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Gender and Modern Supply Chains in

Developing Countries
a b
Miet Maertens & Johan F.M. Swinnen
a
Bio-economics Division, Department of Earth and Environmental
Sciences , University of Leuven , Belgium
b
LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance,
Department of Economics , University of Leuven , Belgium
Published online: 24 Jul 2012.

To cite this article: Miet Maertens & Johan F.M. Swinnen (2012) Gender and Modern Supply
Chains in Developing Countries, The Journal of Development Studies, 48:10, 1412-1430, DOI:
10.1080/00220388.2012.663902

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 Journal of Development Studies,
Vol. 48, No. 10, 14121430, October 2012

Gender and Modern Supply Chains

in Developing Countries
MIET MAERTENS* & JOHAN F.M. SWINNEN**
*Bio-economics Division, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Leuven, Belgium, **LICOS
Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, Department of Economics, University of Leuven, Belgium

Final version received October 2011

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ABSTRACT The rapid spread of modern supply chains in developing countries is profoundly changing the way
food is produced and traded. In this article we examine gender issues related to this change. We conceptualise
various mechanisms through which women are directly aected, we review existing empirical evidence and add
new survey-based evidence. Our results suggest that, although modern supply chains are gendered, their growth
is associated with reduced gender inequalities in rural areas. We nd that women benet more and more directly
from large-scale estate production and agro-industrial processing, and the creation of employment in these
modern agro-industries than from smallholder contract-farming.

1. Introduction
During the past decades the integration of developing countries in global markets accelerated
with increased participation in international trade and growing foreign direct investment (FDI)
inows. This has resulted in rapid change in developing countries agri-food systems with rapid
expansion of so-called modern food supply chains (Swinnen, 2007). These modern supply chains
(MSC) comprise the production and trade of high-value produce, usually destined for export to
high-income markets or for supermarket retail in high-income urban market segments. MSC are
expanding rapidly across developing regions as global trade in high-value agricultural products
such as fresh fruits and vegetables, sh and seafood products is increasing sharply and
increasingly originates from developing countries1 (Aksoy and Beghin, 2005) and as super-
markets are spreading rapidly across developing countries (Reardon et al., 2003). MSC are
characterised by the use of high standards to govern quality and food safety throughout the
chains, high levels of vertical coordination including contract-farming in the chains, a high
degree of consolidation of the supply base and agro-industrial processing whereas traditional
food supply chains in poor countries are governed through spot market transactions involving a
large number of small traders.
While there is consensus that the emergence and spread of MSC is profoundly changing the
way food is produced and traded, with important eects for rural households in developing
countries, there is still debate on the welfare implications. Some studies show that the expansion

Correspondence Address: Miet Maertens, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Leuven,
Celestijnenlaan 200E, Box 2411, Leuven 3001, Belgium. Email: miet.maertens@ees.kuleuven.be

ISSN 0022-0388 Print/1743-9140 Online/12/101412-19 2012 Taylor & Francis

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2012.663902
 Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries 1413

