Mahabub Hossain

The Role of Gender in Economic Activities with Special Reference to Women’s Participation and Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract Bangladesh is known as a predominantly male-dominated society with traditional and religious beliefs that restrict women’s mobility and participation in economic and social activities. This article is based on national rural representative household-level data collected in 1987 and 2000 from 62 villages in Bangladesh jointly conducted by the International Rice Research Institute and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies. First, this article depicts patterns of women’s work and analyzes the factors that influence the gender division of labor. Second, a women empowerment index is developed from the 2000 survey data on intra-household decision-making in different spheres, and its relationship with women’s work is then explored. The persistent gender division of labor in rural Bangladesh has been found to be associated with both economic and socio-cultural factors. Rural economic activities within the household were found to have a weak impact on women’s empowerment.

Social capital and geography of learning: Roles in accelerating the spread of integrated pest management

This paper aims to show the relevance of spatial proximity and social capital in accelerating the spread of agricultural technologies such as integrated pest management (IPM). The research was done in response to the problem of slow diffusion of agricultural technologies. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in investigating the process of sharing and learning of IPM. Results show that social capital in terms of kin networks and spatial proximity such as found among farm neighbours are essential in the learning process and hence, diffusion of IPM among Filipino farmers. Kin networks and farm location are then important considerations in sampling participants strategically for the long-season IPM farmer field schools (FFS).

New rice technology and comparative advantage in rice production in the Philippines

The aim of this study is to assess the comparative advantage in rice production in the Philippines for the past three decades since 1966. We have found that the country gained sharp improvement in comparative advantage in rice production in 1979, when yield rose remarkably due to the diffusion of pest- and disease-resistant modern rice. Beginning in 1986 however, the country appears to have slowly lost its comparative advantage due to the decline in rice prices, stagnation in rice yield and rising cost of domestic factors. By 1990, the country completely lost its comparative advantage in rice production.