Abstract

DEERE, Carmen D.  and  TWYMAN, Jennifer. Who makes agricultural decisions? Women landowners in Ecuador. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2014, vol.11, n.3, pp.425-440. ISSN 1870-5472.

This study investigates whether women landowners participate in the agricultural decisions about their plots. Based on a national sample from Ecuador, the analysis shows that the large majority of women owners participate actively in the conduction of their plots, whether they are their property individually or jointly with their couple. It also reveals that there are differences in the level of participation of women, depending on their marital status (whether they are married or united, in comparison to heads of households who are single, separated, divorced or widows) and the form of property. Also, their participation varies depending on the agricultural decision under consideration. In any case, our analysis leads to an outstanding conclusion: the census data provide a distorted vision of family agriculture because they do not take into account that agricultural decisions are frequently made by the couple, and they lead to an underestimation of the participation of women married/ united as agricultural producers.

Keywords : gender; farm management; land ownership.

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