Paper short abstract:

This paper argues, through a case study of cardamom farming in Eastern Nepal, that given equal opportunities, women are able to play significant roles through their ability to acquire and convert capabilities into meaningful functionings.

Paper long abstract:

There is a plethora of evidence in the Global South that farming practice is gradually shifting from subsistence to High-Value Agriculture (HVA) and that income, employment, and secure livelihoods are the main attractions for farmers to make this shift. Nepalese farmers are no exception. As attractive as this shift to HVA is, however, it is not without its challenges. Ensuring a robust value chain mechanism, fair access to the market, enhancing human capabilities and opportunities, and gendered roles in the process are some of the issues that are of paramount importance to sustain HVA-based livelihood.

This shift in agricultural practice from subsistence to commercial farming of HVA and emerging signs of transformation in gender roles are being debated globally. This paper aims to contribute to this debate through an in-depth study taking a case of cardamom in Eastern Nepal. For this study, a survey was conducted among 512 households, and also carried-out 57 in-depth interviews, four focused group discussions, and documented 10 short case stories. We have used the capabilities framework of Robeyns as overall guidance to address the central research questions: how are capabilities linked to the division of roles in HVA and how do they contribute to reshaping gender relations? Women’s capabilities are influenced by social structure, human diversity, agency, social institutions, and access to resources. As such, women who have similar central set of capabilities may not produce similar results because they differ in terms of caste/ethnicity, class, age, and other factors. We have adapted the list of human capabilities from the list of central human capabilities of Robeyns to assess the state of gender (in)equalities in HVA.

The findings of this study reveal that the agricultural transition observed in Eastern Nepal has contributed to an increase in women’s choice of roles in the cardamom value chain through the expansion of their capabilities. Men's out-migration and flexible work conditions are seen to provide space for women to take roles that were traditionally assigned to men. Although women fall behind men in physical and safety-related roles, it was also seen that women have over the years built their capabilities to manage family finances, while equally contributing to farm decisions. Based on these findings and observations, this paper argues that given equal opportunities, women can play equally significant roles through their ability to acquire and convert capabilities into meaningful functionings, thereby also contributing to achieving more equality.