What Gets Measured Matters: Integrating Gender in Agriculture Development Research

Women make up a larger share of agricultural employment in countries with lower economic development, where limited education, infrastructure, and off-farm job opportunities constrain options. In many sub-Saharan African countries, women represent over 50% of the agricultural labor force. Similarly, about half of the agricultural workforce is female in several Southeast Asian countries. Yet, women’s access to assets and resources such as land, inputs, training or finance lag behinds men’s, leading to significant gaps in productivity (The Status of Women in Agrifood Systems). Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa consistently shows that women-managed plots produce significantly lower yields than men’s—often due to unequal access to inputs, extension services, and productive resources, as well as structural barriers like discriminatory norms and market failures (Leveling the Field-Improving Opportunities for Women Farmers in Africa).

Integrating gender into agricultural development research is critical not only to acknowledge the role women play in agri-food systems, but also to better understand the extent to which women have access to extension services, technology adoption, productivity, and market integration. It also helps uncover the factors that influence these outcomes and assess the effectiveness of interventions, particularly among women farmers.