measuring women's empowerment in tanykina and sot dairies of nandi and bomet counties, kenya

Case Study: Measuring Women’s

Empowerment in Tanykina and Sot

Dairies of Nandi and Bomet Counties,

Kenya Elizabeth M. Waithanji

Poverty, Gender, Impacts and Innovation Team

Presented at the Foundation, Roundtable Conversation at Fairview Hotel, Nairobi on 4/12/2012

Outline of presentation

• Introduction: How do women become and stay disempowered even

during economic development interventions? • Purpose of study – measuring the gender empowerment gap in

economic development? • What is the evidence that women are more disempowered than

men (known)? • What are the specific contributors to women’s disempowerment

(new)? • Conclusion and way forward

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Introduction: How women become and stay disempowered?

Historical marginalization of women through cultural practices and norms

Communal discourses used to justify and maintain status quo of women’s marginalization (Nagar 1998; Naryan et al 2000)

Stigmatization and retribution for those challenging gender-power status quo (Butler 1993; Waithanji et al forthcoming)

Institutions – the state, family and markets – reproduce and sustain gender inequalities (Agarwal 2003; Waithanji et al forthcoming)

In markets, men usually take over traditionally women’s crops once they became profitable [Njuki et al 2011]

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Chart: Percentage share of income by women from sale of beans in Malawi (Njuki et al. 2011) The denial of women’s control over

assets – human, social, physical, financial, natural and political – results in gender inequality and it is violation of women’s rights

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2003/4 2004/5 2005/6 2006/7T

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Purpose of study: Combining economic development and women rights in diagnosis?

• Providing women economic opportunities does not necessarily lead to empowerment

• Women being aware of their rights without the financial resources to exercise

these rights will not also lead to empowerment either • Combining women’s economic opportunities and women’s rights might have the

potential to lead to broader women’s empowerment and changes in gender relations

• The results described here demonstrate impacts of economic development and

the main contributors to the lower women’s empowerment in a livestock value chain development project

• The diagnostic method used in this study will enable actors in economic development projects to narrow the gender empowerment gap by targeting of the main development and rights issues that contribute to women’s disempowerment

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In what ways are women disempowered

(Known)?

Evidence from Kenya

Inter household Land Access – Tanykina and Sot Dairies (Waithanji et al work in progress)

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Dairy groups Other modes

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Land Access by HH Headship

Male headed Female headed

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**Male headed Female headed

Lan

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Land Access by Mode of Milk Marketing


Land is the most important resource for agricultural production (Agarwal 1994). None of the women from male headed households owned land.

Inter and Intra-household cattle ownership – Tanykina and Sot Dairies (Waithanji et al work in progress)

MHH (n=50, 41) had more cattle than FHH (n=8,9)

Men in MHH and selling milk through dairy groups (n=50) and other modes (n=41) owned significantly (p=0.000) more cattle than their spouses

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Interhousehold Cattle Ownership


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Intrahousehold Cattle Ownership

Household head Spouse

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Intra-household Decision Making and cattle Income Control in

Tanykina and Sot (Waithanji et al work in progress) In MHH households, head and spouse decide to sell cattle jointly more frequently in HH selling milk through dairy groups than through other modes. Spouses never makes decision to sell cattle alone

Income from sales of cattle is hardly controlled jointly by men and spouses and Men in MHH control over 60 percent of the income alone compared to 25% of decision to sell in dairy groups

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Dairy groups Other modes Dairy groups Other modes

Male Female

Who in the Household Decides to Sell Cattle

Household jointly

Household head and spouse jointly

Household head

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Who Controls Money from Sale of Cattle

Other outsider and household headHousehold jointlySpouseHousehold head and spouseHousehold head

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Intra-household Milk and Egg Income Management and Control in Tanykina and Sot (Waithanji et al work in

progress)

Women managed/handled almost all the income obtained from eggs and some milk income

Total income derived from milk was significantly higher than total income derived from eggs. Women from HH selling in dairy groups controlled more milk and egg income than women from HH using other modes

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Dairy groups ***Othermodes

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Milk Eggs

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Intra-Household Management of Milk and Egg income (MHH)

HH head Spouse

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Intra-Household Control of Milk and Egg Income (MHH)

Total Household income

Proportion (%) controlled by spouse

9 Women managed/ handled more money than they had control over

Specific contributors to women’s

disempowerment (new)

Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) (IFPRI 2012)

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• The WEAI measures women’s and men’s empowerment, agency, and inclusion in agriculture within dual adult /Male headed households.

