The effects of addressing gender norms and access to resources on gender equality in climate-affected agrifood systems in Bangladesh

This study examines whether reducing structural constraints to gender equality in agrifood systems, specifically those related to norms and access to resources, contributes to women's empowerment in agriculture, more gender-equal climate adaptive capacities and better dietary outcomes for women. We test these hypotheses by examining the effects of a first intervention called ECATTO, which addressed discriminatory norms and attitudes related to gender-based violence and supported women's rights and leadership, and a second intervention, SHOUHARDO III, which addressed gender-unequal access to resources and extension services for agriculture and livestock; both were implemented in the Kishoreganj district, a climate hotspot in Bangladesh. We rely on gender-disaggregated intrahousehold data collected between treatment and control populations in March 2023 and use propensity score matching as a quasi-experimental identification method. Our study findings confirm that challenging structural barriers to gender equality associated with discriminatory gender norms and attitudes and enhancing gender-equal access to resources and extension services support women's empowerment in climate-affected agrifood systems. Enhancing gender-equal access to resources and extension supports more gender-equal adoption of climate-smart agricultural and livestock practices, suggesting a promising avenue to simultaneously improve gender equality and climate-adaptive capacity. Challenging discriminatory norms and attitudes improved women's diet diversity.