Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia

Women’s empowerment is considered a ‘prerequisite’ to achieving global food security. Gender systems, however, are diverse and complex. The nature and extent of gender inequity and the conditions necessary to empower women vary across countries, communities and regions. The study of different gender...

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Autores principales: Akter, Sonia, Rutsaert, Pieter, Luis, Joyce, Htwe, Nyo Me, San, Su Su, Raharjo, Budi, Pustika, Arlyna
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2017
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/165059
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author Akter, Sonia
Rutsaert, Pieter
Luis, Joyce
Htwe, Nyo Me
San, Su Su
Raharjo, Budi
Pustika, Arlyna
author_browse Akter, Sonia
Htwe, Nyo Me
Luis, Joyce
Pustika, Arlyna
Raharjo, Budi
Rutsaert, Pieter
San, Su Su
author_facet Akter, Sonia
Rutsaert, Pieter
Luis, Joyce
Htwe, Nyo Me
San, Su Su
Raharjo, Budi
Pustika, Arlyna
author_sort Akter, Sonia
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Women’s empowerment is considered a ‘prerequisite’ to achieving global food security. Gender systems, however, are diverse and complex. The nature and extent of gender inequity and the conditions necessary to empower women vary across countries, communities and regions. The study of different gender systems is thus fundamental to capture cross-cultural variations in gender specific needs and constraints to effectively address gender gaps. Although the status of women in agriculture has received extensive attention in the literature in recent decades, a research gap persists regarding the state of gender inequity in Southeast Asian agriculture. The current paper contributes to the geographical scope of the literature by presenting empirical evidence of gender inequity from four Southeast Asian countries: Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Using the framework recommended by the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), 37 focus group discussions were conducted with 290 women farmers in the above mentioned countries. The results reveal trends that contradict the conventional narratives of gender inequity in agriculture in certain domains of empowerment. In all four countries, women appear to have equal access to productive resources such as land and inputs, and greater control over household income than men. Important intra-regional heterogeneity is observed in terms of community-level empowerment. While women play an active role in agricultural groups in Thailand and in the Philippines, this is predominantly men’s territory in Indonesia and Myanmar. These findings imply that country-specific gender intervention frameworks are necessary to overcome gender gaps in agriculture
format Journal Article
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institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2017
publishDateRange 2017
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spelling CGSpace1650592024-12-19T14:13:04Z Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia Akter, Sonia Rutsaert, Pieter Luis, Joyce Htwe, Nyo Me San, Su Su Raharjo, Budi Pustika, Arlyna Women’s empowerment is considered a ‘prerequisite’ to achieving global food security. Gender systems, however, are diverse and complex. The nature and extent of gender inequity and the conditions necessary to empower women vary across countries, communities and regions. The study of different gender systems is thus fundamental to capture cross-cultural variations in gender specific needs and constraints to effectively address gender gaps. Although the status of women in agriculture has received extensive attention in the literature in recent decades, a research gap persists regarding the state of gender inequity in Southeast Asian agriculture. The current paper contributes to the geographical scope of the literature by presenting empirical evidence of gender inequity from four Southeast Asian countries: Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Using the framework recommended by the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), 37 focus group discussions were conducted with 290 women farmers in the above mentioned countries. The results reveal trends that contradict the conventional narratives of gender inequity in agriculture in certain domains of empowerment. In all four countries, women appear to have equal access to productive resources such as land and inputs, and greater control over household income than men. Important intra-regional heterogeneity is observed in terms of community-level empowerment. While women play an active role in agricultural groups in Thailand and in the Philippines, this is predominantly men’s territory in Indonesia and Myanmar. These findings imply that country-specific gender intervention frameworks are necessary to overcome gender gaps in agriculture 2017-05 2024-12-19T12:54:39Z 2024-12-19T12:54:39Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/165059 en Open Access Elsevier Akter, Sonia; Rutsaert, Pieter; Luis, Joyce; Htwe, Nyo Me; San, Su Su; Raharjo, Budi and Pustika, Arlyna. 2017. Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia. Food Policy, Volume 69 p. 270-279
spellingShingle Akter, Sonia
Rutsaert, Pieter
Luis, Joyce
Htwe, Nyo Me
San, Su Su
Raharjo, Budi
Pustika, Arlyna
Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia
title Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia
title_full Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia
title_fullStr Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia
title_full_unstemmed Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia
title_short Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia
title_sort women s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture a different perspective from southeast asia
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/165059
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