He Says, She Says, the GPS Says: Gender Gaps in Agricultural Survey Responses in Ghana
Ariel BenYishay, Seth Goodman, Katherine Nolan, Rachel Sayers, Kunwar Singh, Madeleine Walker, Jessica Wells
Recent work shows substantial disagreement between spouses in survey responses about household assets, income, and decision-making. However, to date, this work has not yet assessed whether this disagreement reflects biased responses, and whether standard survey protocols obtain biased estimates. Many agricultural surveys, for example, across the developing world typically interview only one respondent about the characteristics, inputs, and outputs of farm plots, even when multiple household members make decisions about plots. To address this challenge, we individually interview both husbands and wives about all farm plots in 1,243 households in Northern Ghana, and–critically– also collect a third independent observation generated using GPS plot walks and satellite imagery. We find significant disagreement between husbands and wives on even the most basic aspects of household farm plots, including the number of plots and the main decision-making roles on plots. Moreover, we find significant gender-related bias in reports when we match survey data to independent observations of plot size and distance from houses as measured by a GPS receiver, as well as whether a plot is fallowed as observed via satellite imagery. Men are differentially likely to overstate farm production (in terms of both plot size and whether the plot is farmed or fallowed), especially on plots for which they report having decision-making responsibilities. They are also differentially likely to understate the implicit labor costs for plots on which their wives have decision-making responsibilities.
Event: World Bank Land Conference 2024 - Washington
Only personal, non-commercial use of this document is allowed.