of MSC increases rural incomes and alleviates rural poverty (Maertens and Swinnen, 2009;
Maertens et al., 2012; Minten et al., 2009). Other reports have argued that MSC exacerbate
existing inequalities because the poorest farmers may be excluded or exploited by large, often
multinational, companies dominating the chains (Key and Runsten, 1999; Farina and Reardon,
2000; Minot and Ngigi, 2004).
In the discussion on MSC and welfare, gender issues have received less attention, which is
surprising since women play a very important role in agriculture and in development in poor
countries. Yet, only few studies have analysed the gender eects of high-value agri-food trade
and modernisation of supply chains (Fontana et al., 1998). A rst set of studies has focused on
the exclusion of women in high-value contract-farming and the implications of contract-farming
for womens work intensity (Eaton and Sheperd, 2001; Dolan, 2001, 2004; Singh, 2002). A
second set of studies has focused on gender discrimination in employment in high-value supply
chains and the impact of codes-of-conduct on gender discrimination and workers wellbeing
(Barrientos and Smith, 2007; Barrientos et al., 2003; Nelson et al., 2007). These studies point to
prevailing gender inequalities in access to contracts and in employment conditions, and to the
inability of currently applied codes to adequately address these inequalities.
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There are two main shortcomings in the current literature on gender and MSC. First, studies
have identied and analysed important specic gender aspects but the literature lacks a more
comprehensive view on dierent eects and their interactions. Second, existing empirical
evidence is mainly qualitative and there is a need for more quantitative and survey-based
evidence. While important insights come out of qualitative studies, complementing these with
quantitative analyses is important to come to more objective and more generally valid ndings
and to provide causal explanations of qualitative explorations. One of the key contributions of
our quantitative approach is that data collection is based on a random and representative sample
which allows measuring size eects and statistical analysis.
The objective of this article is to contribute to a better understanding of the gender
implications of the growth in high-value agricultural production and trade and the associated
modernisation of agri-food supply chains. The article attempts to do so in three ways. First, we
analyse and conceptualise the various channels through which women are aected by the
emergence of MSC. Second, we review existing empirical evidence and add new survey-based
quantitative evidence from two high-value horticulture supply chains in Senegal. Third, we
identify a series of questions and issues on which there is no or very little empirical evidence
and which require answering before conclusive assessments can be made. Our review focuses
mainly, although not exclusively, on high-value horticulture supply chains in Sub-Saharan Africa
(SSA). This focus is of particular relevance because horticulture sectors have been highly
dynamic and strongly aected by processes of globalisation and modernisation (Aksoy and
Beghin, 2005; Maertens et al., 2012) and because gender inequality is a very important issue in
SSA (Quisumbing and Mc Claerty, 2006).

2. Conceptual Framework and Related Literature

In this section we present a conceptual framework to identify mechanisms through which women
are aected by the growth in MSC. To understand how MSC aects gender inequality and
female empowerment, it is necessary to combine insights from the supply chain literature,
particularly insights on the structure of supply chains and the channels through which rural
households are aected, with insights from intra-household economics.
We discuss ve important gender issues related to the growth in MSC: (1) gender bias in access
to contracts; (2) gender bias in contract conditions; (3) changes in the time allocation of women;
(4) changes in gender-specic cropping patterns and technology; and (5) changes in income and
intra-household decision-making power over income. This is not meant to be an exclusive list of
gender implications but rather a list of important possible eects which have been discussed in the
literature. These issues are primarily direct gender eects and do not include possible spillover
 1414 M. Maertens & J.F.M. Swinnen

eects through indirect and more complex causal linkages.2 In addition, we restrict ourselves to
gender issues surrounding the economic activity of women and do not refer to the reproductive
task of women. Both issues, spillover eects and the reproductive work of women, are important
in a gender analysis of MSC but they are as yet not addressed in the literature and our case studies
do not have data on them. We believe our focus on the direct economic eects is a reasonable
approach in this rst quantitative attempt to analyse and measure gender implications of MSC
and requires results to be interpreted with care. Therefore, we specically discuss unresolved
issues related to indirect eects and reproductive activities in the concluding section.
To understand intra-household gender eects, it is important to have a good perspective on
how MSC aect rural households themselves. Previous research on the poverty eects of MSC has
shown that there are dierent channels through which households are aected, product-market
and labour-market channels, with important implications for poverty reduction (Maertens and
Swinnen, 2009; Maertens et al., 2011). We therefore start with a review and discussion of
household eects; we then explain the ve potential (intra-household) gender eects; and in the
rest of the article we then empirically analyse these gender issues with survey data from two case-
studies in Senegal and relate our ndings to other empirical studies in this literature.
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Modern Supply Chains and Rural Households

