3.4.1 Dimensions of Empowerment in the WELI
Decisions about agricultural production This dimension includes two indicators: (a) input into productive decisions (measured through questions grouped under the component “decisions on choice of livestock species or crops, breeding strategies, inputs, labor etc.”) and (b) autonomy in production (measured through “responsibility for animal health and food safety management”) (Table
1).
Decision-making about the sourcing, production and use of crop and livestock productive resources is a key element of empowerment in farm households. In the case of decision-making about crops, for example, extensive research has shown that women and men often have different crop trait preferences and needs, and different constraints and opportunities to access seed and varieties (Chiwona-Karltun et al.
1998; Farnworth and Jiggins
2003; Galiè
2013b). These differences affect the ability of women and men to access and adopt technologies that can improve their agricultural production and control over it. Similarly, women and men often have different preferences for livestock species, breeds and products. In a study in Tanzania, for example, women were found to prefer (or give more importance to) chickens, chicken meat and manure, while men preferred cattle, cow milk, and eggs (Njuki and Sanginga
2013; Waithanji et al.
2013). The choice of species and breeds of livestock to keep in the household, or whether to engage in livestock raising at all, affect the labor inputs, control over livestock and related products and revenues, and access to and control over opportunities (such as marketing) of individuals in the household (FAO
2012; Kristjanson et al.
2014).
Decisions about nutrition This dimension includes two indicators: (a) input into nutrition decisions (measured through “decisions on type and quantity of food kept and consumed”) and (b) autonomy in nutrition (measured through “responsibility for food provision related activities”) (Table
1). Nutrition was not a dimension included in the WEAI (it was included in pro-WEAI, however, a revision of the WEAI).
Evidence connects women’s empowerment to household nutrition (Cunningham et al.
2015; Malapit and Quisumbing
2015). Gender relations, women’s bargaining power and patterns of work, and women’s own nutritional status have been the main determinants of children’s nutritional status (Agrawal 2011 and Young 2012 cited in Mwaseba and Kaarhus
2015). Cunningham et al. (Cunningham et al.
2015) show that maternal decision-making, and control and autonomy in the household are likely to improve child nutrition in agricultural households of Nepal. Malapit and Quisumbing (
2015) show that different dimensions of empowerment affect the nutritional status of household members differently. In a study in Tanzania, Mason et al. (
2014) discuss the apparent contradiction between evidence that women favor food expenditures if compared to men (Duflo
2003; World Bank et al.
2009) and evidence that female-headed households are generally more food insecure. They argue that women household headship is linked to issues of household impoverishment and empowerment that are key determinants of access to food. The authors show that livestock availability for women increases food production and availability in their households.
However, no studies have confirmed, yet, that control over household nutrition is a key contributor to women’s empowerment. But, because of the strong correlation between empowerment and nutrition, this dimension is included in the WELI (Sinharoy et al.
2018). The findings from the WELI can contribute to exploring this correlation in general and in the framework of livestock. The WELI also captures decision-making about intra-household food allocation which may be a key challenge to dietary adequacy even in food-secure households.
Access to and control over productive resources This dimension includes the indicators: (a) ownership and control of livestock assets (measured through “decisions regarding the purchase, sale or transfer of livestock assets”); (b) ownership and control of land and crop assets (measured through “decisions regarding the purchase, sale, or transfer of crop and land assets”); and (c) credit access (measured through “loan recipient within household”) (Table
1).
A large body of literature shows how access to and control over productive resources are positive contributors to women’s empowerment (FAO
2011; Kabeer
1999; Trommlerová et al.
2015). The World Bank (
2009) found that the lower productivity of fields owned by women and girls relates to their limited access to productive resources (especially land), technologies and information. Assets help manage vulnerability, provide collateral, help accumulate wealth, and increase social empowerment and political engagement (Quisumbing et al.
2015). For Bebbington (
1999), assets are a means for empowerment because they are necessary to build livelihoods, to make living meaningful and to act and challenge the structures affecting a living (cited in Meinzen-Dick et al.
2014). At the same time, gender dynamics affect how different individuals value, own, accumulate, control, and use different assets (Quisumbing et al.
2015). Kilby (
2006), emphasizes how empowerment is itself a means for the most marginalized individuals to improve their access to community resources, highlighting how disempowerment coincides with a lack of ownership and inability to accumulate, control, and use resources.
Livestock are important assets for women, who can access and control them more easily than they can access and control land or other physical or financial assets (Kristjanson et al.
