Gender Inequality and Intra-household Allocations

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Gender Inequality and Intra-household Allocations
Conflict and Cooperation: Gendered Roles and Responsibilities within Cotton Households in Northern Mozambique
CITATION Pit96 \l 1033 (Pitcher) study on conflict and cooperation a case study of gendered roles and responsibility within cotton households in northern Mozambique highlights issues of gender inequality and intra-household allocations. (Pitcher, 1996)’s research sought to examine gendered division of labor, household income and control of food production for the family and especially cotton in Northern Mozambique. Northern Mozambique has rare cultural practices unlike many places in Africa that embodies matrilineal land inheritance. Therefore, (Pitcher, 1996) sought to understand to what degree does the control of food, oncome and decisions regarding purchases for the household different from other parts especially areas which do not observe matrilineal land inheritance. She also discusses how privatization of state farms will change the gendered division of labor and responsibility in the household.
(Pitcher, 1996) adopted a (Pitcher, 1996) used both secondary and primary research methods to conduct her research. She extensively used credible secondary cases to make her case on northern Mozambique farming in relation to the family sector. The research necessitated many variables and hence she relied on data and findings collected by other researches. In the end, she administered questionnaires to find out more about how household income is handled and distributed in the family; which is a primary research method. Therefore, (Pitcher, 1996) used a hybrid research method of both secondary and primary research methods for her study.
(Pitcher, 1996) found out that there is relative equal division of labor in most families in the northern Mozambique. Women and men are involved in domestic activities alike and importantly women are not suppressed or overlooked. The women retain authority and autonomy in the household despite the impact of colonial-capitalism. Women are also involved in spending the family income and in most cases they keep the income they jointly earn with their spouses. (Pitcher, 1996) attributes this to matrilineal land inheritance since she observed that women are more likely to keep the income from land they inherited from their families while men tended to keep the income from land they inherited from their families. However, privatization and other structural issues brought by the same tend to disenfranchise women. After studying the grandes familiares, (Pitcher, 1996) observed that ‘as land was acquired elsewhere and plot size increased, women became less involved in cash-generating activities and in controlling the proceeds.’ This is a dangerous precedence and ‘policymakers and private companies should take steps to ensure that privatization and the move to a market economy in Mozambique do not undermine women's role in cash-generating activities nor reduce their participation in household decision-making.’
This study leads me to understand the role women play in promoting the upward mobility of a society. In the case of northern Mozambique, the society is flourishing by involving women in decision making and upholding cultural practices that tend to promote the independence of women. Matrilineal land inheritance has helped many women to be involved in decision-making in their families and have a relative control of the proceeds from their land and labor. Therefore, for a prosperous community, gender equality and women empowerment should be prioritized and upheld. Policymakers and players in the private industry should institute measures to uphold these practices and ensure they are not eroded by predatory capitalism. Additionally, it is important for the government to understand the intra-household allocation of labor to ensure that they deliberately tilt the scale in favor of empowering women. This can be done by ensuring that the continuing privatization of the state farms also accommodates women and they also get a significant share of the privatization. If the privatization is unchecked, it could disrupt the existing system which has empowered women and given them a seat on the negotiating table. If deliberate efforts to ensure that the existing system is not broken down are not taken, Mozambique would experience falling cotton and agricultural produce and a winder gender inequality even in communities where the gap had nearly closed i.e northern Mozambique.
The hidden penalties of gender inequality: fetal origins of ill-health
CITATION Sid03 \l 1033 (Osmania and Sen) study on the hidden penalties of gender inequality and the origins of ill health to a society. (Osmania & Sen, 2003) hypothesized that a society’s ill-health has some links to gender inequality. (Osmania & Sen, 2003) connected a populace’s ill-health to gender inequality which leads to maternal deprivation. The maternal deprivation affects their off-spring (of both sex). Though the research question was not explicitly stated, the research seems to have been structured to find out the short- and long-term effects of gender inequality in relation to general health of the community through understanding the causal links of maternal undernourishment to the life of the offspring in the long run. Thi...