ABSTRACT

Women’s role in herding and their empowerment in Mongolian herding households has been little studied, and their participation in decision-making can have important implications for rural households. We draw on a unique sample of 60 Mongolian herding households carried out in 2017 to provide evidence for how herding work and related decision-making is shared between husbands and wives. We extend previous work by using a much more detailed survey, asking about participation in 22 different activities related to herding and 39 decisions, and by analysing factors associated with greater participation in herding decisions by Mongolian women. We show that most herding tasks are not gendered, and, in many tasks, women contribute more time than men. Women made few herding-related decisions alone, and they participate jointly with their spouses in about half the decisions, many fewer than men. Women who contribute more to herding income through milk and cashmere production have more input into many decisions; more educated women have greater participation in some decisions. These findings suggest policy paths toward greater equality and improved outcomes in Mongolian herding households.

摘要

蒙古牧民家庭中妇女在放牧中的作用及其赋权的研究很少，她们参与决策可能对农村家庭产生重要影响。我们利用 2017 年开展的 60 个蒙古牧民家庭的独特样本，为丈夫和妻子之间如何分担放牧工作和相关决策提供证据。我们通过使用更详细的调查来扩展之前的工作，询问参与与放牧有关的 22 项不同活动和 39 项决策，并分析与蒙古妇女更多地参与放牧决策相关的因素。我们表明，大多数放牧任务是不分性别的，而且在许多任务中，女性贡献的时间比男性多。女性很少单独做出与放牧有关的决定，她们与配偶共同参与了大约一半的决定，比男性少很多。通过牛奶和羊绒生产为放牧收入贡献更多的女性对许多决策有更多的投入；受过更多教育的妇女更多地参与某些决策。这些发现表明了蒙古牧民家庭实现更大平等和改善结果的政策路径。