Gender and Agriculture : Inefficiencies, Segregation, and Low Productivity Traps

Croppenstedt, Andre ; Goldstein, Markus ; Rosas, Nina

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO LAND;    ACCESS TO RESOURCES;    AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT;    AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS;    AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6370
RP-ID  :  WPS6370

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Women make essential contributions toagriculture in developing countries, where they constituteapproximately 43 percent of the agricultural labor force.However, female farmers typically have lower output per unitof land and are much less likely to be active in commercialfarming than their male counterparts. These genderdifferences in land productivity and participation betweenmale and female farmers are due to gender differences inaccess to inputs, resources, and services. In this paper,the authors review the evidence on productivity differencesand access to resources. They discuss some of the reasonsfor these differences, such as differences in propertyrights, education, control over resources (e.g., land),access to inputs and services (e.g., fertilizer, extension,and credit), and social norms. Although women are lessactive in commercial farming and are largely excluded fromcontract farming, they often provide the bulk of wage laborin the nontraditional export sector. In general, gender gapsdo not appear to fall systematically with growth, and theyappear to rise with GDP per capita and with greater accessto resources and inputs. Active policies that supportwomen's access and participation, not just greateroverall access, are essential if these gaps are to beclosed. The gains in terms of greater productivity of landand overall production are likely to be large.