30% 9 . This can limit women’s participation in higher - value agricultural activities as well as impacting women’s productivity, income and health
10 .
Expanding women’s access to resources and training
is important towards reducing
their greater livelihood vulnerability
• Women farmers often face barriers in terms of access to training and
education that could help them understand how to improve their own situation and gain greater empowerment in affairs at home and in their community. • Female -headed households are strongly overrepresented in more vulnerable segments of cocoa farmers . These households are typically characterised by a smaller household size and normally will not have a male husband in the house 11 . Women heads of household tend to rely more on hired labour, have smaller farm sizes , have less access to inputs and market, and have had less access to education resulting in higher illiteracy and innumeracy rates. 12 , In Ghana , female -headed households are estimated to have around a third less income than male -headed households. 13
Addressing gender ed roles and norms can unlock greater participation of women in decision ‑ making
• Men are typically the landowners and primary decision
-makers. As they
control the sale of crops, they often also control
decision -making on
household income 14 . These dynamics mean that men may have greater access to and control over agricultural inputs, tools and services compared to women. • Male - headed cocoa households tend to be the norm for
those households
15 .
with married couples where the male will self
-identify as head of household
This represents the These household units are characterized by men’s dominant roles in cocoa labour, decision - making, and control over income and resources, while women in the majority of households in the TOC supply chain. household bear greater responsibility for food production, household work, and marginal cocoa tasks, with more limited access to land, services, and the economic benefits of cocoa due to prevailing gender norms. 16
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