Women and farmland preservation: The impact of women's participation in farmland management governance in Japan

Women's empowerment is considered vital for successful natural resource management. However, owing to the problem of reverse causality, previous empirical studies have uncovered little evidence that enhancing women's presence in community institutions for natural resource management leads to resource preservation. This study explores the causal impact of women's participation in farmland management governance in Japan on farmland preservation. In 2010, municipal agricultural committees managing farmland in Japan set the goal of having at least two women members in the executive committee (EC), the principal decision-making body. We use the timing of the election of EC members as an instrumental variable. Using panel data on agricultural committees from 2011 to 2015, the results show that agricultural committees with a high proportion of women members show significantly greater improvements in farmland preservation. This beneficial impact of women's participation is likely attributable to not only the increased role of women in decision making, but also the increase in the meetings of EC members for in-house training.