the qualitative work exploring concepts of women’s empowerment in the project sites. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned from pro-WEAI and possibilities for further development of empowerment metrics.
Aspirations and women’s empowerment: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan
Kosec, Katrina; Akramov, Kamiljon T.; Mirkasimov, Bakhrom; Song, Jie. Washington, DC 2018
Kosec, Katrina; Akramov, Kamiljon T.; Mirkasimov, Bakhrom; Song, Jie. Washington, DC 2018
Abstract | PDF (649.8 KB)
Can having higher aspirations, or goals for the future, contribute to the empowerment of women? A growing literature shows that aspirations increase a host of forward-looking economic and political behaviors, from entrepreneurship to civic engagement. This has stimulated interest in development interventions aimed at reducing behavioral poverty traps. At the same time, a wealth of literature suggests that women’s empowerment and involvement in decision-making can be welfare-improving. It can increase household income and asset wealth by ensuring that women are economically active and have high levels of human capital; increase technical efficiency on the farm; and improve health, nutrition, and education outcomes for children. Linking these two literatures, we posit that one route to women’s empowerment may be to raise aspirations—either those of a woman herself, or those of her husband, who often wields considerable influence over her decision-making authority and access to resources. We find that having a husband who sets ambitious goals for himself predicts more egalitarian gender attitudes for both the husband and his wife. Higher aspirations on the part of wives also predict more egalitarian gender attitudes (for both the husband and his wife), but they additionally predict greater involvement of women in household decision-making. This suggests that efforts to fuel either men’s or women’s ambition can shift gender attitudes, but that targeting women is the more effective way to build women’s decision-making power.
Ask me why: Using vignettes to understand patterns of intrahousehold decision making in rural Senegal
Bernard, Tanguy; Doss, Cheryl; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoel, Jessica B.; Kieran, Caitlin. Washington, DC 2018
Bernard, Tanguy; Doss, Cheryl; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoel, Jessica B.; Kieran, Caitlin. Washington, DC 2018
Abstract | PDF (1.1 MB)
We study decision-making in dairy farming households in Senegal and investigate respondents’ perceptions of why a particular person made the decision. Using vignettes, we ask respondents how similar they are to five types of households. We analyze how the identity of the decision-maker and the rationale for decision-making are related to milk production, hemoglobin levels among children, and satisfaction with decisions. We find that while male dictators achieve better outcomes than most decision-making structures, households in which husbands (wives) decide because they are most informed produce more milk than households in which husbands (wives) decide because they are dictators.
Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India
Kumar, Neha; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Arrieta, Alejandra; Jilani, Amir Hamza; Chakrabarti, Suman; Menon, Purnima; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2018
Kumar, Neha; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Arrieta, Alejandra; Jilani, Amir Hamza; Chakrabarti, Suman; Menon, Purnima; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2018
Abstract | PDF (1.8 MB)
Women’s self-help groups (SHGs) have increasingly been used as a vehicle for social, political, and economic empowerment as well as a platform for service delivery. Although a growing body of literature shows evidence of positive impacts of SHGs on various measures of empowerment, our understanding of ways in which SHGs improve awareness and use of public services is limited. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper first examines how SHG membership is associated with political participation, awareness, and use of government entitlement schemes. It further examines the effect of SHG membership on various measures of social networks and mobility. Using data collected in 2015 across five Indian states and matching methods to correct for endogeneity of SHG membership, we find that SHG members are more politically engaged. We also find that SHG members are not only more likely to know of certain public entitlements than non-members, they are significantly more likely to avail of a greater number of public entitlement schemes. Additionally, SHG members have wider social networks and greater mobility as compared to non-members. Our results suggest that SHGs have the potential to increase their members’ ability to hold public entities accountable and demand what is rightfully theirs. An important insight, however, is that the SHGs themselves cannot be expected to increase knowledge of public entitlement schemes in absence of a deliberate effort to do so by an external agency.
Can women’s empowerment increase animal source food consumption in flood prone areas of Bangladesh?
Theys, Natalie. Washington, DC 2018
Theys, Natalie. Washington, DC 2018
DOI : 10.2499/1046080804
Abstract | PDF (3 MB)
Bangladesh is one of the most flood-prone countries in the world and households located in at-risk areas endure periodic destruction and losses, thus making them worse off than those not prone to flooding. Our paper provides evidence that promoting women’s empowerment could be a promising way to improve quality of life for these at-risk households. Our focus is on the relationship between empowerment and improved dietary quality, specifically through the increased consumption of animal source foods (ASF).
