Women’s empowerment in agriculture: level, inequality, progress, and impact on productivity and efficiency

Anik, A. R. and Rahman, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0391-6191 (2021) Women’s empowerment in agriculture: level, inequality, progress, and impact on productivity and efficiency. The Journal of Development Studies, 57 (6). pp. 930-948. ISSN 0022-0388 doi: 10.1080/00220388.2020.1817393

Abstract/Summary

This paper examines level, inequality, and change in women’s empowerment in agriculture and its impact on crop productivity and efficiency using a nationally representative Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) of 5,780 and 6,195 households from the same villages in Bangladesh in 2012 and 2015 conducted by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Results reveal that although women’s empowerment score increased significantly from 0.64 to 0.73 between 2012 to 2015, only the top 40 per cent of households have an adequate level of women’s empowerment in agriculture, that is, scored above the threshold level of 0.80. The gender-gap in empowerment also reduced significantly from 0.23 to 0.20 during the same period. Female labour input significantly increases productivity. Both women’s empowerment in agriculture and a reduction in the gender-gap in empowerment significantly increase production efficiency as expected. Efficiency is significantly lower in the Feed the Future Zone. However, female labour use and female education significantly reduce efficiency although the effects are relatively small. The findings argue for policies specifically targeting women to enhance women’s empowerment in agriculture and reduce the gender-gap in empowerment.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/104236
Identification Number/DOI	10.1080/00220388.2020.1817393
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development > Department of Agri-Food Economics & Marketing
Publisher	Taylor & Francis
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