Are there “women’s crops”? A new tool for gender and agriculture

Abstract

A “Gender Control Tool” was developed to measure women’s control over
decision-making for agricultural production, sales, and use of income. The
tool was tested for groundnuts in Eastern Province, Zambia, where
mechanisation has increased male participation in groundnut shelling,
and for goats in Gwanda district, Zimbabwe, where the introduction of
auctions has increased investment and sales. A mixed methods
approach was used, that involved focus group discussions (FGDs) and a
quantitative household survey. This article compares the results
obtained from these two methods and discusses the strengths and
weaknesses of the tool in understanding how commercialisation affects
women’s control