Women's self-help groups, decision-making, and improved agricultural practices in India: From extension to practice
Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kannan, Samyuktha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2018
Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kannan, Samyuktha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, DC 2018
DOI : 10.2499/1046080777
Abstract | PDF (1.4 MB)
This research was undertaken as part of the Women Improving Nutrition through Group-based Strategies (WINGS) study, and was aimed at understanding ways to improve agricultural practices among women farmers in India. Effective agricultural extension is key to improving productivity, increasing farmers’ access to information, and promoting more diverse sets of crops and improved methods of cultivation. In India, however, the coverage of agricultural extension workers and the relevance of extension advice is poor. We investigate whether a women’s self-help group platform could be an effective way of improving access to information, women’s empowerment in agriculture, agricultural practices, and production diversity. We use cross-sectional data on close to 1000 women from 5 states in India, and employ nearest-neighbor matching models to match self-help group (SHG) and non-SHG women along a range of observed characteristics. We find that participation in an SHG increases women’s access to information and their participation in some agricultural decisions, but has limited impact on agricultural practices or outcomes, possibly due to financial constraints, social norms, and women’s domestic responsibilities. SHGs need to go beyond provision of information to changing the dynamics around women’s participation in agriculture to effectively translate knowledge into practice.
Using natural areas and empowering women to buffer food security and nutrition from climate shocks: Evidence from Ghana, Zambia, and Bangladesh
Cooper, Matthew. Washington, DC 2018
Cooper, Matthew. Washington, DC 2018
DOI : 10.2499/1032568631
Abstract | PDF (1.5 MB)
As climate change makes precipitation shocks more common, policymakers are becoming increasingly interested in protecting food systems and nutrition outcomes from the damaging effects of droughts and floods (Wheeler and von Braun, 2013). Increasing the resilience of nutrition and food security outcomes is especially critical throughout agrarian parts of the developing world, where human subsistence and well-being are directly affected by local rainfall. In this study, we use data from Feed the Future datasets from Ghana, Zambia, and Bangladesh to examine the impact of precipitation extremes on food security as well as the role of natural land cover and women’s empowerment in creating resilience. We first model the effects of extreme rainfall on indicators of nutrition and food security, and then examine whether women’s empowerment and environmental land cover types can dampen the effects of rainfall shocks on these food security and nutrition outcomes. Our results find that there is a strong association between extreme precipitation and household hunger. Further, they suggest that in certain contexts land cover types providing ecosystem services can reduce household hunger scores, that empowering women can mitigate the effects of precipitation shocks, and that there may be an interactive effect between ecosystem service availability and women’s empowerment.
Promises and realities of community-based agricultural extension
Feder, Gershon; Anderson, Jock R.; Birner, Regina; Deininger, Klaus. Washington, D.C. 2010
Feder, Gershon; Anderson, Jock R.; Birner, Regina; Deininger, Klaus. Washington, D.C. 2010
Abstract | PDF
In view of the market failures and the state failures inherent in providing agricultural extension, community-based approaches, which involve farmers' groups, have gained increasing importance in recent years as a third way to provide this service. The paper discusses the conceptual underpinnings of community-based extension approaches, highlights theoretical and practical challenges inherent in their design, and assesses the evidence available so far on their performance. The paper reviews both quantitative and qualitative studies, focusing on three examples that contain important elements of community-based extension: the National Agricultural Advisory Services program of Uganda, the agricultural technology management agency model of India, and the farmer field school approach. The review finds that in the rather few cases where performance has been relatively carefully studied, elite capture was identified as a major constraint. Other challenges that empirical studies found include a limited availability of competent service providers, deep-seated cultural attitudes that prevent an effective empowerment of farmers, and difficulties in implementing farmers' control of service providers' contracts. The paper concludes that, just as for the state and the market, communities can also fail in extension delivery. Hence, the challenge for innovative approaches in agricultural extension is to identify systems that use the potential of the state, the market, and communities to create checks and balances to overcome the failures inherent in all of them.