• The WEAI is composed of two sub-indices; the 5 Domains of Empowerment (5DE) and the Gender Parity Index (GPI)

• The WEAI tool is highly adaptable to different contexts (nDE)

• In this study, a sixth domain of empowerment, health, was added to the earlier WEAI in order to incorporate some rights issues (Waithanji et al, work in progress .

Illustration of the 5DE and 6DE concepts in WEAI

DOMAIN INDICATORS

Production Input in productive decisions

Autonomy in production

Resources Ownership of assets

Purchase, sale, or transfer of

assets

Access to and decisions on

credit

Income Control over use of income

Leadership Group membership

Speaking in public

Time Workload

Leisure

Health

Autonomy in making decisions

on reproductive health

Attitudes towards gender

based violence 12

Health as wellbeing rather than mere absence of disease or infirmity (WHO 1946)

6DE index =(1-(% disempowered

women*% insufficiency/inadequacy attained by disempowered women in the 5 dimensions)

GPI= (1 – (% disempowered women*% disempowerment gap between them and their primary males).

WEAI= ((6DE*0.9) + (GPI*0.1))

Impact Evaluation Using Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture

(WEAI) (IFPRI 2012; Waithanji et al work in progress)

Some WEAI Results (Tanykina and Sot Dairies) (Waithanji et al work in progress)

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Mode milk marketing

sex N 6DE GPI WEAI

Dairy groups (test)

HH Head 44 0.8740

0.8278 0.6485

Spouse 44 0.6289

Other modes (control)

HH Head 40 0.9243

0.8244 0.6191

Spouse 40 0.5959

Men using other modes of milk marketing were significantly more empowered than men marketing through groups (P=0.037)

For both groups men were more

empowered than women (6DE) Gender parity was higher for

those marketing through groups than other modes

Women from households

marketing milk through dairy groups were more empowered than those from HH using other modes (WEAI)

Overall, women from both marketing systems were more disempowered than men

The gender empowerment gap was wider in HH that sold milk through other modes than in HH that sold through groups

In terms of economic development Women from HH that sold using other modes were worse off than those from HH selling in groups

In terms of rights (attitudes to GBV and control of their reproductive health), women from HH marketing milk through groups were worse off than women from HH marketing through other modes

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Men Women Men Women


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M0

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DE)

GBV attitudes

Reproductive health

Work distribution

Leisure

Identity card

Speaking in public

Group membership

Control over use ofincome

Access to and decisionson credit

Purchase or sale ofassets

Ownership of assets

Autonomy in production

Input in productivedecisions

Contribution of various indicators to women and men’s disempowerment – Tanykina and Sot Dairies (Waithanji et al work in progress)

Conclusion Economic issues are major contributors to the gender empowerment gap in economic development

– Ownership of assets

– Autonomy in production

– Ability to decide on sale or purchase of assets

– Access to and decision over credit

Rights issues are key contributors to women’s disempowerment

– Attitudes towards GBV

– Lack of autonomy over one’s reproductive health

For impacts in economic development to be gender equitable, development interventions must address economic and rights issues simultaneously

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Way Forward - Dissemination Development partners involved in the study have demonstrated

an interest in integrating women’s rights components in their development interventions and sharing the findings with their partners

These findings will be shared with the CGIAR global gender

network, which has already demonstrated a great interest in this study

The regional network on Gender and Rural development have

requested us to share this methodology and present these and other finding in the next network meeting (Jan 2013)

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Acknowledgements

• Ford Foundation for Funding this Study

• Development partners in the WEAI study, namely, EADD, Juhudi Kilimo, KARI and KWH

• Tanykina and Sot dairies officials, farmers and the community where they live

• ILRI management for endorsing this study

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Thank You! 18

measuring women's empowerment in tanykina and sot dairies of nandi and bomet counties, kenya

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