Transforming gender relations through the market: Smallholder milk market participation and women's intra-household bargaining power in Ethiopia

Abstract

We study the relationship between smallholder milk market participation and women's intra-household bargaining position in Ethiopia, using a quasi-experiment and propensity score matching. In market participant households, milk income is higher and its control has shifted from women to men. Our data also indicate that men transfer this income partly to their wives. Qualitative findings indicate that men see this as recognition for their wife's household maintenance responsibility. Women argue however that transferring income is also men's tactic for reducing intra-household conflict. Overall, dependency between husbands and wives seems higher and a woman's bargaining position stronger in participant households.