Woodlot devolution in Northern Ethiopia
Jagger, Pamela; Pender, John L.; Gebremedhin, Berhanu. Washington, D.C. 2003
Jagger, Pamela; Pender, John L.; Gebremedhin, Berhanu. Washington, D.C. 2003
Abstract | PDF
This paper explores the patterns and determinants of empowerment, income generation, and environmental sustainability under varying degrees of woodlot management in Tigray, Ethiopia. Our analysis is based upon a survey of 120 collectively managed woodlots, devolved to varying degrees, and 66 households that have recently received small plots of community land for tree planting. We find that more devolved woodlot management empowers resource users by providing greater autonomy regarding the management of woodlots, and in particular the ability to make decisions about the harvest of woodlot products. Our economic analysis indicates that grass is by far the most important product being harvested from woodlots. There has been very limited harvesting of higher value products such as poles and fuelwood, which are in very short supply in the region. Labor inputs declined, and average annual net benefits improved as woodlots were more devolved, indicating that devolved woodlots are more economically efficient. Woodlots were generally perceived to be associated with positive changes in environmental conditions such as the slowing of erosion and gully formation, and the maintenance of biodiversity. However, greater environmental benefits were associated with less devolved woodlots. This study highlights the trade-offs inherent in varying levels of woodlot management. Though woodlots are perceived to provide significant environmental functions, restrictions regarding harvesting high value products are limiting the potential for smallholder income diversification and empowerment, two critical components of poverty alleviation in Ethiopia.
Community empowerment and scaling-up in urban areas
Garrett, James L.. Washington, D.C. 2004
Garrett, James L.. Washington, D.C. 2004
Abstract | PDF
CARE began PROSPECT (Program of Support for Poverty Elimination and Community Transformation) in 1998. PROSPECT aims to reduce poverty in peri-urban areas of Lusaka. It employs a community-based approach to carry out three types of activities: social empowerment (institution building at the local level), personal empowerment (microfinance), and infrastructure improvement (mostly water supply schemes). PROSPECT has attempted to carry out these activities largely through its support of area-based organizations (ABOs) that now form part of city government. The zone development committees (ZDCs) and residents' development committees (RDCs) are the basic components of the ABO structure. These are community-level representations of municipal government; they are the community's mechanisms for expressing its voice and driving development. PROSPECT is itself an extension of an earlier project, PUSH II (Peri-Urban Self-Help Project). PUSH II and PROSPECT are fundamentally about developing community-based and community-driven development (CDD) mechanisms and strengthening community capacities to identify and respond to community needs. The paper examines the scaling-up experience of PUSH II and PROSPECT, looking especially at the mechanisms of CDD, the ABOs." -- Authors' Abstract
Empowerment, adaptation, and agricultural production evidence from Niger
Wouterse, Fleur Stephanie. Washington, D.C. 2017
Wouterse, Fleur Stephanie. Washington, D.C. 2017
Abstract | PDF (574.3 KB)
Located at the heart of West Africa, Niger is a landlocked country with three-quarters of its territory covered by the Sahara Desert. Niger’s climate is mostly arid, and it is one of the least developed countries in the world. The vast majority of its population lives in rural areas, and the country is strongly dependent on agriculture. Agriculture is predominantly rainfed and yields rely on one rainy season. Although productivity in Niger has shown a positive trend, agriculture has been strongly affected in recent decades by several crises partly or entirely due to extreme weather events. Farmers pursue a number of strategies in the face of climatic (and nonclimatic) stressors including soil and water conservation methods such as barriers, terracing, and planting pits, and their adaptive capacity is deemed critical for estimating the economic impact of climate change. An understanding of climate change adaptation processes at the farm household level is therefore crucial to the development of well-designed and targeted mitigation policies. In this study, we use new data from Niger and regression analysis to study climate change adaptation through the digging of zaї pits and food production and the role of human capital measures therein. We find that adaptation is influenced by the perception that the frequency of droughts has increased and by the availability of financial resources and household labor. Adaptation is also influenced by educational attainment—both formal and Koranic school education. Adaptation of zaї pits is found to play an important role in food productivity. Our counterfactual analysis reveals that even though all households would benefit from adaptation, the effect is found to be significantly larger for households that actually did adapt relative to those that did not, indicating that the prospects of closing the productivity gap through encouraging adaptation in less well-endowed households are limited.
