Giving women equal control over domestic and money decisions benefit households: Study

A World Bank study has found that when women in Papua New Guinea are empowered to make decisions in the sale of cocoa and coffee, their households ultimately benefit.
The Household Allocation and Efficiency of Time in PNG report, undertaken as part of the US$110.7 million (K372.5 million) World Bank co-financed Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP), analyses how domestic responsibilities impact the ability of women to allocate their labour to cultivate, harvest and process cocoa and coffee in PNG.
The findings of the report will be launched at workshops in Goroka today and Kokopo on Thursday.
The key message from the report is that men and women do not share the same activities or tasks within the household; men’s work is geared more towards cocoa or coffee production whereas women are more focused on other agricultural and off-farm activities and on domestic work such as cooking, washing, cleaning, and caring for other household members.
This leaves women little time to engage in more value-added agricultural activities.
However, the results also show that household welfare outcomes are higher when women have more control over the sale of cocoa and coffee and the resulting income.
More empowered women are also more likely to have an equal relationship with their male partner, with whom they are not afraid to disagree over household decision making.
“This report demonstrates that when women are given more equal control over domestic and financial decisions, as well as better access to technology such as mobile phones and the internet, there is a direct correlation with increased cocoa and coffee sales, as well as improvements in children’s health, nutrition, education and poverty reduction,” said Patricia Veevers-Carter, World Bank country manager for PNG.
“We are proud that the Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project has delivered genuine economic benefit to thousands of families across PNG while helping to build PNG’s agricultural sector and has also helped to provide a space for women to take on more leadership, ownership of financial and domestic decisions and provided a positive model for similar programmes in PNG.”
The Household Allocation and Efficiency of Time in PNG report was supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) as a result of a study in 2014, The Fruit of Her Labour undertaken jointly by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) to promote gender equitable agribusiness in PNG.