Geography of Gender Gaps: Regional Patterns of Income and Farm-Nonfarm Interaction Among Male- and Female-Headed Households in Eight African Countries

Many studies stress the existence of gender based income gaps across African production systems. Contextualizing such gaps in relation to regional characteristics, production systems, and nonfarm linkages challenges this. Household level data from 21 regions across eight African countries, collected in 2002 and 2008, are used to analyze production dynamics, market participation, and nonfarm linkages. Gender gaps are absent in 17 of the regions regardless of the overall regional income level. The results suggest that neither poverty nor growth in general discriminates against female headed households, but that causes of gender discrimination need to be found in specific regional contexts.