How do agricultural development projects aim to empower women?: Insights from an analysis of project strategies
Johnson, Nancy L.; Balagamwala, Mysbah; Pinkstaff, Crossley; Theis, Sophie; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, D.C. 2017
Johnson, Nancy L.; Balagamwala, Mysbah; Pinkstaff, Crossley; Theis, Sophie; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, D.C. 2017
Abstract | PDF (2.6 MB)
Increasing numbers of development agencies and individual projects espouse objectives of women’s empowerment, yet there has been little systematic work on mechanisms by which interventions can enhance women’s empowerment. This gap exists because of the lack of consensus on indicators as well as the lack of attention paid to measuring the effects of different types of interventions on empowerment. This paper identifies the types of strategies employed by 13 agricultural development projects within the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project Phase 2 (GAAP2) that have explicit objectives of empowering women. We distinguish between reach, benefit, and empowerment as objectives of agricultural development projects. Simply including women does not necessarily benefit them, and even activities that benefit do not necessarily empower. To identify strategies to empower women, we build on the domains included in the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and are working with the GAAP2 portfolio of projects to develop an empowerment metric that is applicable in the project setting (a project-level WEAI, or pro-WEAI). We have identified the following potential domains to be included in pro-WEAI: input into production decision making, control over resources, control over income, leadership, time, physical mobility, intrahousehold relationships, individual empowerment, reduction in gender-based violence, and decision making on nutrition. The GAAP2 projects address these domains through a wide variety of activities that can be grouped into four main types: (1) direct and indirect provision of goods and services; (2) forming or strengthening groups, organizations, or platforms and networks that involve women; (3) strengthening knowledge and capacity through agricultural extension, business and finance training, nutrition behavior change communication, and other training; and (4) changing gender norms through one-way awareness raising or two-way community conversations about gender issues and their implications. In general, projects with activities in more activity areas target more domains of empowerment, and most projects target a core set of six empowerment domains. With the exception of intrahousehold relationships, which is always targeted by activities designed to influence gender norms, projects target domains with different types of activities or combinations of activities. This setup suggests that there may be no one-to-one link between a specific activity and empowerment benefits, and that implementation modalities will determine whether and how an activity contributes to women’s empowerment. The effectiveness of these project strategies will be assessed using both quantitative and qualitative methods throughout the GAAP2 research project.
The returns to empowerment in diversified rural household: Evidence from Niger
Wouterse, Fleur Stephanie. Washington, D.C. 2017
Wouterse, Fleur Stephanie. Washington, D.C. 2017
Abstract | PDF (606.1 KB)
Niger is a landlocked Sahelian country, two-thirds of which is in the Sahara Desert. Although only one-eighth of the land considered arable, the overwhelming majority of Niger’s households is involved in rain-fed agriculture largely for subsistence. Given erratic rainfall and low soil fertility, most smallholders fail to produce enough food to meet household requirements. Income diversification is thus the norm among these rural households and different income-generating activities offer alternative pathways out of poverty for households as well as a mechanism for managing risk in an uncertain environment. Empowerment is likely to be an important factor affecting the ability of households to diversity their activity portfolio and may also affect activity-incomes and thereby household welfare. In this study, I use new household- and individual-level empowerment data from the Tahoua region of Niger and regression analysis to quantify the effects of a range of human capital measures including empowerment on the activity portfolio and activity incomes of rural households. My findings reveal that empowerment in particular plays an important role in enabling households to engage in mixed diversification strategy, which combines staple cropping with nonfarm activities and migration. This is a “last resort” strategy for households in lower landholding quintiles to ensure food security and complement an inadequate resource base. Controlling for activity choice, three empowerment indicators in particular—confidence, group membership, and tenure security—strongly and positively affect income from staple and cash cropping, which on average makes up about 90 percent of household income. In fact, empowerment is the only human capital variable that strongly and positively affects total household income, opening up interesting avenues for policy interventions aimed at augmenting a household’s noncognitive ability through, for example, leadership training or encouraging producer group membership—to increase incomes of the rural poor.
