Chowdhury et al (2011); PDF file - Prolinnova

424 A. H. Chowdhury et al.
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Figures 3 and 4 show changes in intra-household decision making in
video and control villages, respectively. In all aspects, there was a substantial
reduction in decisions being made by men alone, and a corresponding
increase in decisions made jointly by both men and women in the video
villages. In contrast, there was no substantial change in the control village.
‘My husband used to quarrel with me when I was not able to preserve
good quality seeds. After learning from the video I could retain quality
seeds which increased our rice production (. ..) We could also sell
and exchange the seeds with our neighbors (. ..) My husband started
consulting me more in matters of rice variety, selling seed and paddy’.
Above statements of a woman in a video village indicate how their role in
decision-making about selling of rice seed and paddy significantly increased.
Similarly, they were consulted more about how to spend this additional
income. Informal interviews and group discussions with women indicate
% women reported
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Before
After
Which
crop to
cultivate
Before
After
Which rice
variety to
cultivate
Before
After
Source of
rice seed
Before
After
Where
(field) to
cultivate a
crop
Men Women Joint
Before
After
Retaining
own rice
seed
Before
After
Selling
additional
seed
Before
After
Selling
additional
paddy
Before
After
Spending
additional
income
FIGURE 3 Household decision-making pattern in video villages in northwest Bangladesh in
2005 (before videos were introduced) and 2008 (after videos were introduced).