Gender bias in customer perceptions: The case of agro-input dealers in Uganda

Faced with incomplete and imperfect information, economic actors rely predominantly on perceptions and often base decisions on heuristics prone to bias. Gender bias in perceptions favoring men has been found in a wide variety of settings and may be an important reason why some sectors remain dominat...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: de, Anusha, Miehe, Caroline, Van Campenhout, Bjorn
Formato: Ponencia
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/136914
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author de, Anusha
Miehe, Caroline
Van Campenhout, Bjorn
author_browse Miehe, Caroline
Van Campenhout, Bjorn
de, Anusha
author_facet de, Anusha
Miehe, Caroline
Van Campenhout, Bjorn
author_sort de, Anusha
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Faced with incomplete and imperfect information, economic actors rely predominantly on perceptions and often base decisions on heuristics prone to bias. Gender bias in perceptions favoring men has been found in a wide variety of settings and may be an important reason why some sectors remain dominated by men, and gender gaps in terms of benefits persist. Using ratings of agro-input dealers provided by smallholder farmers in their vicinity, we test if farmers perceive male-managed agro-input shops differently than agro-input shops managed by women. After explicitly controlling for quality differences between male- and female-managed agroinput shops and including fixed effects to account for farmer-level heterogeneity, we find that farmers rate male-managed agro-input outlets higher on a range of attributes related to the dealership in general, as well as on the quality of inputs sold by the dealer. Our results show that gender bias in customer perceptions persists and continues to be a severe comparative disadvantage and an important entry barrier for female agro-input dealers. Policies and interventions designed to challenge gender norms and customs are needed to correct this bias.
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publishDate 2023
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spelling CGSpace1369142024-12-20T06:19:39Z Gender bias in customer perceptions: The case of agro-input dealers in Uganda de, Anusha Miehe, Caroline Van Campenhout, Bjorn gender agriculture research gender relations Faced with incomplete and imperfect information, economic actors rely predominantly on perceptions and often base decisions on heuristics prone to bias. Gender bias in perceptions favoring men has been found in a wide variety of settings and may be an important reason why some sectors remain dominated by men, and gender gaps in terms of benefits persist. Using ratings of agro-input dealers provided by smallholder farmers in their vicinity, we test if farmers perceive male-managed agro-input shops differently than agro-input shops managed by women. After explicitly controlling for quality differences between male- and female-managed agroinput shops and including fixed effects to account for farmer-level heterogeneity, we find that farmers rate male-managed agro-input outlets higher on a range of attributes related to the dealership in general, as well as on the quality of inputs sold by the dealer. Our results show that gender bias in customer perceptions persists and continues to be a severe comparative disadvantage and an important entry barrier for female agro-input dealers. Policies and interventions designed to challenge gender norms and customs are needed to correct this bias. 2023-10-10 2024-01-04T12:46:20Z 2024-01-04T12:46:20Z Presentation https://hdl.handle.net/10568/136914 en Limited Access Katholieke Universiteit Leuven de, Anusha; Miehe, Caroline; Campenhout, Bjorn van. 2023. Gender bias in customer perceptions: The case of agro-input dealers in Uganda. Presentation. Presented at the CGIAR GENDER Conference 'From Research to Impact: Towards just and resilient agri-food systems', New Delhi, India, 9-12 October 2023. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
spellingShingle gender
agriculture
research
gender relations
de, Anusha
Miehe, Caroline
Van Campenhout, Bjorn
Gender bias in customer perceptions: The case of agro-input dealers in Uganda
title Gender bias in customer perceptions: The case of agro-input dealers in Uganda
title_full Gender bias in customer perceptions: The case of agro-input dealers in Uganda
title_fullStr Gender bias in customer perceptions: The case of agro-input dealers in Uganda
title_full_unstemmed Gender bias in customer perceptions: The case of agro-input dealers in Uganda
title_short Gender bias in customer perceptions: The case of agro-input dealers in Uganda
title_sort gender bias in customer perceptions the case of agro input dealers in uganda
topic gender
agriculture
research
gender relations
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/136914
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AT miehecaroline genderbiasincustomerperceptionsthecaseofagroinputdealersinuganda
AT vancampenhoutbjorn genderbiasincustomerperceptionsthecaseofagroinputdealersinuganda