Women’s empowerment, agricultural extension, and digitalization: Disentangling information and role model effects in rural Uganda

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR single centreen
cg.contributor.crpPolicies, Institutions, and Markets
cg.contributor.crpMaize
cg.contributor.donorUnited States Agency for International Developmenten
cg.contributor.donorInternational Development Research Centreen
cg.coverage.countryUganda
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2UG
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionSub-Saharan Africa
cg.creator.identifierDavid J. Spielman: 0000-0002-6889-7358
cg.creator.identifierEls Lecoutere: 0000-0002-1025-742X
cg.creator.identifierBjorn Van Campenhout: 0000-0003-2404-7826
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133523en
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Environment and Production Technology Division
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Development Strategy and Governance Division
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Developing Local Extension Capacity (DLEC)
cg.identifier.publicationRankNot ranked
cg.number1889en
cg.placeWashington, DCen
cg.reviewStatusInternal Reviewen
dc.contributor.authorLecoutere, Elsen
dc.contributor.authorSpielman, David J.en
dc.contributor.authorVan Campenhout, Bjornen
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-21T09:05:52Zen
dc.date.available2024-06-21T09:05:52Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/146117
dc.titleWomen’s empowerment, agricultural extension, and digitalization: Disentangling information and role model effects in rural Ugandaen
dcterms.abstractIn many developing countries, agricultural extension services are generally biased towards men, with information targeted mainly to male members of a farming household and in formats that are rarely tailored to female members. Nevertheless, female farmers may also benefit from such services as this may affect their ability to make informed decisions, resulting in increased farm productivity, household income, and welfare. We conduct a gendered field experiment among maize-farming households in eastern Uganda to test whether video-enabled extension messaging affects outcomes related to maize cultivation. In this experiment, men, women, and couples are shown randomly assigned videos about improved maize management practices in which male, female, or both male and female actors are featured. We first vary exposure to the videos by gender to test the effects of changes in intra-household information asymmetries, investigating whether involving women as recipients of information increases their ability to participate in household decision-making, and thus their involvement in household production choices. We then vary exposure to the gender of the actors in the videos to test for role-model effects, exploring whether involving women as information messengers challenges the idea that decision-making is a predominantly male domain, in turn affecting women’s outcomes. Results show that targeting women with information increases their knowledge about improved maize management practices, their role in agricultural decision-making, the adoption of recommended practices and inputs, production-related outcomes, and the quantity of maize women sell to the market. Results for the role-model effects are mixed, and are evident more in joint household outcomes than individual women’s outcomes. Overall, our findings suggest that in the context of our study, extension efforts aimed at directly addressing intra-household information asymmetries may be a first-best means of empowering women in agriculture. Other, more subtle means that seek to influence perceptions and norms about gendered roles in the household may not generate expected effects or work via expected impact pathways, though they remain worth further exploration.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.bibliographicCitationLecoutere, Els; Spielman, David J.; and Van Campenhout, Bjorn. 2019. Women’s empowerment, agricultural extension, and digitalization: Disentangling information and role model effects in rural Uganda. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1889. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146117en
dcterms.extent61 pagesen
dcterms.isPartOfIFPRI Discussion Paperen
dcterms.issued2019-12-16
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.publisherInternational Food Policy Research Instituteen
dcterms.relationhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/146054en
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133323en
dcterms.relationhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/147262en
dcterms.relationhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/148492en
dcterms.relationhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/147073en
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133615en
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134389en
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134454en
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-101520-080657en
dcterms.replaceshttps://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll2/id/133523en
dcterms.subjectgenderen
dcterms.subjectagricultural extensionen
dcterms.subjecttechnologyen
dcterms.subjectmaizeen
dcterms.subjectempowermenten
dcterms.subjecteducational resourcesen
dcterms.subjectinformation and communication technologiesen
dcterms.subjectaudiovisual aidsen
dcterms.subjectwomenen
dcterms.subjectdigital technologyen
dcterms.typeWorking Paper

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