Women’s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains: Evidence from four countries in Asia and Africa

Women play important roles at different nodes of both agricultural and off-farm value chains, but in many countries their contributions are either underestimated or limited by prevailing societal norms or gender-specific barriers. We use primary data collected in Asia (Bangladesh, Philippines) and A...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Quisumbing, Agnes R., Heckert, Jessica, Faas, Simone, Ramani, Gayathri V., Raghunathan, Kalyani, Malapit, Hazel J., The pro-WEAI for Market Inclusion Study Team, Myers, Emily, Ragasa, Catherine, Seymour, Greg
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Springer 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142575
_version_ 1855538755989929984
author Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Heckert, Jessica
Faas, Simone
Ramani, Gayathri V.
Raghunathan, Kalyani
Malapit, Hazel J.
The pro-WEAI for Market Inclusion Study Team
Myers, Emily
Ragasa, Catherine
Seymour, Greg
author_browse Faas, Simone
Heckert, Jessica
Malapit, Hazel J.
Myers, Emily
Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Ragasa, Catherine
Raghunathan, Kalyani
Ramani, Gayathri V.
Seymour, Greg
The pro-WEAI for Market Inclusion Study Team
author_facet Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Heckert, Jessica
Faas, Simone
Ramani, Gayathri V.
Raghunathan, Kalyani
Malapit, Hazel J.
The pro-WEAI for Market Inclusion Study Team
Myers, Emily
Ragasa, Catherine
Seymour, Greg
author_sort Quisumbing, Agnes R.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Women play important roles at different nodes of both agricultural and off-farm value chains, but in many countries their contributions are either underestimated or limited by prevailing societal norms or gender-specific barriers. We use primary data collected in Asia (Bangladesh, Philippines) and Africa (Benin, Malawi) to examine the relationships between women’s empowerment, gender equality, and participation in a variety of local agricultural value chains that comprise the food system. We find that the value chain and the specific node of engagement matter, as do other individual and household characteristics, but in different ways depending on country context. Entrepreneurship—often engaged in by wealthier households with greater ability to take risks—is not necessarily empowering for women; nor is household wealth, as proxied by their asset ownership. Increased involvement in the market is not necessarily correlated with greater gender equality. Education is positively correlated with higher empowerment of both men and women, but the strength of this association varies. Training and extension services are generally positively associated with empowerment but could also exacerbate the inequality in empowerment between men and women in the same household. All in all, culture and context determine whether participation in value chains—and which node of the value chain—is empowering. In designing food systems interventions, care should be taken to consider the social and cultural contexts in which these food systems operate, so that interventions do not exacerbate existing gender inequalities.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace142575
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher Springer
publisherStr Springer
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1425752025-12-08T10:06:44Z Women’s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains: Evidence from four countries in Asia and Africa Quisumbing, Agnes R. Heckert, Jessica Faas, Simone Ramani, Gayathri V. Raghunathan, Kalyani Malapit, Hazel J. The pro-WEAI for Market Inclusion Study Team Myers, Emily Ragasa, Catherine Seymour, Greg gender women's empowerment gender equality agricultural value chains empowerment food systems women Women play important roles at different nodes of both agricultural and off-farm value chains, but in many countries their contributions are either underestimated or limited by prevailing societal norms or gender-specific barriers. We use primary data collected in Asia (Bangladesh, Philippines) and Africa (Benin, Malawi) to examine the relationships between women’s empowerment, gender equality, and participation in a variety of local agricultural value chains that comprise the food system. We find that the value chain and the specific node of engagement matter, as do other individual and household characteristics, but in different ways depending on country context. Entrepreneurship—often engaged in by wealthier households with greater ability to take risks—is not necessarily empowering for women; nor is household wealth, as proxied by their asset ownership. Increased involvement in the market is not necessarily correlated with greater gender equality. Education is positively correlated with higher empowerment of both men and women, but the strength of this association varies. Training and extension services are generally positively associated with empowerment but could also exacerbate the inequality in empowerment between men and women in the same household. All in all, culture and context determine whether participation in value chains—and which node of the value chain—is empowering. In designing food systems interventions, care should be taken to consider the social and cultural contexts in which these food systems operate, so that interventions do not exacerbate existing gender inequalities. 2021-09-03 2024-05-22T12:10:42Z 2024-05-22T12:10:42Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142575 en Open Access Springer Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Heckert, Jessica; Faas, Simone; Ramani, Gayathri V.; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Malapit, Hazel J.; and The pro-WEAI for Market Inclusion Study Team. Women’s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains: Evidence from four countries in Asia and Africa. Food Security 13: 1101-1124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01193-5
spellingShingle gender
women's empowerment
gender equality
agricultural value chains
empowerment
food systems
women
Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Heckert, Jessica
Faas, Simone
Ramani, Gayathri V.
Raghunathan, Kalyani
Malapit, Hazel J.
The pro-WEAI for Market Inclusion Study Team
Myers, Emily
Ragasa, Catherine
Seymour, Greg
Women’s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains: Evidence from four countries in Asia and Africa
title Women’s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains: Evidence from four countries in Asia and Africa
title_full Women’s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains: Evidence from four countries in Asia and Africa
title_fullStr Women’s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains: Evidence from four countries in Asia and Africa
title_full_unstemmed Women’s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains: Evidence from four countries in Asia and Africa
title_short Women’s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains: Evidence from four countries in Asia and Africa
title_sort women s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains evidence from four countries in asia and africa
topic gender
women's empowerment
gender equality
agricultural value chains
empowerment
food systems
women
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142575
work_keys_str_mv AT quisumbingagnesr womensempowermentandgenderequalityinagriculturalvaluechainsevidencefromfourcountriesinasiaandafrica
AT heckertjessica womensempowermentandgenderequalityinagriculturalvaluechainsevidencefromfourcountriesinasiaandafrica
AT faassimone womensempowermentandgenderequalityinagriculturalvaluechainsevidencefromfourcountriesinasiaandafrica
AT ramanigayathriv womensempowermentandgenderequalityinagriculturalvaluechainsevidencefromfourcountriesinasiaandafrica
AT raghunathankalyani womensempowermentandgenderequalityinagriculturalvaluechainsevidencefromfourcountriesinasiaandafrica
AT malapithazelj womensempowermentandgenderequalityinagriculturalvaluechainsevidencefromfourcountriesinasiaandafrica
AT theproweaiformarketinclusionstudyteam womensempowermentandgenderequalityinagriculturalvaluechainsevidencefromfourcountriesinasiaandafrica
AT myersemily womensempowermentandgenderequalityinagriculturalvaluechainsevidencefromfourcountriesinasiaandafrica
AT ragasacatherine womensempowermentandgenderequalityinagriculturalvaluechainsevidencefromfourcountriesinasiaandafrica
AT seymourgreg womensempowermentandgenderequalityinagriculturalvaluechainsevidencefromfourcountriesinasiaandafrica