African indigenous vegetables, gender, and the political economy of commercialization in Kenya

Sarah Hackfort (), Christoph Kubitza, Arnold Opiyo, Anne Musotsi and Susanne Huyskens-Keil
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Sarah Hackfort: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Christoph Kubitza: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Arnold Opiyo: Egerton University
Anne Musotsi: Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology
Susanne Huyskens-Keil: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Agriculture and Human Values, 2024, vol. 41, issue 2, No 11, 559 pages

Abstract: Abstract This study investigates the increased commercialization of African indigenous vegetables (AIV)—former subsistence crops such as African nightshade, cowpea leaves and amaranth species grown mainly by women—from a feminist economics perspective. The study aims to answer the following research question: How does AIV commercialization affect the gendered division of labor, women’s participation in agricultural labor, their decision-making power, and their access to resources? We analyze commercialization’s effects on gender relations in labor and decision-making power and also highlight women’s agency. Based on a mixed method design and analyzing household-level panel data and qualitative focus groups from Kenya, we observe an economic empowerment of women that we relate to women’s individual and collective strategies as well as their retention of control over AIV selling and profits. Yet, while we see economic empowerment of women through commercialization—how they broaden their scope of action and are empowered by generating revenue—that does not contribute to a redistribution of labor or land rights, which are key for gender equality, instead it increases women’s labor burden.

Keywords: African indigenous vegetables; Commercialization; Mixed methods; Feminist economics; Sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10460-023-10498-4

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