The modernisation of food supply chains entails important structural changes in the food supply
system. First, MSC, such as fresh fruit and vegetable export supply chains and supermarket-
driven fresh food chains, are increasingly governed through stringent food standards, including
public regulations as well as corporate standards. Second, MSC usually entail a certain degree of
consolidation and the involvement of agro-industrial rms or large buyers. This consolidation
can happen at the level of food processors, exporters or food distributors but also at the level of
primary production. Third, rather than being based on spot market transactions MSC entail
varying levels of vertical coordination at dierent nodes in the chains. This is most apparent in
the form of contract-farming between agro-industrial rms or food distributors and primary
producers. In the most extreme case, primary production is completely vertically integrated in
upstream processing and trading activities. Fourth, vertical coordination in MSC often involves
some kind of market interlinking. This implies that transactions are carried out in multiple
markets (Swinnen and Vandeplas, 2009); for example the delivery of inputs and credit to farmers
by food companies in return for supplies of primary produce under contract-farming
arrangements.
There are large variations in the degree of supply base consolidation, the extent of agro-
industrialisation, the level of vertical coordination and the occurrence of market interlinking
across countries and sectors (Swinnen and Maertens, 2007). These variations are important in
determining how rural households are connected to and aected by MSC: through product
markets or through labour markets. First, farm-households are aected through the production
and marketing of high-value produce in contract-farming schemes with the agro-industry.
Contract-farming has often been criticised for exploiting unequal power relations and extracting
rents from supply chains (for example, Little and Watts, 1994; Wilson, 1986). However, recent
theoretical work on contract-farming shows that under conditions of weak contract enforcement
and market interlinking realistic conditions for MSC contracted farmers are likely to benet
(for example, Swinnen et al., 2010; Swinnen and Vandeplas, 2009). Also recent empirical studies
have shown that farmers generally gain from participation in high-value contract-farming
schemes through enhanced access to inputs, reduced production and marketing risk, improved
technology and productivity, and ultimately higher incomes which has been empirically
demonstrated by various authors (for example, Swinnen, 2007; Minten et al., 2009). Second, if
high-value supply chains are characterised by contracting with large commercial farms or by
vertically integrated estate production, or if labour-intensive post-harvesting and processing is
needed for example, because of increased requirements for sorting, grading, washing, labelling
 Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries 1415

etc. incorporated in public regulations and private standards local households may be aected
through employment and labour market eects. Empirical studies have demonstrated that
especially the poorest households benet through labour market eects (for example, Maertens
and Swinnen, 2009; Maertens et al., 2011).

