This paper aims to explore ethnic minority women’s gendered perceptions and processes of agricultural innovation in the Northern uplands of Vietnam. The key research question asks how women develop innovations and learn new agricultural practices within patriarchal family structures.,In-depth interviews including life histories were conducted with 17 female and 10 male farmers from different socio-economic groups; participant observation and key informant interviews were also carried out.,Women’s innovation processes are deeply embedded in their positions as wives and daughters-in-law. Their innovation tends to be incremental, small-scale and less technological, and they use innovation networks of women rather than those of the formal agricultural institutions, including bringing innovation knowledge from their birth family to the patrilocal household. Unlike men’s perceived innovation, women’s innovation is strongly linked to small-scale entrepreneurship, and it is a powerful approach in the sense that it strengthens the position of women in their families while improving the household economy.,Identifying socially constructed innovation processes helps policymakers to rethink the introduction of ready-made innovation packages, both in terms of content and delivery, and to facilitate innovation for women, as well as men, in marginalized positions.,Understanding the gendered processes of innovation instead of measuring gender gaps in innovation outcomes sheds light on women’s interests and preferences, which can inform policies for supporting women’s innovation and thereby lead to social change, including gender equity.,This paper contributes to the understanding of gendered innovation processes and entrepreneurship associated with agriculture in rural areas in non-Western ethnic-minority contexts, which is an area that past and current research on entrepreneurship has relatively ignored.

中文翻译：

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越南北部高地农业创新的性别过程

本文旨在探讨越南北部高地少数民族妇女的性别观念和农业创新过程。关键的研究问题是妇女如何在父权制家庭结构中发展创新和学习新的农业实践。对包括生活史在内的深入访谈与来自不同社会经济群体的17名女性和10名男性农民进行了访谈。还进行了参与者观察和关键知情人访谈。妇女的创新过程深深地植根于妻子和w妇的位置。他们的创新往往是渐进的，小规模的，技术含量较低的，他们使用妇女的创新网络，而不是正规农业机构的创新网络，包括将创新知识从他们的出生家庭带入父辈家庭。与男性的创新不同，女性的创新与小规模的企业家精神紧密相关，从某种意义上说，这是一种有力的方法，可以增强女性在家庭中的地位，同时改善家庭经济。确定社会建构的创新过程有助于决策者重新考虑在内容和交付方面采用现成的创新方案，并促进处于边缘地位的妇女和男子的创新。了解创新的性别过程，而不是衡量创新成果中的性别差距着眼于妇女的利益和偏好，可以为支持妇女创新的政策提供依据，从而导致社会变革，