Lessons from Farming Households: Agricultural Decision Making and Shifting Social Norms for Women’s Economic Empowerment

It is well understood in agricultural development and financial inclusion efforts that rural women face compounded socio-cultural and economic barriers in accessing training, information, finance, land, and other inputs and assets critical to achieving success in agriculture-related enterprises. In many developing countries, women represent 40-50 percent of the agricultural labor force but continue to face barriers at the household, community and national levels in building resilient livelihoods despite their important role in transforming rural economies.

This paper focuses on how decisions are made within agricultural households around production, including the adoption and uptake of new practices or inputs along with savings, credit and insurance products. It also shares learnings and recommendations from MEDA's INNOVATE initiative on the differential impacts of non-traditional finance adoption on women and men within a household.