Intra-Household and Gender Issues

The impact of the growth in high-value export supply chains on total household income and
welfare is only part of the story. Individual household members may have dierent preferences
and may not pool resources (Ellis, 1998). It has been observed that income controlled by women
has a superior development impact because such income is more likely associated with improved
child nutrition, and increased spending on childrens education, health care, and so forth
(Quisumbing and McClaerty, 2006). So, the participation of women in MSC and female control
over income derived from MSC matters as this might be positively associated with reduced
gender inequality in rural areas and broader development goals. There are several possible eects
that need to be taken into account when analysing the gender implications of the growth in
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MSC.
A rst issue is whether the access to production and labour contracts3 in these chains is biased
against women. It has been demonstrated in the literature that poorer households are often
excluded from high-value contract-farming for lack of access to sucient productive resources
(Maertens and Swinnen, 2009; Neven et al., 2009). Likewise, women might be excluded from
production contracts because they generally have less access to land, capital, credit, information
and technology. In addition, cultural, social and religious norms might prevent women from
wage work outside the home and family farm (Lanjouw and Lanjouw, 2001; Haggblade et al.,
1988), and from labour contracts in the agro-industry. Also gender dierences in the level of
education and skills might contribute to a gender bias in the access to production and labour
contracts in MSC. Exclusion of women from contracting might result in women being deprived
of the economic benets MSC bring about.
Second, even if women are included in MSC through production or labour contracts, contract
conditions might be gendered. Given their lower level of education and poorer access to
information, technology and productive resources, women might be in an inferior bargaining
position vis-a-vis agro-industrial companies and therefore face unfavorable employment
conditions, such as lower wages or longer working hours, or worse contract specications,
such as lower prices. Such gender discrimination in wages and work conditions has been
documented for other sectors (Canagarajah et al., 2001; Fontana et al., 1998; Lanjouw and
Lanjouw, 2001; Zhang et al., 2004) .
Third, if women are excluded or disadvantaged in the access to production and labour
contracts in MSC, they might not only be deprived favorable economic opportunities, they might
even be adversely aected through changes in the amount and quality of the work they do. If
men turn to wage labour in agro-industries, their labour on the family farm might be substituted
by female labour. Likewise, men might rely on female family labour for the production of high-
value crops under contract. This increases womens work intensity and might also increase the
level of drudgery and risk (for example, through agro-chemical use) in womens work. Especially
when the division of labour in agriculture is gender sequential4 with men and women
performing separate (and joint) tasks on the same plots women might be adversely aected
through increased work intensity if their husband or male siblings are involved in production or
labour contracts with the agro-industry.
Fourth, the exclusion of women from production contracts might lead to additional adverse
eects and increased gender inequality. High-value contract-farming is likely to change the
cropping pattern and the level of technology on the household farm. Many authors have indeed
documented contract-farming leading to technological improvements (e.g. Minten et al., 2009).
These changes might relegate women to the lowest productivity branches of agricultural
 1416 M. Maertens & J.F.M. Swinnen

production while increasing the productivity of men, contributing to gender inequality. Changed
cropping patterns might result in a reallocation of land to contract production, jeopardising food
production done by women, and ultimately lead to the deterioration of the food security
situation of women and children (Baumann, 2000). Especially when the division of labour in
agriculture is gender specic5 with men and women cultivating dierent crops on dierent
plots women might be adversely aected through this mechanism.
Fifth, the direct access of women to production and labour contracts in MSC might play an
important part in determining their bargaining power over the additional income derived from
the chains, and ultimately determine womens economic independence and empowerment. On
the one hand, the growth in MSC might increase household income but if women are largely
excluded from contracting, they might not have much decision-making power over the additional
income. Female family labour is often unpaid or inadequately remunerated, which results in
women not benetting directly from contract-farming even if they perform part of the work on
contracted plots controlled by their husband or male siblings. On the other hand, if women are
the contracted party themselves they might have a higher bargaining power over the derived
income because they directly receive cash earnings or wages from the agro-industry, and because
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these earnings are more directly attributable to their labour (Zhang et al., 2004). Moreover, if the
income derived from contracting between the agro-industry and female household members
becomes an important part of total household income, the bargaining and decision-making
power of women in the household might increase, resulting in a higher economic independence
and empowerment for women (Bussman, 2009).

3. Case-Studies
To empirically document and quantify the gender eects in MSC in developing countries, we use
insights from two case-studies of high-value horticulture export chains in Senegal. The case-
studies represent the two main horticulture zones in Senegal: (1) the area Les Niayes from
where over 90 per cent of exported beans and a large share of exported mango originate and (2)
the Senegal River Delta area from where the large majority of tomato exports originates. Beans,
tomatoes and mangos are the main horticulture export crops in Senegal, accounting together for
more than two thirds of total horticulture export value. Fresh fruit and vegetable (FFV) exports
from Senegal to the European Union (EU) have increased tremendously in the past 10 years:
from 5 million US$ in 2000 to 30 million US$ in 2009 (Figure 1).
The export supply chains for tomato, bean and mango dier substantially in certain aspects.
The tomato supply chain6 is dominated by one multinational company organising the complete
production and export of tomatoes from the Senegal River Delta area to several European

