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Examining Agency in Agriculture: The Feminization Debate in Nepal
Brief about:
Journal Article (2018)
Written by:
Other researchers:
This study investigates how women exercise agency within gendered patterns of labour and decision-making in citrus-producing households in Sindhuli, Nepal, offering new insights into the feminization of agriculture by analyzing women’s lived experiences across different agricultural domains.
Women’s lived experiences underscore concerns surrounding evolving gender norms, attitudes and practices around agriculture from an agency perspective.
Women have to choose agricultural tasks based on their adaptive preferences under limited circumstances. Which raises the question of how different women’s lives would be if they did not need to take up livestock rearing.
Key findings
- Women's mobility is restricted due to responsibility for livestock care.
- Men are able to re-enter agriculture, but their activities tend to be limited to market-orientated crops, while women focus on domestic work e.g. livestock care.What it means
This is becoming solely a task for wives/daughter-in-laws, whereas it used to be a shared task.
- As men leave, women tend to take care of all household responsibilities, including livestock management, which was previously looked after by both husbands and wives.What it means
But when women leave, women’s work is unattended to by their male counterparts, or is not up to the satisfaction of women, forcing women to take over their responsibilities once again.
Proposed action
- Further exploration of the feminisation of livestock in particular and its relation to gendered mobility
It suggests that there are more factors shaping farm women’s choices within household labour arrangements.
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to iDE Global
These insights were made available thanks to the support of iDE Global, who are committed to the dissemination of knowledge for all.
Special thanks to Arianne Zajac for preparation assistance
We would like to extend a special thank you to Arianne Zajac, for their invaluable contribution in assisting the preparation of this research summary.
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Examining Agency in Agriculture: The Feminization Debate in Nepal
Cite this brief: Rana, Hritika. 'Examining Agency in Agriculture: The Feminization Debate in Nepal'. Acume. https://www.acume.org/r/examining-agency-in-agriculture-the-feminization-debate-in-nepal/
Brief created by: Dr Hritika Rana | Year brief made: 2022
Original research:
- M. B., Rana, H., & S. R. S., ‘Examining Agency in Agriculture: The Feminization Debate in Nepal’ 19(3), pp. 32–48 https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol19/iss3/4/. – https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol19/iss3/4/
Research brief:
Women’s lived experiences underscore concerns surrounding evolving gender norms, attitudes and practices around agriculture from an agency perspective. Women have to choose agricultural tasks based on their adaptive preferences under limited circumstances. Which raises the question of how different women‚Äôs lives would be if they did not need to take up livestock rearing.
Women’s lived experiences underscore concerns surrounding evolving gender norms, attitudes and practices around agriculture from an agency perspective.
Women have to choose agricultural tasks based on their adaptive preferences under limited circumstances. Which raises the question of how different women’s lives would be if they did not need to take up livestock rearing.
Findings:
Women’s mobility is restricted due to responsibility for livestock care.
Men are able to re-enter agriculture, but their activities tend to be limited to market-orientated crops, while women focus on domestic work e.g. livestock care.
This is becoming solely a task for wives/daughter-in-laws, whereas it used to be a shared task.
As men leave, women tend to take care of all household responsibilities, including livestock management, which was previously looked after by both husbands and wives.
But when women leave, women’s work is unattended to by their male counterparts, or is not up to the satisfaction of women, forcing women to take over their responsibilities once again.
Advice:
Further exploration of the feminisation of livestock in particular and its relation to gendered mobility
- It suggests that there are more factors shaping farm women’s choices within household labour arrangements.