You are here
Ratings of Technologies by Gender
Technologies that are used at the farm and field scale may be evaluated differently by men and women. The data collection happens at the household scale so the gendered rating is listed at the household level.
How to operationalize the metric
Method of data collection and data needed to compute the method:
Preparatory information: Ask participants to identify the criteria affecting their decision whether or not to use an agricultural innovation/practice. For example, if it is a new bean variety, what characteristics do they look for in beans? Have them vote to prioritize that list of criteria by providing three to five votes for each person to distribute among the criteria.
Rating an innovation: Ask the participants to rate the practice/innovation according to the most commonly listed criteria. Some participants may be comfortable with numbers and giving an innovation a score, such as from 1 to 5 or from 1 to 10. Two methods to make it easier for participants to accomplish the ratings:
- Option 1: Putting a marker on a line. To use this method you should prepare a sheet with a line marked for each rating and a symbol on either end (for example a horizontal line with five vertical crosses representing 1 to 5, and if assessing harvest using the symbol of a small sack at level 1 and a pile of full sacks at level 5). A separate sheet could be used for each criterion, a blank sheet can be reused for each, or a laminated sheet can be drawn on and wiped off. To compare multiple innovations or practices, create a marker for each (such as a drawing on a small piece of sticky paper) and have them place each marker on the line.
- Option 2: Draw a matrix on the ground with the criteria across the top and the innovations/practices to be compared as the rows. Give the participants a pile of markers (e.g., stones, beads, seeds) and ask them to put up to five markers in each square to evaluate the importance of each innovation.
Unit of analysis:
Content here
Limitations regarding estimating and interpreting:
Content here
Method of data collection and data needed to compute the method:
This method is described in the CCAFS gender toolkit. It uses FGDs with separate groups of men and women in order to understand the perceived benefits and burdens from various agricultural practices.
Co-benefit focus group analysis process
Steps:
- Begin the discussion by asking about one agricultural or nonagricultural change that is of interest. Probe the focus group to understand the different benefits and burdens from each practice.
- Once lists of benefits and constraints have been noted, ask a volunteer to list or draw them out on many sheets of paper or on a large poster.
- Take 100 counters or beans and explain that they represent all of the men or women (depending on the disaggregated group). Ask a volunteer to distribute the counters by importance among the benefits from the agricultural practice. Encourage the group to work together to create a distribution upon which they agree.
- Repeat this step, but distribute the counters by importance among the burdens of adopting the practice (i.e., the worst burdens will get the most counters).
- Discuss the results as a group to gain more insight about the perceptions of the benefits and burdens of the change.
- Follow the same process for each practice of interest. Record the benefits, burdens, and discussion notes for each practice.
- Compare results from men and women.
Probing questions:
- How does this activity affect soil quality?
- How does this activity affect water sources?
- How does this activity affect forest resources?
- How does this activity affect crop diversity?
- How does this activity relate to land tenure? Is land required? Rented? Shared in common? Privately owned?
- Who has control over land? Who has access to land? How does those who do not own land gain access to it?
- How is the burden of labor for this activity shared? Who does most of the work? Is it done in a group?
- Does this activity require buying or renting of equipment? Can all groups or individuals in the village afford the equipment? If not, how is it shared? Who cannot afford it?
- Are there seasonal or time constraints associated with the equipment? Who operates the equipment? Who rents it?
- How time consuming is this activity? How does it affect amount of labor for men? For women? For children?
- Is there special knowledge required to do this activity? Who holds this knowledge? Who does not?
- How does this activity effect household food security or consumption?
- Does this activity have any nutritional benefits? Who makes the decision to invest in nutrition? Who in the family does it benefit the most in terms of nutrition?
- How does this activity affect overall family income? Who keeps the income? Is it shared?
- Is the income from this activity channeled into long-term investments like education, businesses, or loan repayment? Who makes the decision to invest? Who benefits most?
- How is information shared within a group or household engaged in this activity or among individuals?
- Are there small businesses that have grown from this activity? Do men, women, or children run these businesses? Are there associations that run the business? Is the membership of associations mostly men or women? How are decisions made in associations? How are benefits shared?
Unit of analysis:
Content here
Limitations regarding estimating and interpreting:
Content here