Research

Abstract: Extreme weather events are increasing due to climate change, leading subsistence farmers to  adopt coping strategies such as off-farm labor to diversify income sources. However, little is still known about how cultural norms, determining gender differences in access to land rights, shape these adaptation decisions. We explore the context of Malawi, where women also inherit land,using plot and household-level data from 2013 to 2019 to analyze the impact of drought on changes in farm and off-farm labor supply among couples. Our findings suggest that matrilocal households (where couples reside in the wife’s village) and patrilocal households (where couples reside in the husband’s village) employ different adaptation strategies in response to drought. When experiencing drought, matrilocal women work more on-farm activities and are more likely to be the sole decision-makers in agriculture, while their husbands tend to seek off-farm work for income diversification. In contrast, although patrilocal women also increase their farm work, we find no evidence of increased involvement in management decisions, nor are these households more likely to provide additional off-farm labor. These differences reflect gender disparities in land ownership: matrilocal women have majority land rights, while patrilocal men are the owners in their communities. These findings underscore how cultural norms intersect with gender to influence agricultural decision-making in response to weather shocks.

Presented at: 11th Annual FAERE conference (*) ;  Brown Bag Seminar - Konstanz University (Summer 2024) (*) ; 23rd Louis-André Gérard-Varet conference (2024) ; Workshop- AMSE Summer School of Discounting, Risk and the Environment ;  Workshop - PSE Summer School on Climate Change (2023);  AMSE PhD Seminar (2023, 2024).

*Scheduled