Women’s Agricultural Work and Nutrition in Pakistan: Findings from Qualitative Research

Abstract

Does women’s work in agriculture help or hinder nutrition in Pakistan? This question has assumed great significance due to the steady feminisation, over the last decade, of the agricultural labour force, and the absence of nutritional improvement in the same period.

This exploratory paper builds upon the agriculture-nutrition pathways framework to propose an approach to individual or household-level decision-making in which the provision of care (for children and women) plays an important part in determining nutrition outcomes. If nutrition is one of the factors in work, care and consumption choices, how might the terms of any trade-off be made more favourable to nutrition?

The paper examines various linkages between agricultural work and care using insights gained from qualitative research in two high productivity agricultural areas of the country. These linkages are strongly mediated through gendered norms in agricultural work as well as in care provision, and the terms of the possible choices with respect to work, care and consumption vary between socio-economic groups.