From the “feminization of agriculture” to gender equality

Is agricultural labour feminizing in South and South East Asia: analysis of Demography and Health Services data on women and work

“…When the husband lives elsewhere, however, the woman engages more in agricultural activities. Our results therefore, confirm that rural out migration of the partner is associated with a greater involvement of women in agriculture in line with Doss et al (2021) pointing to rural out migration as a key driver of feminization of agriculture. However, out migration was only prominent in few of the studied countries, especially in Nepal and to some extent in Cambodia.…”

“…'Feminisation of agriculture' is generally utilized to indicate an expansion of women's engagement (or increased visibility of their engagement) in agricultural production, as labourers or decision-makers. Research on FoA has focused on 1. characterizing the increasing role of women in the agricultural workforce and their capabilities to undertake such role (Tavenner et al, 2019;de Brauw et al, 2021); 2. the drivers behind these changes in women's role and whether they had a say about their involvement (Doss et al, 2021); 3. whether the change in agricultural labour involvement was commensurate with changes in their decision-making about agriculture (Abdelali-Martini et al, 2010) and; 4. outcomes for women of such increased roles in agriculture (Slavchevska et al, 2016;Khatri-Chhetri and Chanana, 2017). Doss et al (2021) and Kawarazuka et al (2022) discuss the complexity of phenomena that the term FoA may entail and the need to appreciate the gendered processes of rural transformation behind it.…”

“…Research on FoA has focused on 1. characterizing the increasing role of women in the agricultural workforce and their capabilities to undertake such role (Tavenner et al, 2019;de Brauw et al, 2021); 2. the drivers behind these changes in women's role and whether they had a say about their involvement (Doss et al, 2021); 3. whether the change in agricultural labour involvement was commensurate with changes in their decision-making about agriculture (Abdelali-Martini et al, 2010) and; 4. outcomes for women of such increased roles in agriculture (Slavchevska et al, 2016;Khatri-Chhetri and Chanana, 2017). Doss et al (2021) and Kawarazuka et al (2022) discuss the complexity of phenomena that the term FoA may entail and the need to appreciate the gendered processes of rural transformation behind it. Understanding changes in the agricultural labour force, its characteristics, needs, constraints and opportunities, can help better target the development of institutional and technological innovations, and of policies so that gendered values and priorities in agriculture are considered.…”