Carmen Diana Deere Gender and Assets Workshop, World Bank

LAND OWNERSHIP AND FARM MANAGEMENT IN ECUADOR: EGALITARIAN FAMILY FARMING SYSTEMS AND GENDERED CONSTRAINTSCarmen Diana Deere Gender and Assets Workshop, World Bank Jennifer Twyman June 14, 2012

Objective Determine if female landowners are also the farm

managers. Not typically addressed, but… Assumed that owners and managers are the same.

Research Questions: Is the form of land ownership (individual vs. joint) related

to whether women participate in decision-making? What other factors are associated with women landowners’

participation in decisions regarding their own plots?

Land Ownership & Farm Management: Honduras & Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Honduras

Women as principal ag decision-maker

8.8% 8.7%

Women have land rights

21% 13.9%

Issues Definitions

Principal decision-maker

Land rights Unit of analysis

Household, farm, parcel

Percent of Households reporting…

Source: Deere, Alvarado & Twyman 2012

Data: 2010 Ecuador Household Asset Survey (n=2,892)

Interviewed husband & wife together when possible

Household member registry

Assets inventory Household level

characteristics and experiences

Interviewed husband and wife separately

Participation in decisions Financial assets Marital & inheritance

regimes—legal knowledge

Household Questionnaire Individual Questionnaire

Data: Form of Ownership 12.4% of

households reported owning land 513 parcels

Form of Ownership % of

parcelsIndividual man 29.0Individual woman

28.1

Joint by couple 34.4Other joint 8.6Total 100.0

Data: Agricultural Decision Questions Who in the

household made the decision on what to plant?

Who made the decision on what inputs to use?

If some of the harvest was sold, who made the decision on how much to sell?

Who decided how to spend the money generated from the sale?

Data: Sample Size & Cultivation Decision

Partnered women 228 parcels

Owned by women and

A household member works land

Ind. Owner

Jt. Owner

Total

Alone 47% 12% 18%Joint 26% 66% 60%None 27% 22% 22%Total 100%

(n = 35)

100%(n =

193)

100%(n = 228)

Women’s Responses Woman’s Participation in the Cultivation Decision

Models Modeled each

decision separately Binary dependent

variable logistic regression models Wife participates= 1 Otherwise = 0

Key Variables of interest: Form of Land

Ownership (individual v. joint)

Wife’s share of couple’s wealth

Off-farm employment Fieldwork

Results—Form of Land Ownership

Woman’s participation in the decision about…

What to Cultivate Input Use

How much to sell

How to spend proceeds

Coefficient--β

(Std. Error)Coefficient--β(Std. Error)

Coefficient--β(Std. Error)


Joint Owner (base: individual owner)

1.35*(0.720)

0.93 (0.778)

-0.627 (1.548)

-0.503 (2.330)

Women who are joint owners are more likely than individual owners to participate in the decision about what to plant. (Odds ratio: 3.85)

Results—Wife’s share of couple’s wealthWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Coefficient--β




Wife’s share of couple’s wealth

-4.596(4.094)

-7.999*(4.698)

-3.604(5.742)

-359.189(219.000)

Wife’s share squared

3.841(3.753)

7.859*(4.483)

6.273(6.374)

441.883*(260.764)

How wife’s share and odds of wife participating in input use decision

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 100.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

Wife’s share of wealth

Odd

s of

wife

par

tic-

ipat

ing

in d

ecis

ion Min Odds (0.51),

wife’s share = 0.51

Results—Off-farm EmploymentWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Coefficient--β




Wife works off-farm

0.285(0.559)

0.354(0.637)

1.412(0.946)

-2.502(1.726)

Husband works off-

0.278(0.524)

0.303(0.540)

1.309(0.924)

3.132(2.309) Off-farm employment is not statistically significant; it is not

related to wife’s participation in agricultural decision-making.

Results—FieldworkWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Coefficient--β




Wife does fieldwork

3.849***(0.560)

3.277***(0.649)

3.763***(0.850)

1.491(1.304)

Husband fieldwork

-1.969*(1.071)

-2.049*(1.114)

2.000(2.02)

2.745(3.514)

Wives who participate in fieldwork on the parcel are more likely to participate in the decision-making than wives who do not do fieldwork.

If the husband participates in fieldwork, women are less likely to participate in the decision-making than when the husband does not do fieldwork.

Results—Other Variables

Variables:What to Cultivate

Input Use

How much to

sell

How to spend

proceedsParcel size (ha)Wife’s ageAge Difference +Wife’s edu +Edu differenceConsensual Union -Children under 6 +Rural (n/a)CoastIndigenous

Results—Model StatisticsWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Number of Cases (N) 228 164 115 115Likelihood Ratio Chi-Square (df)

130.49 (17)***

95.98 (17)***

74.96 (17)***

39.10 (16)***

Pseudo R2 0.497 0.453 0.530 0.575

Conclusions Majority of women landowners in Ecuador

participate in the agricultural decisions Participation in fieldwork is highly correlated with

women’s participation in decision-making Positively related to women’s participation in fieldwork Negatively related to men’s participation in fieldwork

No correlation between off-farm work and women’s participation in agricultural decision-making

Conclusions Joint land owners more likely than individual owners to participate in

cultivation decision. Important to exert her land rights if less secure than individual ownership?

