Towards being equal to them: Impact of organic certified production systems on women empowerment in agriculture

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the degree of women empowerment in agriculture as well as examine the effect of organic certification and other socio-economic and cultural factors on women empowerment in agriculture in Kenya. This objective was achieved using data from peri-urban vegetable and rural honey producing households. It followed the innovative multidimensional measurement of women empowerment in agriculture, and the univariate and multivariate two limit Tobit models was used to assess the determinants of women empowerment. The two limit Tobit models results affirmed the hypothesis that organic certification opens up knowledge space for women empowerment in agriculture in some domains but had more impact among women in vegetable producing households. However, the variation of the degree of women empowerment in agriculture was also influenced by men, women and household socioeconomic and cultural characteristics. Policies geared towards enhancing women's social capital and ownership of assets will improve the women household bargaining power and subsequently women empowerment in Agriculture.