Thematic Area

Gender & Women's Economic Empowerment

1Publication

3Projects

Promoting women's economic participation and leadership in research, policy, and agricultural value chains across East Africa.

Research Focus

Key Research Questions

What are the key barriers to women's economic participation in agricultural value chains?

How does women's land tenure security affect household investment decisions and welfare outcomes?

Which programme designs most effectively close gender gaps in income and asset accumulation?

Why It Matters

Gender inequality constrains economic growth and human development across Africa. Women constitute the majority of smallholder farmers yet face systematic barriers to land tenure, financial services, and market access. Closing gender gaps in agricultural productivity alone could reduce the number of food-insecure people in Africa by up to 150 million. AWinERA's gender research generates evidence to understand and dismantle these barriers.

Our Approach

We embed gender analysis across all our research through gender-disaggregated data collection, feminist political economy frameworks, and participatory methods that centre women's experiences and voices. We use both quantitative methods — including gender-sensitive household surveys and women's empowerment indices — and qualitative approaches to capture the complex dynamics of women's economic participation.

What We Do