Wife’s share of couple’s wealth was negatively related to her participation in input decision Is she choosing in which decisions to participate? Does not choose

agriculture. Future work

Do same analysis with men’s responses—can examine women who own jointly in comparison to wives who do not own land

Explore the relationship between wife’s share of wealth and agricultural decision-making

Thank You!

Who are the farmers? Household head

What about women within dual/male-headed households?

Landholder Makes most decisions Best informed

Keeps revenue from crops

Various people within the household?

Gender Analyses Productivity

(and/or efficiency) Typically by plot Sometimes by

head of household

Does type of decision matter? Gender roles & responsibilities

Size of landholdings? Women participate more on

small farms? Important to ask about

specific decisions, o.w. typically response is male household head.

Regional differences in women’s participation

Data: Input Use Decision

Ind. Owner

Jt. Owner

Total

Alone 45% 18% 23%Joint 25% 54% 48%

None 30% 28% 29%Total 100% 100% 100%

Women’s Participation in Input Use Decision

n = 164

Data: Selling & Spending Decisions

Ind. Owner

Jt. Owner

Total

Alone 59% 8% 15%Joint 22% 67% 61%

None 19% 25% 24%Total 100% 100% 100%

Ind. Owner

Jt. Owner

Total

Alone 67% 16% 23%Joint 26% 78% 71%None 7% 6% 6%Total 100% 100% 100%

Women’s Participation in Selling Decision

Woman’s Participation in Spending Decision

n = 115

Explanatory VariablesVariable Mean Std.

Dev.Median Range

Size (ha) 6.9 49.9 0.35 0 – 710Wife’s share 0.51 0.19 0.5 0.01 –

0.999Wife’s age 52 12.7 53 23 – 82Age Difference 4.3 5.4 3 -7 – 29Wife’s Yrs. Schooling

4.8 4.0 6 0 – 18

Edu. Diff. 1 3.4 0 -12 – 12

Descriptive Stats—Continuous Variables

Explanatory Variables

Variable %Joint owner (ind.) 85Consensual union (married)

8

Children under 6 32Rural 85Coast 17

Variable %Indigenous 19Wife works off-farm 31Husband works off-farm 52Wife does fieldwork 72Husband does fieldwork 87

Descriptive Stats—Categorical Variables

How wife’s share and odds of wife participating in cultivation decision

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 10

10

20

30

40

50

60

Wife’s share of wealth

Odd

s of

wom

an p

arti

c-ip

atin

g in

cul

tiva

tion

de

cisi

onMin Odds (12.5), wife’s share = 0.59

Results—AgeWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Coefficient--β




Wife’s Age0.022(0.025)

-0.006(0.028)

-0.001(0.040)

0.099(0.103)

Age Difference (husband – wife)

-0.038(0.048)

-0.067(0.053)

-0.053(0.068)

0.570*(0.338)

Results—EducationWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Coefficient--β




Wife’s Years of Schooling

0.055(0.084)

0.014(0.085)

-0.009(0.120)

0.567*(0.333)

Schooling Difference (husband – wife)

0.026(0.085)

-0.014(0.082)

-0.044(0.133)

0.398(0.308)

Results—Type of RelationshipWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Coefficient--β




Consensual Union (Marriage)

1.400(1.001)

1.421(0.937)

-2.709*(1.532)

-4.636(2.910)

Results—Children Under 6 in HouseholdWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Coefficient--β




Children under 6

1.608***(0.614)

0.723(0.638)

1.146(0.895)

2.400(2.259)

Results—LocationWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Coefficient--β




Rural (Urban)-0.517(0.763)

0.051(0.779)

2.027(1.301) -

Coast (Sierra)-0.845(0.671)

-1.908(0.730)

-1.463(0.993)

-1.820(1.863)

Results—EthnicityWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Coefficient--β




Indigenous (Other ethnicities)

0.673(0.795)

0.791(0.798)

-1.485(1.200)

-0.097(2.337)

Results—Model StatisticsWoman’s participation in the decision about…


How much to sell


Number of cases (N) 228 164 115 115Likelihood ratio chi-square (df)

130.49 (17)***

95.98 (17)***

74.96 (17)*** 39.10 (16)***

Pseudo R2 0.497 0.453 0.530 0.575

Carmen Diana Deere Gender and Assets Workshop, World Bank

Documents

Transcript of Carmen Diana Deere Gender and Assets Workshop, World Bank