Gender in market systems and entrepreneurship

Gender in livestock agripreneurship: Implications for inclusive dairy value chain development in Tanzania

Amos Omore
ILRI

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world with more women in entrepreneurship. However, women profit about 30 percent less compared to men and are usually less present in profitable non-producer livestock value chain nodes. To inform policy and strategic intervention for inclusive dairy value chain development, it is imperative to understand how men and women and youths thrive as agripreneurs. To assess both economic and non-economic outcomes (mainly empowerment) of men, women and youth’s involvement in dairy-related businesses, we use data collected from 92 dairy agripreneurs from Kilimanjaro and Tanga regions of Tanzania. We use partial least-squares – structural equilibrium model (PLS-SEM), a non-parametric approach that places fewer limitations on sample size and data distribution, to build hypotheses around cause–effect relationships between the outcomes. Though no significant difference was observed in terms of profitability, our results, revealed that women and comparatively lowly educated agripreneurs scored significantly lower in business sustainability. Our PLS-SEM results revealed significant relationship between indicators that define business structure and empowerment. Moreover, men and women differed in terms of the indicators that significantly defined empowerment in its relationship with indicators of structure and business performance. For instance, ‘work-balance’ was significant for both men and women, but ‘autonomy in income’ was only significant for men, implying the need for varying approaches for supporting the empowerment of men and women agripreneurs. The evidence of the relative importance and interdependence of the indicators serves to inform further causal-link research and initial recommendations for designing inclusive interventions.

Exploring gendered entry points in the goat value chain in Senegal

Simone Faas
IFPRI

The goat value chain (VC) plays an important role in household economics and diets throughout sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Senegal. The resilience of goat production in unpredictable climates suggests the potential for increased importance as climate change effects become more disruptive to traditional food systems and diets. The primary research question of this study is: What is the role of goats and the goat VC for climate resilience, women’s empowerment and improved nutrition in Senegal? By conducting interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with goat VC actors in urban/peri-urban, agricultural and pastoralist areas of Senegal, this study seeks to identify potential entry points for interventions along the VC, especially for women. In June and July 2022, in collaboration with the IFPRI Gender, Climate Change, and Nutrition Integration Initiative, researchers from the Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA) facilitated 12 FGDs (six with men and six with women) across two regions (Niakhar and Louga) and conducted 30 key informant interviews with various goat VC actors in the regions of Dakar, Niakhar and Louga. Preliminary results indicate that more women are becoming engaged in goat rearing and production, becoming owners of the goats they manage and controlling the goat-related incomes. Women have developed climate-resilient strategies, including storing foraging materials during winter and selling goats to purchase food during the hunger season. Supported by USAID, the findings of this study will inform future interventions that aim to enhance women’s engagement in the goat VC, improve household nutrition, and increase women’s empowerment.

Women's participation and empowerment in aquaculture: Mixed-method evidence in Ghana

Sena Amewu 
IFPRI

This paper provides empirical evidence on the processes and strategies of encouraging women’s entrepreneurship, and the impact of women’s entrepreneurship on their empowerment in emerging aquaculture value chains in sub-Saharan Africa. We do this by analyzing two survey rounds with 500 fish-producing households, A-WEAI, 11 in-depth interviews, and 7 focus group discussions of women in six major producing regions in Ghana.
Baseline data show that 9% of fish farm managers/owners were women, and women contributed 16% of labor days. Gender norms persist around aquaculture as men’s work—few women entered aquaculture. Once women entered aquaculture they were, on average, at least as productive and profitable as men.
Women aqua-entrepreneurs were at least as empowered as men aqua-entrepreneurs. Being able to circumvent the gender norm that “aquaculture is men’s work” and start and operate their own aquafarms, these women were empowered to begin with. Their experience in aquaculture had benefited them and empowered them more. Most spouses of men aqua-entrepreneurs were not involved in aquaculture, had a lower empowerment score, and were less likely to be empowered than the women and men aqua-entrepreneurs. Most of them indicated that they would like to get involved in aquaculture as it will generate more income. In this paper we discuss opportunities and strategies to involve more women in fish-producing households, and to encourage new women farmers to enter aquaculture and other aspects of the value chains.

Women’s hidden roles in urban food systems in Dhaka

Farhana Hussain Ibrahim
CIP

Please note that this abstract is pending revision.

Urban food systems are embedded in highly unequal spaces, with layered hierarchies and divisions by class, gender, religion, generation and other social identities. In Bangladesh, urban food systems and associated policies are mainly developed by men from men’s perspectives. Poor women are not excluded but adversely included in the systems as urban food producers, vendors and consumers. Those most marginalized women are hardly seen in the public space in either formal or informal urban food systems, while their voices are muted by the patriarchal system in which the male head of the household is expected to speak on their behalf. This lack of recognition of poor women’s experiences in the urban food systems risks reinforcing gender inequality in the ongoing changes such as urbanization, commercialization and the enforcement of food safety regulations. Drawing on observation and in-depth interviews of (unofficial) women food vendors and food producers in Dhaka city, we explore the roles of poor women in sustaining urban food systems. We present key findings and methodological and conceptual implications of including gender into research design on urban food systems.