Transforming Gender Relations through the Market The Impact of Smallholder Milk Market Participation on Women`s Intra-household Bargaining Position in Ethiopia

We employ a quasi-experimental design, propensity score matching and interviews to study the effect of smallholder milk market participation on women`s relative intra-household bargaining position in rural Ethiopia. Findings indicate that in market participating households milk income is two times higher and its control shifted from women to men. Men tend to return this income in part to their wives. In the game, men made 19-22% more proposals and expect to receive 16% less while women made 19% lower proposals and expect to receive 17-18% more in market participating households. Men argue returning income to wife is a recognition for their household maintenance responsibilities while women argue it is men`s tactic for reducing intrahousehold conflict related to income sharing and for ensuring that women will continue to hold household maintenance responsibilities. In general, our results reveals a positive relationship between household market participation and women`s intra-household bargaining position. Women in market participating households have 89-93% better relative intra-household bargaining position compared to women in non-participating households. Hence, we argue household market participation can transform the existing gender relations by improving women`s perceived intra-household bargaining positions.