Measuring women’s disempowerment in agriculture in Pakistan
Ahmad, Nuzhat; Khan, Huma. Washington, D.C. 2016
Ahmad, Nuzhat; Khan, Huma. Washington, D.C. 2016
Abstract | PDF (1 MB)
Pakistan performs poorly withrespect to gender equality, women’s empowerment, and other gender-related indicators. Few studies in Pakistan measure the multiple dimensions of empowerment along which women are marginalized or disenfranchised, particularly in the country’s rural areas. Even fewer studies address the gender gaps in empowerment levels of men and women. This paper calculates a Women’s Disempowerment Index to examine women’s control over production, resources, income, household decisions, and time burden. The index is based on a slightly modified methodology than that used for WEAI calculation by Alkire et al. (2012). The analysis is based on a sample of 2,090 households in the rural areas of Pakistan. Data used for the study werecollected in three rounds of the Pakistan Rural Household Panel Survey from 2012–2014 by International Food Policy Research Institute/ Innovative Development Strategies for its Pakistan Strategy Support Program. The results show low empowerment levels of only 17 percent for women in the rural areas of Pakistan. The results also show very low empowerment of women in all indicators and domains except the time burden/workload indicator. We then analyze women’s disempowerment by subsamples based on individual and household characteristics. We also calculate disempowerment levels among men and compare it to disempowerment levels among women. Comparison within the household reveals large disparities in empowerment levels among men and women. In a comparative analysis, men are found to be more empowered in domains of production, income,and autonomy. Both men and women were found to be most disempowered in access to and control over resources. The paper provides a baseline for tracking women’s empowerment over time and identifies areas that need to be strengthened through policy interventions
Scaling up Kudumbashree -- collective action for poverty alleviation and women's empowerment
Kadiyala, Suneetha. Washington, D.C. 2004
Kadiyala, Suneetha. Washington, D.C. 2004
Abstract | PDF
This paper discusses the factors that enabled and constrained the scaling up of a multisectoral poverty alleviation program called Kudumbashree, initiated by the government of Kerala (GOK), India, in 1998 to eradicate poverty by 2008. It also discusses some potential threats to and trade-offs of scaling up Kudumbashree. This report draws primarily upon the available literature and qualitative data collected during a five-day visit to Kudumbashree in March 2003....Our findings show that an enabling environment, especially decentralization and the concurrent devolution of finances to the local government bodies (LGBs), was critical in scaling up Kudumbashree. The CDS structures are now considered as a further step to decentralization. As the CDS structures are affiliated to the LGBs, their financial sustainability is ensured through various modalities, e.g., convergence, women's component plan, and earmarked assistance to women's self-help groups (SHG). The unique context of Kerala, coupled with leadership of a few motivated and innovative officials, was key in both the decentralization and scaling-up process."- Authors' Abstract
What dimensions of women’s empowerment in agriculture matter for nutrition-related practices and outcomes in Ghana?
Malapit, Hazel J.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, D.C. 2014
Malapit, Hazel J.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, D.C. 2014
Abstract | PDF (1.3 MB)
This paper investigates linkages between women’s empowerment in agriculture and the nutritional status of women and children using 2012 baseline data from the Feed the Future population-based survey in Ghana. The sample consists of 3,344 children and 3,640 women and is statistically representative of the northernmost regions of Ghana where the Feed the Future programs are operating.
How do intrahousehold dynamics change when assets are transferred to women? Evidence from BRAC’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction—Targeting the Ultra Poor program in Bangladesh
Das, Narayan; Yasmin, Rabeya; Ara, Jinnat; Kamruzzaman, Md.; Davis, Peter; Behrman, Julia A.; Roy, Shalini; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, D.C. 2013
Das, Narayan; Yasmin, Rabeya; Ara, Jinnat; Kamruzzaman, Md.; Davis, Peter; Behrman, Julia A.; Roy, Shalini; Quisumbing, Agnes R.. Washington, D.C. 2013
Abstract | PDF (708.4 KB)
We study BRAC’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction—Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR-TUP) program in Bangladesh, which targets asset transfer (primarily livestock) and training to rural women in poor households. Previous research has shown large, significant positive program impacts at the household level. In this paper, we examine intrahousehold impacts using mixed methods. We focus on the Specially Targeted Ultra-Poor (STUP) component of the program, which targets households selected following a randomized controlled trial design. Adding a new round of data collection with quantitative sex-disaggregated information and qualitative exploration, we exploit the randomized design to assess intrahousehold impacts of STUP. Our analysis confirms that the program significantly increases household ownership of various assets but has complex effects on the targeted women.