Figure 1. Value of horticulture exports from Senegal, 20002009

Source: Comtrade (2010).
 Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries 1417

countries. The company a subsidiary of a French holding with food production and
distribution aliates in Europe, Africa and Latin America started investing in horticulture in
Senegal in 2001. The export tomato chain is completely vertically integrated and local
smallholder suppliers are completely excluded. The company hires some 3,000 local labourers to
work on its estate farms and in its processing unit. The multinational holding aims at high-
standards production through using labour codes such as those specied by ETI (Ethical Trading
Initiative) and through certication by dierent schemes, including GlobalGAP (formerly
EurepGAP), BRC (British Retail Consortium) and Tescos Nature Choice.
The bean supply chain7 involves several exporting companies in the Niayes region and is based
partially on smallholder contract-farming and partially on vertically integrated agro-industrial
production. Companies in this sector increasingly seek compliance with GlobalGAP standards
and for that started their own integrated estate production, which is causing a profound shift in
the governance structure of the bean supply chain. The share of produce interviewed exporters
procure from local smallholders decreased from 95 per cent in 1999 to 45 per cent in 2007.8 Many
local farm-households are involved in bean export production either as contract-farmer or as
employee.
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The mango supply chain also involves several exporting companies in the Niayes region and is
(still) largely based on smallholder contract-farming. In 2007, interviewed companies were
sourcing 85 per cent of produce from smallholders. Yet, several mango export companies were at
the time of the interview investing in establishing new large-scale vertically-integrated mango
estates. A similar shift from smallholder contract-farming towards large-scale agro-industrial
production can be expected for the near future when newly established mango orchards become
productive.
In line with the discussion above, these structural dierences in the export supply chains result
in rural households being directly aected only through labour markets in the case of tomato
exports in the Senegal River Delta region and through labour and product markets in the case of
bean and mango exports in the Niayes region.

4. Data
In each of the case-study areas, we organised extensive primary data collection at dierent levels
of the supply chains; including qualitative interviews with experts, farmers organisations and
village representatives; quantitative interviews with exporting companies; and a large and
comprehensive household survey.
The quantitative rm-level interviews cover 13 bean exporting companies, of which eight also
export mango, in the Niayes region interviewed in April 2005 and June 2007 and the sole
multinational company dominating tomato exports from the Senegal River Delta area
interviewed in September 2005 and March 2006. These companies together represent 46 per cent
of bean exports, 46 per cent of mango exports and 60 per cent of tomato exports. The household
survey in the Niayes region was conducted in JulyAugust 2007 and covered 450 households.9
The household survey in the Senegal River Delta region was conducted in FebruaryApril 2006
and covered 300 households. Sampling was done through village clustering and stratied random
selection of households within the clusters, with contract farmers and agro-industrial employees
in the horticulture export sector being oversampled. Sampling weights are used to correct for
that oversampling and draw correct inferences from statistics.
The survey data include, besides general household level information, quantitative and gender-
disaggregated data on employment and working conditions in the FFV agro-industry including
recall information on employment and on contract-farming with the export industry. The
survey data from the Niayes region include additional gender-disaggregated data on land
ownership, control and management of plots, livestock ownership, access to credit, child
education, and membership of associations. Data were obtained using a survey instrument with
specic sections for dierent respondents: (1) for the (mostly male) household head; (2) for the
 1418 M. Maertens & J.F.M. Swinnen

spouse or in case of polygamist households for the spouse responsible for the housekeeping; (3)
for the farmer, if any, having a contract with the export industry for the production of fruits and
vegetables; and (4) for a women, if any, employed at a horticulture export company.
A strength of our data is the detail in income data that allow calculating household net income
from farm and o-farm sources, the latter in a gender-disaggregated way. A limitation of our
data for this study10 is a lack of detail in labour data: the data do not allow calculating gender
disaggregated time allocation to agriculture and other income-generating activities.

