TH1.1: Beyond Household Headship: Examining the Intra-household Decision-Making Process Among Wheat Growers in Bihar, India

Abstract

Agricultural decisions among smallholders are made within the households where in most cases husband and wife discuss, contest, negotiate, or consent to the decisions they make. Comparing male and female-headed households misses these important dynamics of decision-making that are happening inside the households. Likewise, comparing household heads does not consider the role of women who live in male-headed households. This study looks beyond who makes which decisions and the binaries of yes and no responses as a measure for gender dynamics. It disentangles the intra-household aspect of the decision-making process itself and helps understand the "why" behind decisions among wheat growers in two districts of Bihar- Madhepura and Darbhanga. It uses vignettes, or stories, to survey 420 women and men farmers (210 households) to identify the decision patterns across six key activities of wheat farming covering strategic, operational, and financial decisions. The vignettes describe five possible household scenarios by narrating five short stories to individual respondents and showing corresponding graphics for visual aid. Preliminary analysis indicates that patterns between households and gender are not uniform. There are divergent patterns across five vignettes amongst households for women and men's roles. Further, they are found to have different patterns of responses to the same agricultural activities, adding more complexity in the mix. Understanding these dynamics will help design more comprehensive, effective and actionable approaches to gender-intentional interventions in the wheat crop management, including breeding and inclusive seed system development, as it feeds to identify entry points for women's role in agricultural decisions.