Gender, Assets, and Agricultural Development: Lessons from Eight Projects

Johnson, Nancy L.; Kovarik, Chiara; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Njuki, Jemimah; Quisumbing, Agnes R.

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.01.009

Cited by 162 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Similar to the results of previous studies, it is clear that having a crossbreed dairy cow increases the labor time of household members, for both men and women (Johnson et al 2016). However, our results, as well as those of other studies (Bergman Lodin et al 2012;Malapit et al 2014;Bain et al 2016), confirm that time poverty is gendered in Uganda.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…However, they also found several dimensions of women's empowerment where women's roles were reduced, including control over their own earnings and purchases, and their study found a disproportionate increase in men's assets compared with women's increases in cases of joint ownership or sole ownership of assets. Among these studies, one key finding has been that the increased feed and health needs of crossbreed and exotic livestock increase demands on both men and women's time (Johnson et al 2016citing Quisumbing et al 2015. Our paper builds on these studies by including an analysis of crossbreed cow's demand for water and its implications for men, women, and children's time.…”

Section: Context Of This Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cattle as technological interventions: The gender effects of water demand in dairy production in Uganda

Ransom

Bain

Bal

et al. 2017

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Smallholder dairy production dominates the country of Uganda, with over 90% of the national herd owned by smallholders. To reduce hunger, malnutrition, and raise families out of poverty agricultural development, interventions in Uganda have focused on increasing milk production through the introduction of improved dairy cow breeds. Development actors, such as the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) program in Uganda, see crossbreed dairy cows as a key technological intervention for improving production. Drawing on a multi-method study (spatial analysis, surveys, and qualitative interviews) of dairy smallholders, our paper examines the gendered effects of the introduction of crossbreed dairy cows. To ensure peak performance, improved breeds require more inputs (e.g., water, feed, and medicine), which are labor and time intensive with specific gendered outcomes. Our findings reveal that both men and women identify fetching water as one of the greatest challenges in maintaining dairy cows, but women and children disproportionately fetch the water and women have higher reported rates of time poverty. Water quality is also an issue, with smallholders struggling to provide clean water to cows, and our basic water testing reveals water sources with high nitrate levels that can be harmful for children and dairy cows.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Context Of This Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cattle as technological interventions: The gender effects of water demand in dairy production in Uganda

Ransom

Bain

Bal

et al. 2017

FACETS

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“…Studies in developing countries show that women's work is undercounted in standard surveys, income contributions of women are undervalued, and women's roles in agricultural decision making are underappreciated (Dixon-Mueller & Anker, 1988;Fisher et al, 2010;Twyman, Useche & Deere, 2015). Underestimating women's work and contribution to household full income will lead to overestimate the benefits of activities that increase income but also increase women's workload (Johnson et al 2016). By under-estimating women's roles, surveys lead program designers to focus asset accumulation activities toward men and ignore potential efficiencies from a gender-inclusive approach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2017

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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

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“…IFPRI did not recommend the types of strategies implemented by the projects in GAAP. Contrary to Garcia and Wanner's statement (p. 1095) that BThe GAAP report stipulates that the approaches used by the project implementers utilizing agricultural assets are in line with IFPRI's goals and agendas concerning gender and agricultural development (Johnson et al 2015(Johnson et al , 2016^that source states that the projects being evaluated Btook diverse approaches to gender-ranging from gender blind to gender transformative ( Johnson et al 2015:1). The intention was to learn how different types of interventions addressed the gender asset gap, rather than to endorse any of these strategies ex ante.…”

Section: Comments On Methodologymentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Upon finding out about these incidents through the IFPRI impact evaluation, the project implemented a community-based intervention to raise awareness among men and engage them in helping to address the problem. This is mentioned in the Johnson et al (2015) paper, but was omitted by Garcia and Wanner.…”

Section: Comments On Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Response to Garcia and Wanner “gender inequality and food security: lessons for the gender-responsive work of the international food policy research institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” Food Security (2017) 9:1091–1103

Meinzen-Dick

Quisumbing

2018

Food Sec.

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EditorialThe paper by Garcia and Wanner reviews examples of genderresponsive research and programming from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to discuss those genderresponsive approaches which are most successful for achieving women’s empowerment in agricultural development. It notes accomplishments and points out some shortcomings for both organizations to address. Although the objectives of the paper are worthwhile, we note important problems regarding methodology used, factual errors, and misrepresentation.ISI; GAAP; Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture IndexEPTD; PHNDNon-P

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Gender, Assets, and Agricultural Development: Lessons from Eight Projects

Cited by 162 publications

References 29 publications

Cattle as technological interventions: The gender effects of water demand in dairy production in Uganda

Cattle as technological interventions: The gender effects of water demand in dairy production in Uganda

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

Response to Garcia and Wanner “gender inequality and food security: lessons for the gender-responsive work of the international food policy research institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” Food Security (2017) 9:1091–1103

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