Social norms refer to expectations within social groups that influence behavior. Gender norms in particular shape opportunities for women's empowerment in agriculture. A study of 137 communities found gender norms are context-specific and fluid. Norms assign domestic work to women and restrict their mobility and interactions with men. They characterize certain jobs and crops as masculine and influence control over incomes and assets. Transforming deep-seated gender norms requires understanding local contexts, promoting alternative expectations, and providing inclusive spaces for dialogue.

1. Gender and Social Norms in
Agriculture
Presented By Edward Bikketi
INCLUDOVATE

2. What are social norms?
A category of collective belief referring the social environment –
specifically expectations one has about a peer or reference group
or agreed upon expectations and rules guiding behaviour of a
given group

3. Disciplinary Trajectory on Social
Norms
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Social norms theory
focusing on public
heath
Realisation by the cluster of
disciplines and research that
social and non-social factors
determine one’s action (on off
and habitual behaviour)
Social psychology and behavioral
economics research observing that
people make mental shortcuts through
rational choice theories.
Social psychology theories
acknowledging the influence of social
environment and peer groups as
effective behaviour-change strategies
One way behavioral change
models – Theories of diffusion
focus on lead farmer
Economics, Ag-Econ
Social Psychology, Gender,
sociology, Anthropology

4. Framing of
Social
Norms
In sum, social norms refer to
the desire for social approval
or risk of sanction from
one’s peer group, which
appears to have a greater
influence on behavioral
outcomes than individual
attitudes and internal beliefs
alone(Mayne et al. 2015)

5. Social Norms Impeding Women’s Advancement
Norms assigning domestic work to
women
Norms of sexual decorum & fear of sexual violence
as retribution
Norms of decorum and reputations e.g. prohibition
of interactions between men and women in work
places
Norms about mobility e.g. women working outside home or in
distant places
Norms of ownership access to & control of
assets and resources
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6. Gender Norms & Economic Empowerment
The informal unwritten social rules that
determine socially acceptable behaviour for
men and women – shaping opportunities and
constraints for empowerment.
Gender norms internalized into women’s and
men's consciousness can foster or undermine
women’s economic empowerment.
Gender norms and roles can be potent
posing systemic challenges towards
empowerment.

7. Gender Norms in Agriculture
No single set of norms or regional norms exist
They are context-specific and localized (culture and as well as economic contexts)
This has required empirical studies that can explain how norms operate
GENNOVATE by CGIAR (Petesch et al 2018)
• 137 Agric communities from 26 countries in the Global South
• Local normative climate and the fluidity of norms among men and women resulting in heterogeneity
• Familiar patterns of gender norms exist that can interact with opportunity structures.
• Root categories of gender norms that reproduce unequal power relations and unequal outcomes in
male-dominated agricultural systems and structures

8. Comparisons of Agency
between men and women
Fluid evolution of norms in response
to local economies & institutions
This very fluidity of norms
contributed to heterogeneity that
affects perceptions & agency
It is important to examine masculine
and femine norms and how the interact
with women’s agency
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GENNOVATE KEY MESSEGES ON NORMS
Normative
Climate

9. Bias and framing of women
as farmers’ wives and not
farmers by extension systems
Commercialization reserving
certain jobs especial technical
high paying jobs for men
.
Characterization of target
groups based on the household
head & cash-crops vs food crops
In practice stereotyping of
crops “men’s and women’s” is
oversimplified as production
practices.
Mobility of women even when
agro-advisory and training
opportunities are available
Critical skills of negotiation and
collective participation remain
a big challenge for women
.
Capacity Skills, Confidence: Stereotyping Farmers and
Crops

10. Gendered expectation of
women as good mothers
Gender roles of bread
winner and caregiver
normalizing men’s control
over incomes and cash
crops
Influence on labour
markets and overall
productivity
Feminisation of
reproductive roles
Views of the patriarchal
value system on
productive and
reproductive work
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PRODUCTIVE VS
REPRODUCTIVE
WORK
Norms of Productive vs Reproductive Work

11. Ownership and control of resources Influences adoption and use of
technologies especially natural resource management
Vital importance of accumulation and ownership of
productive resources for sustainable engagement in
agriculture.
Bargaining power and voice in the household depends
on ownership of productive resources
Land tenure and land rights governed by the interplay
of formal and informal institutions
The role of kinship structures and religion in inheritance
of assets and productive resources
Access & Control of Productive Resources

12. IntrahouseholdInfluence andVoice
Household head
and privilege
given to men
enshrining
practices
intrahousehold
competition
Inefficiency in
allocation of
resources
Poor
information
sharing within
the households
Gender norms
tolerating GBV
as for
sanctioning and
restraint on
women

13. Transforming
Deep-Seated
Gender
norms
Diagnosing and understanding
the gender norms as ‘typical’ or
‘appropriate’ or both
Identifying the social reference
group and the local normative
climate (Petesch et al 2018)
Applying evidence-based
gender norms models in
agricultural programming

14. Influencing
individual
attitudes
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Providing Inclusive
Arenas for dialogue
& co-learning
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Promoting alternative
expectations
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Providing
opportunities for
public change
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Unpacking norms
of Masculinity5
Transforming
Social Norms
What Works in Agricultural Programing?

15. Shifting Social Norms to Influence
Behaviour: Considerations for Practice
Use “attractive” messengers e.g. role models, and opinion makers to
champion and enroll others in the cause
In communications provide “social proof” that about
relevant people in authority doing the desired
behavior or supporting the campaign
Provide people with information
comparing their behaviors with
those of their (anonymized)
neighbors
Spread new social norms by changing the
behaviors of existing reference groups
and/or creating new ones
.
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