Women’s empowerment in agriculture, production diversity, and nutrition: Evidence from Nepal
Kadiyala, Suneetha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Cunningham, Kenda; Tyagi, Parul; Malapit, Hazel J.. Washington, DC 2013
Kadiyala, Suneetha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Cunningham, Kenda; Tyagi, Parul; Malapit, Hazel J.. Washington, DC 2013
Abstract | PDF (865.1 KB)
With the increasing recognition that agricultural growth and development do not necessarily translate into improved nutrition outcomes, policymakers are increasingly grappling with how to design and implement agricultural policies and programs that can also achieve nutritional objectives. Agriculture has direct links to nutrition in that it provides a source of food and nutrients and a broad-based source of income, as well as directly influencing food prices.
Women’s empowerment and nutrition: An evidence review
van den Bold, Mara; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Gillespie, Stuart. Washington, D.C. 2013
van den Bold, Mara; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Gillespie, Stuart. Washington, D.C. 2013
Abstract | PDF (1.1 MB)
This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of women’s empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventions—cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs—on women’s empowerment, nutrition, or both.
The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index
Alkire, Sabina; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Peterman, Amber; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Seymour, Greg; Vaz, Ana. Washington, D.C. 2012
Alkire, Sabina; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Peterman, Amber; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Seymour, Greg; Vaz, Ana. Washington, D.C. 2012
Abstract | PDF (2.1 MB)
The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a new survey-based index designed to measure the empowerment, agency, and inclusion of women in the agricultural sector. The WEAI was initially developed as a tool to reflect women’s empowerment that may result from the United States government’s Feed the Future Initiative, which commissioned the development of the WEAI. The WEAI can also be used more generally to assess the state of empowerment and gender parity in agriculture, to identify key areas in which empowerment needs to be strengthened, and to track progress over time.
Agriculture-nutrition linkages and policies in India
Dev, S. Mahendra. Washington, D.C. 2012
Dev, S. Mahendra. Washington, D.C. 2012
Abstract | PDF (780.3 KB)
By now it is well recognized that agricultural development is important for enhancing nutrition. Agriculture-nutrition linkage has become an emerging area for research and policy in developing countries like India. Earlier studies have shown that there has been a disconnect between agriculture and nutrition particularly regarding policies. In this context, this paper looks at some key entry points for agriculture to influence nutrition and suggests policies for nutrition-sensitive agricultural development, within the current policy framework. In addition, it reviews three key agriculture-food programs for their nutrition sensitivity at the policy level, using a convergence framework. The three key entry points for agriculture-nutrition linkages are inclusive agriculture growth, food prices, and women in agriculture. It provides policy options for strengthening the linkages between agriculture and nutrition. This paper contributes towards an improved policy making in effecting a reduction in malnutrition in India.
Measuring and accounting for community capabilities in Kordofan, Sudan
Harizi, Khalid El; Klemick, Heather. Washington, DC 2007
Harizi, Khalid El; Klemick, Heather. Washington, DC 2007
Abstract | PDF
Parallel to the growing attention being devoted to the relationship between empowerment and development, an increasing number of tools are being developed to measure empowerment and determine the link between these two phenomena. This paper details the methodological processes used to construct, test and possibly refine one such instrument, the Community Capability Index, an innovative tool to measure community capabilities in the domain of natural resource governance. Empirical reference is made to research conducted in 85 villages in North and South Kordofan, Sudan. Following this, the paper presents findings from analyses of the determinants of community capabilities, including geographic, economic, and institutional variables. The results suggest that in Kordofan a number of factors influence capabilities. Possessing a village market, proximity to the nearest town, and access to credit are economic variables that have a significant and highly positive effect on community capabilities. Regarding the environment, capabilities are found to be greater where there is more rainfall, but access to groundwater from lower-quality aquifers and cracking clay soils have negative impacts on capabilities. War shocks, as might be expected, have a negative and significant effect. Particularly interesting is the generally weak correlation found between capabilities and wealth, along with strong correlations between institutional and social dimensions of community capabilities and participation in donor-funded projects. This combination suggests that development interventions must take into account the non-identity of poverty reduction and empowerment processes, at least when the targeted agents are communities rather than individuals or households. The findings reveal areas for further investigation into the relationship between the determinants and dimensions of capabilities, and the potential significance of the relationship for some dimensions suggests context-specific interventions to strengthen the relevant capabilities." -- from Authors' Abstract
