Low levels of agricultural productivity and investment hinder economic growth in developing countries. This paper presents results from a field experiment in Cote d'Ivoire, which randomized wives' participation in an agricultural extension training for rubber, a male-dominated export crop that...

Over the last decade, Cote d’Ivoire has witnessed a remarkable shrinking of its gender gap in agricultural productivity. When comparing similar households, the gender gap has been reduced by 32 percent

This paper analyzes changes in agricultural productivity gender gaps in Côte d'Ivoire between 2008 and 2016 using decomposition methods. The analysis finds that the unconditional gender gap between male- and female-headed households has decreased by 14 percent over the past decade. The...

This paper documents novel evidence of positive assortative matching in African marriage markets along cognitive and socio-emotional skills, time and risk preferences, and education, using data from rural Mozambique, Cote d'Ivoire, and Malawi

This paper investigates whether the relative self-esteem level of spouses can lead to within- household competition for inputs and affect economic gender inequality in the home. Using data on smallholder farmer couples in Cote d'Ivoire, the paper examines the relationship between spouses'...

Women farmers in the Western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) bear the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work. Women spend less time than men on their plots and more time on domestic work. The authors use a combination of consultations in the field, desk research, and primary data...

Improving women's agency, namely their ability to define goals and act on them, is crucial for advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women. Yet, existing frameworks for women's agency measurement-both disorganized and partial-provide a fragmented understanding of the constraints women...

Cameroon's high employment levels mask widespread precariousness and rural-urban inequality. Labor market vulnerability-either detachment or weak attachment-is particularly acute among youth (ages 15 to 35), who are often uninterested in agriculture yet unable to access better opportunities in...

This paper describes a randomized experiment that used a sample of men and women who were eligible for a vocational training program in the Republic of Congo to test the effect of providing information on trade-specific earnings on trade choice. The analysis finds that women are 28.6 percent...