Saturday, February 06, 2016 Examining gender differences in asset accumulation in transition economies Agnes Quisumbing International Food Policy Research Institute Workshop on "Sharing the Growth Dividend: Women in the ECA Region“ The World Bank

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 2 Why study asset accumulation? Assets represent a resource that generates value or returns over time. Assets can be used to obtain access to other markets, e.g. credit markets Asset dynamics in response to shocks can help us understand the evolution of poverty over time Inequality in the distribution of assets may result in differences in well-being over time

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 3 Why study gender differences in asset accumulation? If men and women have differential access or control over assets, time path of returns could be quite different for men and women If women do not have assets that are acceptable as collateral, they could be disadvantaged in terms of access to credit markets Asset dynamics of men and women could be quite different if women’s assets are first to be disposed of in times of crises Different patterns of asset holdings of men and women, in addition to gender differences in levels of asset ownership, could result in gender gaps in well-being over time

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 4 Some interesting complications of studying asset accumulation in the ECA region Ownership of productive assets such as land and machinery generally skewed towards men, while human capital is more equally divided Transition countries have implemented the greatest land redistribution program in recent history as well as the largest enterprise privatization program We know very little about whether redistribution/privatization was equitable from a gender perspective We probably do not have gender-disaggregated baseline information on asset ownership post-privatization, not to mention pre- privatization A combination of retrospective data, plus historical analysis of reform implementation, may help establish this baseline

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 5 Pre-transition property rights and production organization (Swinnen 2001) Widespread collectivization of agriculture began in 1928 in the FSU and in 1948 in Central European countries and the Baltics Objective was to pool peasant farms into large-scale collective farms, and then to nationalize the land and convert collectives into even larger state farms or agro-industrial complexes. However collectivization was implemented differently in each country, reflecting different stages of state control, resulting in a mixture of property rights regimes We probably do not know anything about the gender distribution of land rights pre-collectivization. Is it feasible to get this data at the individual level? Maybe not, given the time that has elapsed. Historical records might give information on whether peasant farms were registered under the husband’s name alone, or jointly Is this important to know? Judgment call.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 6 Post-communist agricultural privatization and land reform Not surprisingly, land reforms differed quite widely across countries, even if restitution of farmland to former owners is the most important process, in terms of TAL Typically, reform laws specify that former owners are restituted land in historical boundaries, if possible, or receive property rights to a plot of comparable size and quality In practice, there have been differences in the way collective and state farmland have been restituted (see next slide), but again, it is not clear whether restitution has been gender-equitable, or simply restored former ownership system

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 7 Selected land reform procedures in Central and Eastern European countries Collective farmlandState farmland Procedure% of TAL Procedure% of TAL AlbaniaDistribution (physical)76Distribution (physical)24 BulgariaRestitution72Miscellaneous9 Czech RepRestitution61Sale (leasing)25 HungaryRestitution + distribution (phys) + sale for compensation bonds 70Sale for compensation bonds+ sale (leasing) 12 Poland___4Sale (leasing)19 RussiaDistribution in shares40Distribution in shares58 Source: Swinnen 2001

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 8 Some possibilities at getting at this problem through a household survey Ask households about what they received or owned post- privatization, and ask about individual ownership of each type of asset (as in individuals within the household) Ask households to complete an asset accumulation record for important types of assets (land, agricultural assets, business assets), with dates that each asset was acquired or disposed of Obtain information on mode of acquisition Obtain information on who within the household had control of the asset (use individual ID) Using this information, generate gender-disaggregated time paths of asset accumulation

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 9 Caveats If you really want to get at intrahousehold asset control, this is NOT the same as classifying the household as male- or female-headed Nevertheless, looking at incidence of female headship in the ECA region might help identify vulnerable households, and if there are major differences in asset ownership in male vs. female-headed households, this could be policy relevant

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 10 There is a precedent for this type of work, from a very different setting… IFPRI’s work on the evolution of customary land tenure systems towards individualized land rights in Ghana and Sumatra faced very similar questions—how to track evolution of land rights from customary (collective?) control to individual control Study methodology involved two types of surveys: (1) extensive survey of communities, to find out local norms regarding land rights; and (2) intensive survey of households to find out how these land rights varied across households, and within households For the intensive survey, information on various outcome indicators also collected and analyzed

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 11 Customary land tenure and tree resource management in Ghana and Sumatra (Quisumbing and Otsuka, with Payongayong, Aidoo, and Suyanto, 2001)

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 12 Designing a module to look at land use: Ghana and Sumatra Ghana: uterine matrilineal system; men used to grow tree crops; women grew food crops; but food crops actually intercropped with cocoa, so women contributed labor to keeping cocoa fields clean while cocoa trees are young Plots have their own plot managers and even field managers (separate crop fields within plots) The way land is acquired and from whom determines property rights on land Sumatra: “Asian” matrilineal system; women inherit paddy land; men cultivate tree crop area; tree crops planted on land with very different land rights—agroforestry land (almost private property rights after trees planted); bush-fallow land (becoming converted to private property) The way land is used eventually determines property rights (clearing and tree-planting on formerly communal land, e.g. bush-fallow)

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 13 Ghana land use module Emphasis in Ghana modules: for each plot Mode of land acquisition Who acquired the land From whom Rights on the land Who is the plot manager Note: it is not enough to ask whether the household is male- or female-headed. Level of gender disaggregation goes down to the plot level.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 14 Sumatra land use module Emphasis in Sumatra: How land is used Mode of land acquisition Who acquired the land From whom Whether land can be inherited %age to sons and daughters Again, it is not enough to ask whether the household is male- or female-headed. Level of gender disaggregation goes down to the plot level.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 15 Surely, if these data could be collected in Ghana and Sumatra, they can be collected in ECA, which has more highly developed statistical systems!

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 16 What are the consequences of gender inequality in asset ownership, post-privatization? We do not know. We cannot immediately conclude that gender inequality in distribution of agricultural assets is “bad” for women, unless we also know how human capital assets are distributed (probably, more equally) and what are the gender differences in employment in agriculture, non- agriculture, and in self-employment

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 17 Examining the consequences of asset inequality across different types of assets In the Philippines, sons inherit land and most agricultural assets, and daughters obtain an education. Daughters more likely to work in nonagricultural employment Lifetime incomes are higher under this distribution of physical and human capital, than if both land and education were to be equalized across sons and daughters (Estudillo, Quisumbing, and Otsuka 2001)

INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Page 18 Thus, it is important to look at a range of assets, and the long-term incomes that can be generated from this portfolio of assets, rather than focus on one type of asset alone. As per capita incomes increase, returns from human capital may become more important than returns from physical capital