Empowerment unveiled: Gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam

Gender equality and women's empowerment are key global agendas, yet women often face marginalization compared to men. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions (NSAs) often aim to benefit women but their impacts on women's empowerment remain unclear. This study focuses on: 1) assessing the empow...

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Autores principales: Nguyen Thi, Lan Thuy, van den Berg, Marrit, Stomph, TjeerdJan, Nabuuma, Deborah, Kramer, Berber
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier BV 2026
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179303
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author Nguyen Thi, Lan Thuy
van den Berg, Marrit
Stomph, TjeerdJan
Nabuuma, Deborah
Kramer, Berber
author_browse Kramer, Berber
Nabuuma, Deborah
Nguyen Thi, Lan Thuy
Stomph, TjeerdJan
van den Berg, Marrit
author_facet Nguyen Thi, Lan Thuy
van den Berg, Marrit
Stomph, TjeerdJan
Nabuuma, Deborah
Kramer, Berber
author_sort Nguyen Thi, Lan Thuy
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Gender equality and women's empowerment are key global agendas, yet women often face marginalization compared to men. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions (NSAs) often aim to benefit women but their impacts on women's empowerment remain unclear. This study focuses on: 1) assessing the empowerment levels of women and men from three ethnic minorities in rural northern Vietnam (Thai, H'Mong and Dao) with the Project-level women's empowerment in agriculture index (Pro-WEAI); 2) examining the potential of NSA to improve women's empowerment during COVID-19 pandemic; and 3) applying an intersectional lens by analyzing how empowerment and treatment effects vary by ethnic subgroups. We conducted a Randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving around 600 rural households from 36 clusters that were randomly assigned to one of the following three treatment arms: receiving agriculture and nutrition training; receiving seed provision on top of the training; and a control group. We found that both men and women experienced disempowerment, due to ethnicity and systemic ethnical marginalization. While no significant gender discrimination in resource access was found, women faced limited mobility, overburdened workload and diminished agencies. Empowerment experiences varied across ethnicities. The NSAs improved women's mobility and group membership, yet carried different implications across ethnicities, potentially due to the interaction between the intervention, initial contextual conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, NSAs alone cannot achieve structural empowerment. Meaningful and lasting empowerment requires integrated approaches that address interconnected social, political, and cultural factors.
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spelling CGSpace1793032026-01-02T14:19:30Z Empowerment unveiled: Gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam Nguyen Thi, Lan Thuy van den Berg, Marrit Stomph, TjeerdJan Nabuuma, Deborah Kramer, Berber agriculture agricultura gender equity equidad de género igualdad social families social equality agencies relación intrafamiliar Gender equality and women's empowerment are key global agendas, yet women often face marginalization compared to men. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions (NSAs) often aim to benefit women but their impacts on women's empowerment remain unclear. This study focuses on: 1) assessing the empowerment levels of women and men from three ethnic minorities in rural northern Vietnam (Thai, H'Mong and Dao) with the Project-level women's empowerment in agriculture index (Pro-WEAI); 2) examining the potential of NSA to improve women's empowerment during COVID-19 pandemic; and 3) applying an intersectional lens by analyzing how empowerment and treatment effects vary by ethnic subgroups. We conducted a Randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving around 600 rural households from 36 clusters that were randomly assigned to one of the following three treatment arms: receiving agriculture and nutrition training; receiving seed provision on top of the training; and a control group. We found that both men and women experienced disempowerment, due to ethnicity and systemic ethnical marginalization. While no significant gender discrimination in resource access was found, women faced limited mobility, overburdened workload and diminished agencies. Empowerment experiences varied across ethnicities. The NSAs improved women's mobility and group membership, yet carried different implications across ethnicities, potentially due to the interaction between the intervention, initial contextual conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, NSAs alone cannot achieve structural empowerment. Meaningful and lasting empowerment requires integrated approaches that address interconnected social, political, and cultural factors. 2026-02 2025-12-28T08:59:42Z 2025-12-28T08:59:42Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179303 en Open Access application/pdf Elsevier BV Nguyen Thi, L.T.; van den Berg, M.; Stomph, T.; Nabuuma, D.; Kramer, B. (2025) Empowerment unveiled: Gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam. Journal of Rural Studies 122: 103948. ISSN: 0743-0167
spellingShingle agriculture
agricultura
gender equity
equidad de género
igualdad social
families
social equality
agencies
relación intrafamiliar
Nguyen Thi, Lan Thuy
van den Berg, Marrit
Stomph, TjeerdJan
Nabuuma, Deborah
Kramer, Berber
Empowerment unveiled: Gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam
title Empowerment unveiled: Gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam
title_full Empowerment unveiled: Gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam
title_fullStr Empowerment unveiled: Gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam
title_full_unstemmed Empowerment unveiled: Gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam
title_short Empowerment unveiled: Gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam
title_sort empowerment unveiled gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern vietnam
topic agriculture
agricultura
gender equity
equidad de género
igualdad social
families
social equality
agencies
relación intrafamiliar
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179303
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