Tsige, M. (2019), “Who benefits from production outcomes?” gendered production relations among climate-smart agriculture technology users in rural Ethiopia,” Rural Sociology, 84(4), pp. 799–825.
While it is generally anticipated that the use of agricultural technologies will increase production and household incomes, gender disparities in agricultural outcomes could result in unequal agricultural development. The use of agricultural technologies may improve gendered production relations, but this is not well understood, especially in the Global South. The study explored the question of gender-equitable production relations by drawing on empirical data from women and men smallholders involved in conservation agriculture and small-scale irrigation schemes in three study areas in Ethiopia. The study used qualitative research methodology, and the data from the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were analysed using thematic analysis, carrying out coding by categorising concepts and sorting ideas to seek emerging themes.
Tsige stated that the habit of keeping women out of community events is a sign of their lower social status. A person’s capacity to use agricultural resources and exert control over outcomes would be improved by having a social standing and social networks. Due to their time-consuming household duties and lower social status, women are prevented from forming social networks in all study environments. Once more, these findings support the claim made by postmodern feminists that patriarchy results in unequal gender relations through the intersection of deeply embedded biases and contextual, multidimensional inequalities like lower social status.
The findings from the study show that the use of agricultural technologies does not improve unequal gendered production relations; rather, gender norms that exist within patriarchal social structures continue to influence production relations in three ways. The first is that societal norms restrict women from asserting their self-interest in gendered bargaining. The second is that there is a customary law in all the study areas that allows men but not women to inherit land, thus providing men with better bargaining and decision-making positions over production outcomes as they bring land to the marriage. Third, the restricted access of women to rural institutional services further contributes to unequal gendered production relations, as these services support men more than women in the use of agricultural technologies for enhanced production.