UNDERSTANDING GENDER ROLES AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AMONG RICE FARMING HOUSEHOLDS: A CASE STUDY IN SRI LANKA AND

CAMBODIA
Huaiyu Wang, Orlee Velarde, Thelma Paris and Sushil Pandey

Rice is the main staple food in Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Although these countries are major rice -producing countries, they differ in degrees of market orientation. Cambodia and Sri Lanka represent market-oriented and home consumption rice production systems, respectively (Fig. 1). Despite the many studies on gender roles in rice production systems, very few studies have examined the relationship of womens labor participation in rice production, non-farm activities, decision-making authority in key areas, as well as the factors which contribute to womens empowerment. This paper will compare and examine these interrelationships and recommend policy options to empower women.

Women farmers in Cambodia were more empowered than women in Sri Lanka in terms of making decisions about the farm, income, and expenditure (Table 1).
Table 1. Women empowerment index (WEI) in Sri Lanka and Cambodia
Sri Lanka Farming decisions What rice variety(ies) to grow What technology to adopt What farm implements to purchase Who and how many farm laborers to hire 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.4 2.5 2.3 2.3 3.0 2.8 2.8 3.2 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 Cambodia

DATA AND METHODOLOGY total of 378 rice farming households in Sri Lanka and 593 households in Cambodia were A
selected from the household survey conducted in 2010 under the Green Super Rice project led by IRRI.

Whether to sell or consume the harvested crop How much output to sell and consume When and where to sell the harvested crop What price to sell the output Income and expenditure Allocation of farm income Allocation of household income What types of food to consume in times of crisis Where to borrow Childcare Childrens education Number of children to raise Others

Labor inputs in rice production operations and the share of non-farm income by gender
were collected through household surveys. The status of women empowerment was computed using Women Empowerment Index (WEI) based on 16 gender-related indicators (farming decisions, income and expenditure, child care and politics).

2.5 2.7 2.8 2.7

3.4 3.5 3.6 3.2

Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression was applied to analyze the factors that contribute
to women empowerment.

3.0 n/a

3.2 3.2

SriLanka
11% 10% 61% 17%
40%

Cambodia

Participation in voting/politics Whether to sell or slaughter the animal Average WEI

2.5 n/a 2.5

3.1 2.9 3.2

Rice Nonrice
44%

Determinants of women empowerment

Animalsale Offfarm Nonfarm

both countries, women exposure to training had a positive significant effect on women In
empowerment and the effect of training on husband was negatively significant. The number of females in the household and the age of wife also contributed to women empowerment.

13%

Sri Lanka, the education of the wife and her contribution to non-farm income increased WEI In
significantly.

1%

2%

1%

farmers are usually with small landholdings. In Cambodia, women were more empowered Poor
in farm households with smaller farm size.

Fig. 1. Percentage share of income from different sources Table 2. OLS regression model of the factors contributing to women empowerment

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Mens contribution to non-farm income was higher (73%) in Sri Lanka. In Cambodia, womens
share to non-farm income was almost half that of men (49%).

Dependent variable is WEI Farm size (ha) Education of wife (yr) Age of wife (yr) Wife dummy for primary occupation (1= non-farm; 0, otherwise) Number of women in the households (%) Share of women on non-farm to total income (%) Training dummy for husband (1=attended; 0, otherwise) Training dummy for wife (1=attended; 0, otherwise) Constant Sample size
* p < 0.1, ** p < .05, *** p < .01 Province dummies were omitted from the table

Sri Lanka -0.00481 0.0370** 0.0103*** -0.155 0.00578** 0.00413* -0.192* 0.433*** 1.232*** 378

Cambodia -0.0431** 0.0116 0.00772*** 0.0628 0.00362** 0.000322 -0.186*** 0.137** 2.662*** 593

Womens share of labor inputs (mostly unpaid and hired labor) during the wet season rice
production was higher in Cambodia (46%) than in Sri Lanka (21%). In Sri Lanka, about a quarter of the total labor inputs came from women, mostly hired workers. In Cambodia, women farmers were mostly engaged in crop establishment, harvesting and threshing, and postharvest activities. In Sri Lanka, hired women workers were engaged in harvesting and threshing.

Cambodia, women and men farmers had almost the same wage rate. In Sri Lanka, the In
women farmers wage rate was equivalent to 73% of men farmers wage rate. The gender wage gap in Sri Lanka was 20% higher than that in Cambodia.

100 49 73 60
Men Women

100

Men
80
Labor inputs (%)

80
Non-farm income (%)

79 60

77

54 75

Women

CONCLUSIONS Women in Cambodia are more involved in joint decisions due to their higher participation
in field activities as well as their contribution to non-farm income.

40 51 27 0

40 46 21 0 23 25

Women empowerment is closely related to household labor allocation. For the market20

20

oriented rice farmers in Cambodia, women are more empowered in farm households with smaller farms. In Sri Lanka, women empowerment may be improved by increasing nonfarm working opportunities among women.

WS
Sri Lanka Cambodia

DS

WS

DS

Education, non-farm income, and training opportunities are the key factors that improve
women empowerment.

Sri Lanka

Cambodia

More efforts should be given by national agricultural research and extension programs to
provide women with education (informal), income opportunities, and training on improved farming practices so that they can be more empowered to be better farm managers and key agents of technological change.

Fig. 2. Men and women contribution to non-farm income (left) and labor in rice production (right)