Assets, Decisionmaking, and Time Use : The Gendered Impacts of a Dairy Value-Chain Project in Rural Bangladesh

Participation in value chains can help link smallholder farm households to markets, but little evidence exists on how implications differ for individuals within a household. We assess how participation in a dairy value chain project in rural Bangladesh affected asset ownership, decisionmaking, mobility, and time allocation across household members. Using propensity-score-weighted regression, we find that project participation did not significantly change ownership of livestock, though it slightly increased joint ownership by husbands and wives of agricultural and nonagricultural productive assets, indicating joint income diversification beyond dairy. Decisionmaking regarding household expenditures and use of milk remained dominated by men, although women’s voice increased in decisions about cattle feed and inputs. Project participation increased some dimensions of women’s mobility, as well. However, participation also shifted household members’ time use, with women spending more time caring for livestock and less time feeding and looking after young children