Scaling up Kudumbashree -- collective action for poverty alleviation and women's empowerment
Kadiyala, Suneetha. Washington, D.C. 2004
Kadiyala, Suneetha. Washington, D.C. 2004
Abstract | PDF (186.6 KB)
This paper discusses the factors that enabled and constrained the scaling up of a multisectoral poverty alleviation program called Kudumbashree, initiated by the government of Kerala (GOK), India, in 1998 to eradicate poverty by 2008. It also discusses some potential threats to and trade-offs of scaling up Kudumbashree. This report draws primarily upon the available literature and qualitative data collected during a five-day visit to Kudumbashree in March 2003....Our findings show that an enabling environment, especially decentralization and the concurrent devolution of finances to the local government bodies (LGBs), was critical in scaling up Kudumbashree. The CDS structures are now considered as a further step to decentralization. As the CDS structures are affiliated to the LGBs, their financial sustainability is ensured through various modalities, e.g., convergence, women's component plan, and earmarked assistance to women's self-help groups (SHG). The unique context of Kerala, coupled with leadership of a few motivated and innovative officials, was key in both the decentralization and scaling-up process.
Scaling up community-driven development
Gillespie, Stuart. Washington, D.C. 2005
Gillespie, Stuart. Washington, D.C. 2005
Abstract | PDF (197 KB)
While many community-driven development (CDD) initiatives may be successful, their impact is often limited by their small scale. Building on past and ongoing work on CDD, this study addresses the fundamental question: how can CDD initiatives motivate and empower the greatest number of communities to take control of their own development? What are the key contextual factors, institutional arrangements, capacity elements, and processes related to successful scaling-up of CDD, and, conversely, what are the main constraints or limiting factors, in different contexts? Drawing upon recent literature and the findings from five case studies, key lessons on how best to stimulate, facilitate, and support the scaling-up of CDD in different situations, along with some major challenges, are highlighted. Lessons include the need for donors and supporters of CDD, including governments, to think of the process beyond the project, and of transformation or transition rather than exit. Donor push and community pull factors need to be balanced to prevent "supply-driven, demand-driven development." Overall, capacity is pivotal to successful CDD and its successful scaling-up over time. Capacity is more than simply resources, however; it also includes motivation and commitment, which, in turn, require appropriate incentives at all levels. Capacity development takes time and resources, but it is an essential upfront and ongoing investment, with the capacity and commitment of facilitators and local leaders being particularly important. A "learning by doing" culture -- one that values adaptation, flexibility, and openness to change -- needs to be fostered at all levels, with time horizons adjusted accordingly. The building of a library of well-documented, context-specific experiences through good monitoring, evaluation, and operational research will be useful in advocating for improvements in the contextual environment. Ultimately, for CDD to be sustained, it should be anchored within existing contextual systems (government), frameworks (e.g., PRSP), and processes (decentralization), even where these are imperfect." -- Author's Abstract
Community empowerment and scaling-up in urban areas
Garrett, James L.. Washington, D.C. 2004
Garrett, James L.. Washington, D.C. 2004
Abstract | PDF (190.7 KB)
CARE began PROSPECT (Program of Support for Poverty Elimination and Community Transformation) in 1998. PROSPECT aims to reduce poverty in peri-urban areas of Lusaka. It employs a community-based approach to carry out three types of activities: social empowerment (institution building at the local level), personal empowerment (microfinance), and infrastructure improvement (mostly water supply schemes). PROSPECT has attempted to carry out these activities largely through its support of area-based organizations (ABOs) that now form part of city government. The zone development committees (ZDCs) and residents' development committees (RDCs) are the basic components of the ABO structure. These are community-level representations of municipal government; they are the community's mechanisms for expressing its voice and driving development. PROSPECT is itself an extension of an earlier project, PUSH II (Peri-Urban Self-Help Project). PUSH II and PROSPECT are fundamentally about developing community-based and community-driven development (CDD) mechanisms and strengthening community capacities to identify and respond to community needs. The paper examines the scaling-up experience of PUSH II and PROSPECT, looking especially at the mechanisms of CDD, the ABOs.
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