Gender gap in rice productivity: micro-evidence from Myanmar

Gender equality in agriculture is crucial to ensuring food security and economic development. This study provides new empirical evidence of the gender gap in rice productivity from the Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar. The Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition reveals that seasonality affects the gender disparity in productivity. Women managers are 7 per cent less productive than men in monsoon paddy production, with 95 per cent of this gap explained by structural effects. Plots jointly managed by women and men outperform those managed by either women or men alone in summer paddy production. Divorced women account for a large portion of the productivity differential among non-married women. Addressing Myanmar’s gender rice productivity gap requires season-specific interventions to meet women’s unique needs and challenges.