Farm Decision Making and Gender: Results from a Randomized Experiment in Ecuador

Abstract

Substantial resources have been devoted to mitigating the asset gender gap in developing country agriculture. Efforts have been taken to understand the role of women in decision making and in farm operations. Recommendations for best practices in eliciting information on women's roles have emphasized the importance of sex-disaggregated data collection and analysis. Collection of sex-disaggregated data is not straightforward and careful attention to context is needed. In Ecuador's highlands, chemical use in agriculture is widespread, and outreach and training programs to reduce this use are essential. These programs should target the appropriate decision makers. This paper presents results from a field experiment conducted in the Ecuador highlands where responding farm households are randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: (i) a male respondent, (ii) a female respondent, and (iii) both adult male and female respondents (interviewed separately, but with knowledge that the other would also be interviewed). We assess whether treatment assignment affects responses to questions about decision making and responsibility for agricultural activities.Perceptions about household decision making and who is responsible for agricultural activities vary substantially by type of respondent. Men are more likely to claim sole responsibility; women are more likely to claim responsibility or that decisions are jointly made. In households where both man and woman were interviewed (separately) we found stark differences in responses about responsibilities, with men claiming sole responsibility at higher rates. Interviewing both members led to less divergence in responses, but large differences in perceptions about responsibilities remain when both are interviewed. Best interviewing practices depend on the type of information needed: for precise quantification of gender roles, complex methods may be necessary, but where qualitative information is sufficient, single-member interviews may be sufficient. Keywords:Women's decisionmaking, survey design, randomized control trial, integrated pest management, Ecuador. 3 Highlights:Household decision makers should be targeted in pesticide education programs, yet no solid guidance exists for identifying these decision makers Randomized survey experiment uncovers information about how survey design affects responses about decision making and responsibilities Women and men have different perceptions about decision making, but interviewing both in the same household does not solve the problem More research is needed on how to measure gender roles in household decision making 4 Acknowledgements

Gendered reporting of household dynamics in the Kenyan dairy sector: trends and implications for low emissions dairy development

“…Perhaps, this is due to differences in the perception of the decision-making itself, where women view decision-making more as a collaborative process and men defining decision-makers as 'who has the final say'. These results align with a new intra-household study on decision-making and gender from Ecuador (Alwang, Larochelle, & Barrera, 2017) that found women were more likely to report joint decision-making on chemical use in agriculture than men. Because enumerators administered the survey in the local language, Kalenjin, it is possible that developmentalist assumptions associated with 'control' (individual vs. collective decision-making) may not have resonated with survey respondents.…”

What does it Mean to Make a ‘Joint’ Decision? Unpacking Intra-household Decision Making in Agriculture: Implications for Policy and Practice

“…Similar to other studies (Ambler et al, 2017;Deere & Twyman, 2012;Ghuman et al, 2006;Leigh et al, 2017), the survey found that a large percentage of couples reported differing perceptions on consumption decisions (48.8% of households) and decisions on adoption of CSA practices (59.3% of households). Except for decisions on food expenses, men tended to report lower levels of women's participation in decision-making (either individually or joint) compared to women's reports, a pattern that has been also found in other regions (Alwang, Larochelle, & Barrera, 2017;Ambler et al, 2017;Twyman et al, 2015). The qualitative findings from this study appear to support the previously posed hypothesis that these differences may derive from discrepant understands of what constitutes being part of a decision (see, for example, Ambler et al, 2017;Ghuman et al, 2006).…”

Understanding rural household behavior: Beyond Boserup and Becker

“…Two other papers randomly assign households to survey arms where different household members are interviewed. One study in Ecuador uses three approaches: interview only the husband, interview only the wife, and interview both husband and wife separately, with each knowing that the other will be interviewed (Alwang, Larochelle, & Barrera, ). They find that men and women have very different responses regarding their responsibilities for decisions on pest and farm management.…”