Women’s empowerment through homestead food production in rural Bangladesh
Background: Women in rural Bangladesh face multiple, inter-related challenges including food insecurity, malnutrition, and low levels of empowerment. We aimed to investigate the pathway towards empowerment experienced by women participating in a three-year nutrition-sensitive homestead food producti...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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BioMed Central
2022
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/171487 |
| _version_ | 1855526513362862080 |
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| author | Dupuis, Sarah Hennink, Monique Wendt, Amanda S. Waid, Jillian L. Kalam, Md Abul Gabrysch, Sabine Sinharoy, Sheela S. |
| author_browse | Dupuis, Sarah Gabrysch, Sabine Hennink, Monique Kalam, Md Abul Sinharoy, Sheela S. Waid, Jillian L. Wendt, Amanda S. |
| author_facet | Dupuis, Sarah Hennink, Monique Wendt, Amanda S. Waid, Jillian L. Kalam, Md Abul Gabrysch, Sabine Sinharoy, Sheela S. |
| author_sort | Dupuis, Sarah |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Background: Women in rural Bangladesh face multiple, inter-related challenges including food insecurity, malnutrition, and low levels of empowerment. We aimed to investigate the pathway towards empowerment experienced by women participating in a three-year nutrition-sensitive homestead food production (HFP) program, which was evaluated through the Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM) cluster-randomized controlled trial. Methods: We conducted 44 in-depth interviews and 12 focus group discussions with men and women in both intervention and control communities of the FAARM study site in rural, north-eastern Bangladesh. Using a modified grounded theory approach to data collection and analysis, we developed a framework to explain the pathway towards empowerment among HFP program participants. Results: The analysis and resulting framework identified seven steps towards empowerment: 1) receiving training and materials; 2) establishing home gardens and rearing poultry; 3) experiencing initial success with food production; 4) generating social or financial resources; 5) expanding agency in household decision-making; 6) producing renewable resources (e.g. farm produce) and social resources; and 7) sustaining empowerment. The most meaningful improvements in empowerment occurred among participants who were able to produce food beyond what was needed for household consumption and were able to successfully leverage these surplus resources to gain higher bargaining power in their household. Additionally, women used negotiation skills with their husbands, fostered social support networks with other women, and developed increased self-efficacy and motivation. Meanwhile, the least empowered participants lacked support in critical areas, such as support from their spouses, social support networks, or sufficient space or time to produce enough food to meaningfully increase their contribution and therefore bargaining power within their household. Conclusions: This study developed a novel framework to describe a pathway to empowerment among female participants in an HFP intervention, as implemented in the FAARM trial. These results have implications for the design of future nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions, which should prioritize opportunities to increase empowerment and mitigate the barriers identified in our study. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace171487 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | BioMed Central |
| publisherStr | BioMed Central |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1714872025-02-19T14:31:09Z Women’s empowerment through homestead food production in rural Bangladesh Dupuis, Sarah Hennink, Monique Wendt, Amanda S. Waid, Jillian L. Kalam, Md Abul Gabrysch, Sabine Sinharoy, Sheela S. food production rural areas empowerment women gender women's empowerment food security nutrition malnutrition Background: Women in rural Bangladesh face multiple, inter-related challenges including food insecurity, malnutrition, and low levels of empowerment. We aimed to investigate the pathway towards empowerment experienced by women participating in a three-year nutrition-sensitive homestead food production (HFP) program, which was evaluated through the Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM) cluster-randomized controlled trial. Methods: We conducted 44 in-depth interviews and 12 focus group discussions with men and women in both intervention and control communities of the FAARM study site in rural, north-eastern Bangladesh. Using a modified grounded theory approach to data collection and analysis, we developed a framework to explain the pathway towards empowerment among HFP program participants. Results: The analysis and resulting framework identified seven steps towards empowerment: 1) receiving training and materials; 2) establishing home gardens and rearing poultry; 3) experiencing initial success with food production; 4) generating social or financial resources; 5) expanding agency in household decision-making; 6) producing renewable resources (e.g. farm produce) and social resources; and 7) sustaining empowerment. The most meaningful improvements in empowerment occurred among participants who were able to produce food beyond what was needed for household consumption and were able to successfully leverage these surplus resources to gain higher bargaining power in their household. Additionally, women used negotiation skills with their husbands, fostered social support networks with other women, and developed increased self-efficacy and motivation. Meanwhile, the least empowered participants lacked support in critical areas, such as support from their spouses, social support networks, or sufficient space or time to produce enough food to meaningfully increase their contribution and therefore bargaining power within their household. Conclusions: This study developed a novel framework to describe a pathway to empowerment among female participants in an HFP intervention, as implemented in the FAARM trial. These results have implications for the design of future nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions, which should prioritize opportunities to increase empowerment and mitigate the barriers identified in our study. 2022-12 2025-01-29T12:58:14Z 2025-01-29T12:58:14Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/171487 en Open Access BioMed Central Dupuis, Sarah; Hennink, Monique; Wendt, Amanda S.; Waid, Jillian L.; Kalam, Md Abul; Gabrysch, Sabine; and Sinharoy, Sheela S. 2022. Women’s empowerment through homestead food production in rural Bangladesh. BMC Public Health 22: 134. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12524-2 |
| spellingShingle | food production rural areas empowerment women gender women's empowerment food security nutrition malnutrition Dupuis, Sarah Hennink, Monique Wendt, Amanda S. Waid, Jillian L. Kalam, Md Abul Gabrysch, Sabine Sinharoy, Sheela S. Women’s empowerment through homestead food production in rural Bangladesh |
| title | Women’s empowerment through homestead food production in rural Bangladesh |
| title_full | Women’s empowerment through homestead food production in rural Bangladesh |
| title_fullStr | Women’s empowerment through homestead food production in rural Bangladesh |
| title_full_unstemmed | Women’s empowerment through homestead food production in rural Bangladesh |
| title_short | Women’s empowerment through homestead food production in rural Bangladesh |
| title_sort | women s empowerment through homestead food production in rural bangladesh |
| topic | food production rural areas empowerment women gender women's empowerment food security nutrition malnutrition |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/171487 |
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