IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/eurjdr/v33y2021i3d10.1057_s41287-020-00281-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From Working in the Fields to Taking Control. Towards a Typology of Women's Decision-Making in Wheat in India

Author

Listed:
  • Cathy Rozel Farnworth

    (Pandia Consulting)

  • Tahseen Jafry

    (Glasgow Caledonian University)

  • Preeti Bharati
  • Lone Badstue

    (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT))

  • Ashok Yadav

    (Ananya Finance)

Abstract

Women in India perform a range of roles in wheat-based agricultural systems. However, data remain sparse. Cultural norms which construct men as farmers serve to conceal women’s contributions from researchers and rural advisory services. We use data from communities in four Indian states, selected to exemplify high and low gender gaps, to provide insights into how women are challenging norms which privilege male decision-making in order to participate in innovation processes. We hypothesized the transitioning of women from labourers in wheat to innovators and managers of wheat is likely to be far from straightforward. We further hypothesized that women are actively managing the processes unleashed by various sources of change. We use the concept of doxa—ideas and actions in a society that are taken for granted and are beyond questioning—as an analytic lens to help us understand the ways in which women deploy their agency to secure their goals. Our analysis allows us to develop a ‘A typology of women’s strategies to strengthen their managerial decision-making power in wheat’.

Suggested Citation

  • Cathy Rozel Farnworth & Tahseen Jafry & Preeti Bharati & Lone Badstue & Ashok Yadav, 2021. "From Working in the Fields to Taking Control. Towards a Typology of Women's Decision-Making in Wheat in India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(3), pages 526-552, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:33:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1057_s41287-020-00281-0
    DOI: 10.1057/s41287-020-00281-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41287-020-00281-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41287-020-00281-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. H. Peyton Young, 2015. "The Evolution of Social Norms," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 359-387, August.
    2. Nitya Rao, 2012. "Male ‘Providers’ and Female ‘Housewives’: A Gendered Co-performance in Rural North India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(5), pages 1025-1048, September.
    3. Petesch, Patti & Badstue, Lone & Camfield, Laura & Feldman, Shelley & Prain, Gordon & Kantor, Paula, 2018. "Qualitative, comparative, and collaborative research at large scale: The GENNOVATE field methodology," Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security (Agri-Gender), Africa Centre for Gender, Social Research and Impact Assessment, vol. 3(01), September.
    4. Isabelle Guérin, 2013. "Bonded labour, agrarian changes and capitalism : emerging patterns in South India," Post-Print ird-01473377, HAL.
    5. Supriya Garikipati, 2008. "Agricultural wage work, seasonal migration and the widening gender gap: evidence from a semi-arid region of Andhra Pradesh," The European Journal of Development Research, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 629-648.
    6. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    7. Agarwal, Bina, 1997. "Bargaining and gender relations: within and beyond the household," FCND discussion papers 27, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Bina Agarwal, 1997. "''Bargaining'' and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1-51.
    9. Badstue, Lone & Petesch, Patti & Feldman, Shelley & Prain, Gordon & Elias, Marlene & Kanotr, Paula, 2018. "Qualitative, comparative, and collaborative research at large scale: An introduction to GENNOVATE," Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security (Agri-Gender), Africa Centre for Gender, Social Research and Impact Assessment, vol. 3(01), September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cathy Rozel Farnworth & Tahseen Jafry & Preeti Bharati & Lone Badstue & Ashok Yadav, 0. "From Working in the Fields to Taking Control. Towards a Typology of Women's Decision-Making in Wheat in India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 0, pages 1-27.
    2. Rao, Nitya, 2017. "Assets, Agency and Legitimacy: Towards a Relational Understanding of Gender Equality Policy and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 43-54.
    3. Bergolo, Marcelo & Galván, Estefanía, 2018. "Intra-household Behavioral Responses to Cash Transfer Programs. Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 100-118.
    4. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zhang, Zhengfeng, 2019. "The role of land tenure security in promoting rural women’s empowerment: Empirical evidence from rural China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 280-289.
    5. Rama Lionel Ngenzebuke & Bram De Rock & Philip Verwimp, 2018. "The power of the family: kinship and intra-household decision making in rural Burundi," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 323-346, June.
    6. Boulier, Bryan & Emran, M. Shahe & Hoque, Nazmul, 2021. "Access to Credit, Education, and Women’s Say in the Household: Evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 109009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Alexandra Peralta, 2022. "The role of men and women in agriculture and agricultural decisions in Vanuatu," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 59-80, January.
    8. Susana Martínez-Restrepo & Laura Ramos-Jaimes & Alma Espino & Martin Valdivia & Johanna Yancari Cueva, 2017. "Measuring women’s economic empowerment: Critical lessons from South America," INFORMES DE INVESTIGACIÓN 015825, FEDESARROLLO.
    9. Sara Ratna Qanti & Alexandra Peralta & Di Zeng, 2022. "Social norms and perceptions drive women’s participation in agricultural decisions in West Java, Indonesia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 645-662, June.
    10. Supriya Garikipati, 2011. "Microcredit and Women’s Empowerment: Through the Lens of Time Use Data from Rural India," Working Papers CEB 11-034, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. Ebelechukwu Maduekwe & Gertrud Buchenrieder, 2023. "The effect of negative human recognition on farmland access and well‐being: Evidence from women farmers in Malawi," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 112-133, February.
    12. Hazel Jean L. Malapit & Esha Sraboni & Agnes R. Quisumbing & Akhter U. Ahmed, 2019. "Intrahousehold empowerment gaps in agriculture and children's well‐being in Bangladesh," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(2), pages 176-203, March.
    13. Almamy Sylla & Jummai Othniel Yila & Sory Diallo & Sékou Traoré, 2023. "Importance of the Social Structures in Cowpea Varietal Demands for Women and Men Farmers in Segou Region, Mali," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    14. Els Lecoutere & Lan Chu, 2024. "Supporting women's empowerment by changing intra‐household decision‐making: A mixed‐methods analysis of a field experiment in rural south‐west Tanzania," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 42(3), May.
    15. Mishra, Khushbu & Sam, Abdoul G., 2016. "Does Women’s Land Ownership Promote Their Empowerment? Empirical Evidence from Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 360-371.
    16. Choudhuri, Pallavi & Desai, Sonalde, 2020. "Gender inequalities and household fuel choice in India," MPRA Paper 110340, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Cathy Rozel Farnworth & Tahseen Jafry & Kanchan Lama & Sushila Chatterjee Nepali & Lone B. Badstue, 2019. "From Working in the Wheat Field to Managing Wheat: Women Innovators in Nepal," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(2), pages 293-313, April.
    18. Suma Scaria, 2014. "A Dictated Space? Women and Their Well-being in a Kerala Village," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 421-449, October.
    19. Birhanu Megersa Lenjiso & Jeroen Smits & Ruerd Ruben, 2016. "Smallholder Milk Market Participation and Intra-household Time Allocation in Ethiopia," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 28(5), pages 808-825, November.
    20. Sarah Eissler & Jessica Heckert & Emily Myers & Greg Seymour & Sheela Sinharoy & Kathryn Yount, 2022. "Measuring Women's Empowerment: Gender and Time‐use Agency in Benin, Malawi and Nigeria," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(5), pages 1010-1034, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:33:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1057_s41287-020-00281-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.