2010; Rubin et al.
2010). Access to and control of livestock has contributed to women’s empowerment, especially in livestock-dependent communities like those involved in the MoreMilkiT project (Flintan
2008; Trommlerová et al.
2015). In her study across Indonesia, Bolivia, Peru and Kenya, Valdivia (
2001), shows that women’s control over livestock, livestock products and the productive resources needed to raise livestock, increases women’s bargaining power, access to animal source foods that they use mostly to benefit their children and ultimately their empowerment. A study in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua showed how the informal nature of livestock ownership affected perceptions of “what it means to own livestock,” with women and men respondents using various criteria such as “who contributes most labor in the management of the livestock”, “who sourced it” or “who controls the revenues” (Galiè et al.
2015). The WELI thus, does not include questions on “livestock ownership” but focuses on access to and control over livestock or its management.
Control over and use of income This dimension includes the indicators: (a) control over farm income (measured through “decisions about the use of income generated from farm-based activities”); (b) control over non-farm income (measured through “decisions about the use of income generated from non-farm activities”); and (c) control over expenses (measured through “decisions about the use of income for household expenditures”) (Table
1).
The association between control over income and women’s empowerment, which is often referred to as economic empowerment, has been established and the focus of much development work in the last decades (Hill
2011; Mayoux and Hartl
2009). Mwaseba and Kaarhus (
2015) assessed empirically women’s limited involvement in the market sphere and in controlling income in Tanzania. They warn that the introduction of marketable assets—in the case of MoreMilkiT project, increased milk production to be sold in the market—can lead to increased involvement of men in controlling assets previously controlled by women. This shift in control may result in the marginalization of women and their increased dependence on men, leading to disempowerment. They also found that increases in milk production in two ethnic groups of Tanzania, did not result in improved nutrition of children because women, who were in charge of providing food for the children, lacked decision-making power over the use of milk income, which was used for non-food expenses under men’s responsibility. Such evidence shows how control over income entails control over household spending priorities and it also strengthens the link between empowerment and household nutrition.
Access to and control of opportunities This dimension includes three indicators that capture: (a) access to markets (measured through “responsibility for marketing decisions” (e.g. who decides at which market to sell); (b) access to non-farm income opportunities (measured through “decisions on pursuing non-farm business or employment”); and (c) access to training, information and groups (measured through “whether female respondent has access to information or is member of group”) (Table
1).
Access to and control of opportunities has only the indicator “membership in groups” in common with two indicators of the WEAI “leadership” domain (the second was “comfort to speak in public” which according to formative research, was not considered important to respondents). The three selected indicators for this domain were considered important in the WELI based on a review of the literature and findings from the formative study. Schmid (
1987) defines “opportunities” as “the available lines of action open to an individual […] so that he or she might act without seeking the formal consent of others” (Schmid
1987: 9). Providing individuals with “equal opportunities” translates into ensuring that they all have the potential to achieve the same outcomes by compensating for different environmental circumstances, such as gender inequities (Roemer
2008). Santarius and Sachs (
2007) see access to and control of opportunities as necessary to make use of resources and to actualize self-determination, and therefore, empowerment. The formative study showed that gender norms in respondents’ villages (e.g. about the threat that access to knowledge would make women independent from their husbands) prevented women from accessing information, market and employment opportunities.
Workload and control over own time This dimension includes the indicators: (a) total workload (measured through “amount of time allocated to productive and domestic tasks”); (b) proportion of revenue generating workload (measured through “share of revenue-generating activities of total workload”); and (c) control over own time (measured through “responsibility for allocating jobs within farm and household”) (Table
1).
“Control over own time” was not included in the WEAI, which instead focused on satisfaction with the time available for leisure activities. This choice to include it in the WELI was determined by the following perspectives. The gendered division of labour usually results from decisions at individual, household and community levels and is influenced by gender norms (Agarwal
1997). Feminist scholars have shown how the gendered division of labour typically is unjust and to women’s disadvantage (Robeyns
2003). The formative study in the Tanzania sites showed that—following customary labour arrangements—women invested much of their time in livestock rearing but rarely in activities that brought revenues. Thus, control over time is important for empowerment because it allows women to allocate their efforts to their preferred activities, thereby contributing to their self-determination. Control by others of one’s time is unlikely to lead to full control over achieving own goals. In their study in rural India, James et al. (
2002), showed how women participants’ increased control over own time enhanced their empowerment because women decided to get involved in revenue-generating activities that strengthened their intra-household decision-making and status.