Micronutrient malnutrition is a serious problem in developing countries. It is well established that micronutrient requirements are greater for women and children because of their special needs for reproduction and growth. Unfortunately, however, women and children suffer most from micronutrient deficiencies. Micronutrient deficiency impairs the cognitive development of young children, retards physical growth, increases child mortality, and contributes to the problem of maternal death during childbirth.

Traditional models of household economic behavior have portrayed households as unified entities. They assume that household members agree about decisions and share resources in the most equitable way possible. More recently, however, economists have come to view households as domains of difference, where multiple decisionmakers may have different preferences and, in many cases, control separate sets of resources. This new approach has greatly improved understanding of household resource allocation behavior.

This chapter challenges one of the main tenets of agricultural economics—that households behave as though they are single individuals, with production factors allocated efficiently between men and women. In many contexts this is a convenient and innocuous assumption. It can be quite restrictive, however, when investigating the causes and welfare consequences of gender differences in agriculture.

The collective model of the household predicts that bargaining power determines the share of resources allocated to an individual within the household. The concept of bargaining power is elusive, however. It is perhaps useful at this point to outline the possible determinants of bargaining power, while not making any claims to measure power itself.

Most economic research treats the household as a single agent, assuming that individuals within the household share the same preferences or that there is a household “head” who has the final say. This simple framework has proved immensely useful; despite a common misperception, it can explain many differences in well-being or consumption patterns within households.

Economists who analyze household decisionmaking allocation have traditionally assumed that the household acts as a single unit. They assume that there exists one decisionmaker whose preferences form the basis of household welfare and that all household resources are effectively pooled. This approach is known as the “unitary model,” the “common preference model,” or the “joint family utility model,” depending on the study consulted.

"To end hunger and prevent the recurrence of famine and starvation, we need to take the following steps: invest in public health, child nutrition, education, women’s and girls’ social status, and other components of human capital; reform public institutions and create innovative funding and partnership arrangements; change government policies at all levels to be both pro-poor and pro-growth; increase funding for scientific and technological research to boost agricultural production and efficiency; and develop specific policies and institutions to deal with environmental degradation caused

This book synthesizes IFPRI's recent work on the role of gender in household decisionmaking in developing countries, provides evidence on how reducing gender gaps can contribute to improved food security, health, and nutrition in developing countries, and gives examples of interventions that actually work to reduce gender disparities. It is an accessible, easy-to-read synthesis of the gender research that IFPRI has undertaken in the 1990s.

La seguridad jurídica de las tierras trabajadas por mujeres y hombres, es el primer paso para la construcción del futuro de miles de familias de bolivianas y bolivianos del área rural.

Este trabajo analiza la forma en que se han transmitido los derechos agrarios en tres ejidos del centro de Veracruz desde una perspectiva de género. Se examina la manera en que se articulan factores como los patrones de herencia, el trabajo femenino remunerado, los papeles de género y los tipos de cultivo para permitir o restringir el acceso femenino a la tierra y a la titularidad de los certificados ejidales.

Es preciso reconocer las diferencias de género existentes en cuanto a la tenencia de la tierra para poder conseguir objetivos tales como aumentar la productividad de la tierra, facilitar el acceso a una vivienda asequible o promover la gestión sostenible de los recursos.

La migración interna en Chile responde a la búsqueda de mejores oportunidades de estudio y empleo. Al migrar, la mujer se incorpora en actividades no calificadas como, por ejemplo, temporeras en la agroindustria de la fruta. Las que permanecen en las zonas rurales asumen, además de sus actividades tradicionales, la responsabilidad de las tareas productivas.