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Sowing Seeds of Empowerment: Effect of Women’s Home Garden Training in Bangladesh

Marie Antoinette Patalagsa
The World Vegetable Center, P.O. Box 42, Shanhua, Tainan 74199, Taiwan

Pepijn Schreinemachers*
AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center, P.O. Box 42, Shanhua, Tainan 74199, Taiwan.

Shahana Begum
Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Shawkat Begum
International Potato Center, USAID Horticulture Project, CIP/AVRDC Bangladesh, House #74, 4th Floor, Road #7, Block H, Banani, Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Background: There is a lack of scientific evidence that home gardens contribute to women empowerment, which eventually leads to greater gender equality, although it is generally assumed that they do. Using data from poor rural households in Bangladesh, this paper analyzes if and how women’s training in home gardening and nutrition empowers women. The study used a mixed methods approach, combining statistical analysis of quantitative data for 456 women with content analysis of qualitative data from in-depth interviews. Results: The results showed that home garden training is popular and widely accepted by both men and women largely because it does not contest existing socially constructed gender roles. Nevertheless, it is clear signs of increased control by women over food supplies and income, and gains in women’s self-confidence and role in the community—as husbands and outsiders begin to recognize their agricultural skills. However, such improvements had been gradual rather than radical. Many men and women appreciated the new opportunity to work together on something of common interest that advanced their quality of life. Conclusion: The evidence presented shows gradual but clear signs of women empowerment as a result of training in home gardens and nutrition.

Keywords: Agriculture, Home-based food production, Gender inequality, Gender analysis, Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index

Location: Jessore and Barisal districts of Bangladesh

Start Date: 00-04-2014

End Date: 00-05-2014

Program Area: Knowledge Management

Non-commodity: Performance

Objectives:

The objective of this study was to analyze if and how women’s training in home gardening and nutrition empowers poor rural women in rural Bangladesh.

Methodology:

Conceptual frame: Women empowerment is a broad concept that includes elements of choice, participation and influence and control over resources and benefit flows. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) captures these dimensions and relates them to the context of agriculture. Therefore, it was used as the conceptual frame for this study. The WEAI builds on definitions of empowerment by Kabeer and Narayan. Kabeer defined it as the process of increasing people’s ability to make choices, especially for those who have been denied this ability. Building on the above definitions and relating them to agriculture, Alkire et al. conceptualized women empowerment as improvements across five domains: (1) Production decisions: women’s sole or joint decision making about food and autonomy in agricultural production, with no judgment on whether women’s sole or men and women’s joint decision-making contributes to women empowerment. (2) Control over resources: ownership of, access to, and decision-making power on productive resources such as land, water and credit. (3) Control of use of income: women’s sole or men and women’s joint control over the use of income. Here, we expanded the definition of income to also include in kind income from the home garden. (4) Leadership in the community: women’s membership in economic and social groups, and speaking in public comfortably. (5) Time: allocation of time to productive and domestic tasks and satisfaction with the time available for leisure activities.

Mixed methods approach: This study used a mixed methods approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods, allowing data triangulation to add robustness to the analysis. Quantitative data were collected from women using a structured questionnaire survey. The survey was part of a larger effort to evaluate the impact of home gardens on the production and consumption of vegetables and was therefore not only used for this paper. The survey recorded which person in the household made the decisions about various gardening and general household activities and the relative time spent on each activity.

Data collection: All data were collected from the rural areas of Jessore and Barisal districts of Bangladesh in a 6-week period from mid-April to the end of May 2014. For the quantitative survey, the sample was stratified by subdistricts (called ‘upazillas’ in Bangladesh), unions (the smallest rural administrative unit usually consisting of nine villages), and villages. The sample included 456 observations, including 171 trained and 285 non-trained households from a total of 14 villages. For the qualitative survey, conducted a total of 12 focus group sessions in 6 villages (3 per district). Villages were selected according to their proximity (near, medium, far) from the district center as this was expected to influence opportunities to engage in off-farm work. Only villages where the project had conducted the training in 2012 or 2013 were selected. Focus group discussions were organized separately with men and women to allow participants to more freely express their opinions about their relationship with the opposite sex. The female group only included those women who had received the training and the male group included their husbands, brothers, and fathers.

Source of Information: Agric & Food Secur (2015) 4:24, DOI 10.1186/s40066-015-0044-2

Article Link (Online Journal): http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/885/art%253A10.1186%252Fs40066-015-0044-2.pdf?originUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fagricultureandfoodsecurity.biomedcentral.com%2Farticle%2F10.1186%2Fs40066-015-0044-2&token2=exp=1458573377~acl=%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2F885%2Fart%25253A1

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The results of this study confirm that women’s training in home gardening and nutrition in Bangladesh largely fits into existing socially constructed roles of men and women, particularly that of women being bound to the home and being caretakers of the household. This study showed clear indications that it does make a positive contribution towards women empowerment. It gave women greater control over what the household eats and also gave women control over a small source of cash income. Mostly importantly, trained women became recognized by other women and men in their community for their agricultural skills, which was a source of self-esteem and social interaction outside their usual social circle of family and neighbors. The fact that they are gradual probably facilitated the rapid acceptance of home garden interventions in Bangladesh and thereby provided benefits to a large number of rural Bangladeshi women. In this study it is found particularly positive effects on women empowerment where women had formed a small group of fellow gardeners in their community. Women gardening groups would allow women to share ideas and experiences about the home garden, family health and nutrition, and other issues. Such groups would also help women gain self-confidence by engaging in social relationships outside their family and contribute to sustaining improvements made during the project.

Knowledge Management: Journal