Publication:
The Cost of the Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (3.88 MB)
3,018 downloads
English Text (136.11 KB)
178 downloads
Published
2015-10-14
ISSN
Date
2015-10-19
Editor(s)
Abstract
Women comprise a large proportion of the agricultural labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from 30 to 80 percent (FAO 2011). Yet women farmers are consistently found to be less productive than male farmers. The gender gap in agricultural productivity—measured by the value of agricultural produce per unit of cultivated land—ranges from 4 to 25 percent, depending on the country and the crop (World Bank and ONE 2014). This gap exists because women frequently have unequal access to key agricultural inputs such as land, labor, knowledge, fertilizer, and improved seeds. This report estimates the monetary value of the gender gap in agricultural productivity in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Link to Data Set
Citation
UN Women; UNDP; UNEP; World Bank Group. 2015. The Cost of the Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. © UN Women, UNDP, UNEP, and the World Bank Group. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22770 License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO.
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Global Value Chains, Economic Upgrading, and Gender : Case Studies of the Horticulture, Tourism, and Call Center Industries
    (Washington, DC, 2013-01) Staritz, Cornelia; Reis, José Guilherme; Staritz, Cornelia; Reis, José Guilherme
    This document provides a gendered analysis of the horticulture, tourism, and call center global value chains (GVCs), based on a survey of the literature and case studies carried out in Honduras, Kenya, and the Arab Republic of Egypt. The studies focus on export sectors that have had high female employment and have been relatively underexplored from the angle of trade and gender research. The studies show that GVCs and their upgrading dynamics have important gender dimensions, and that integration and upgrading are influenced by, and have an impact on, gender relations. While the conditions and dynamics in the sectors in concern are very different, certain broad conclusions are drawn from the results of the studies. The first is that patterns of job segregation are observed in all case studies, with women being assigned to specific jobs, though the reasons for such segregation differ from sector to sector. The second conclusion is that women face gender-intensified constraints, though their extent and articulation may be quite different, depending on the value chain. The third is that constraints related to women's primary responsibility for reproductive work have been identified as important in all three studies. This social division of labor is deeply embedded in developed and developing countries, but poor infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, heightens this challenge for women in developing countries. This report also suggests appropriate interventions to improve the constraints faced by women.
  • Publication
    Gender Analysis of Aquaculture Value Chain in Northeast Vietnam and Nigeria
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009) Veliu, Atdhe; Gessese, Nebiyeluel; Ragasa, Catherine; Okali, Christine
    The report is an initiative of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department (ARD) of the World Bank. Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food sector in the world and is expected to contribute more than 50 percent of total fish consumption by 2020. Just over 90 percent of aquaculture production originates in Asia, and nearly 70 percent in China alone. Efforts to expand aquaculture production to meet the ever increasing worldwide demand for seafood continue. Although the boom in international demand for shrimp has drawn attention to this sector, the development potential of aquaculture stems partly from the variety of products, production systems, and scales of production it covers. In comparison with the dominance of large-scale coastal aquaculture systems in Latin America, North America, and Europe, the vast majority of aquaculture production in Asia is carried out in rural areas, is integrated into existing farming systems, takes places on a small scale, depends on the cooperation of family members, and involves large numbers of the rural population. Aquaculture is a promising business venture in many contexts, and the private sector drives and plays a major role in this. The aim of this study is to guide two potential World Bank operations in Vietnam and Nigeria with the aquaculture value chain as their focus. This paper describes the specific contexts of Vietnam and Nigeria and recommends concrete project entry points and actions for gender integration, applying the lessons learned from past experiences.
  • Publication
    Engendering Rural Information Systems in Indonesia
    (Washington, DC, 2005-06) World Bank
    There is still a long road ahead before all Indonesian's can benefit from the full potential of ICT. That road seems even longer to rural women. Despite some improvements in access and the rapid deployment of lower cost wireless technologies, not much has changed in rural areas of Indonesia. Infrastructure in rural areas is limited and existing services are expensive and practically outside of rural women's reach. Women still face enormous barriers and access to communications and information relevant to their realities is very limited. This report provides a gender perspective on the status of ICT in rural areas of Indonesia and presents the main findings of our gender analysis. The discussion is illustrated by case studies (see Appendices on p.42) developed by the core team responsible for the preparation of this report and based on the field research.
  • Publication
    Lao PDR - Mapping the Gender Dimensions of Trade : A Preliminary Exposition
    (Washington, DC, 2012-07) World Bank
    The Lao Government has also made important commitments to gender equality in both its national socio-economic development planning and in a number of international agreements. Through mapping the gender dimensions of trade in Lao PDR, this report aims to draw out key inter-linkages between a more open trade policy and gender. Recent export performance in Lao has been strong and mostly driven by hydro-electricity and minerals, which constituted more than half of all exports in 2010 and are predicted to grow even more in the next few years. To better understand the interaction between gender and trade policy, this paper presents a gender mapping exercise for export development in Lao PDR and in this regard presents simple recommendations on how to undertake this type of exercise. The paper is split in two parts: the first sketches out a simple methodological framework that can be used by researchers to do an initial mapping of the inter-relationships between export promotion/trade policy and gender. The second part of the paper is aimed primarily at policy makers. It uses the framework to provide a diagnostic which examines: 1) sectors in Lao with potential for export expansion that could benefit women; 2) gender-based constraints in these sectors which limit their expansion through trade; and 3) potential impacts for women, both positive and negative, from an increase in Lao's natural resource exports.
  • Publication
    The Contribution of African Women to Economic Growth and Development : Historical Perspectives and Policy Implications, Part I, The Pre-colonial and Colonial Periods
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-04) Akyeampong, Emmanuel; Fofack, Hippolyte
    Bringing together history and economics, this paper presents a historical and processual understanding of women's economic marginalization in Sub-Saharan Africa from the pre-colonial period to the end of colonial rule. It is not that women have not been economically active or productive; it is rather that they have often not been able to claim the proceeds of their labor or have it formally accounted for. The paper focuses on the pre-colonial and colonial periods and outlines three major arguments. First, it discusses the historical processes through which the labor of women was increasingly appropriated even in kinship structures in pre-colonial Africa, utilizing the concepts of "rights in persons" and "wealth in people." Reviewing the processes of production and reproduction, it explains why most slaves in pre-colonial Africa were women and discusses how slavery and slave trade intensified the exploitation of women. Second, it analyzes how the cultivation of cash crops and European missionary constructions of the individual, marriage, and family from the early decades of the 19th century sequestered female labor and made it invisible in the realm of domestic production. Third, it discusses how colonial policies from the late 19th century reinforced the "capture" of female labor and the codification of patriarchy through the nature and operation of the colonial economy and the instrumentality of customary law. The sequel to this paper focuses on the post-colonial period. It examines the continuing relevance and impact of the historical processes this paper discusses on post-colonial economies, and suggests some policy implications.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.
  • Publication
    Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022
    (Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank
    The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.
  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.