5. Gender Outcomes
5.1. Access to Production Contracts
Female farmers are mostly excluded from contracting with agro-industrial rms for the delivery
of high-value produce. Our data from Senegal show a clear gender bias in access to production
contracts. Within the sample, only two out of 73 contracted bean farmers and two out of 58
contracted mango farmers are women. This is consistent with other ndings in the literature.
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Although there are some examples of successful integration of women as contracted party in
contract-farming schemes, most available studies indicate that female farmers are largely
excluded from high-value contract-farming. Dolan (2001) observes less than 10 per cent of
female farmers in smallholder FFV contract-farming schemes in Kenyan and Eaton and Sheperd
(2001) nd that in large contract-farming schemes involving many thousands of farmers in China
contracts were exclusively with men.
The reasons for this exclusion of female contractors relate to their limited access to productive
resources. Interviewed horticulture exporting companies in the Niayes region in Senegal stated
that they are strongly biased towards men in selecting contracted suppliers in order to secure
access to land and labour. In addition, women are disadvantaged in contracting with the export
industry because they lack claims to irrigation water and infrastructure, which is a crucial input
for bean production. Also Dolan (2001) nds that the preference of food companies to contract
with men is driven by companies need to secure access to land and labour for a guaranteed
supply of primary produce and that women are excluded because they lack statutory rights over
land and because they have less authority over family labour compared to their husband and
male siblings

5.2. Access to Labour Contracts

In sharp contrast to production contracts, there is no bias against women in the access to labour
contracts in MSC. In fact, the agro-industrial estates and agro-processing companies that
dominate MSC employ a large number of workers and a large share of them are female workers.
This is documented for several SSA horticulture export chains in Table 1. The gures show that a
large share of the thousands of employees in specic horticulture export sectors is female. In our
casestudies in Senegal 90 per cent of the employees in mango and/or bean exporting companies
and 60 per cent in the tomato exporting company are female. Also in other countries the share of
female labourers in the FFV agro-industry is particularly high; for example in the ower industry
in Kenya and Uganda (75%) and the fresh vegetable sector in Zambia (65%).
These gures reveal that the growth in MSC in developing countries has been associated with a
feminisation of rural labour markets. The survey data from Senegal allow measuring the
importance of the observed gender and labour market eects. We nd that in both casestudy
regions almost one third of rural households have women who are currently employed in the
FFV agro-industry (Figure 2). In the Niayes area female employment in the horticulture export
industry increased from less than 5 per cent of local households in 1999 (before the largest
companies moved away from smallholder contract-farming towards integrated estate produc-
tion) to more than 30 per cent of households in 2007. Similarly, in the Senegal River Delta area
 Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries 1419

Table 1. Employment in the horticulture export agro-industry in selected sub-Saharan African countries

Number of employees in Share of

Country Commodity Year of survey the FFV agro-industry female employees

Cameroon Banana 2003 10,000

Cote dIvoire Banana and pineapple 2002 35,000
Kenya Flowers 2002 40,00070,000 75%
Fruits and vegetables 2,000,000
Senegal French beans 2005 12,000 90%
Cherry tomatoes 2006 3,000 60%
Uganda Flowers 1998 3,300 75%
Zambia Vegetables 2002/03 7,500 65%
Flowers 2002/03 2,500 35%
South Africa Deciduous fruit 1994 283,000 53%

Source: Maertens et al. (2012).

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Figure 2. Gender disaggregated participation in agro-industrial employment in two case-study regions in

Senegal
Source: Calculated from survey data.

the share of households having female members employed in the tomato export industry
increased sharply from 2002 onwards (when tomato export activities in this region started) and
reached about 30 per cent in 2006. In this case male employment is almost as high as female
employment while in the Niayes region male employment in the horticulture agro-industry
represents less than 10 per cent of households.
These are large and important eects, especially since employment in the agro-industry mainly
concerns relatively poorer households11 and since other o-farm employment opportunities for
(poor) women are very limited in the casestudy regions. Of the women employed in the
horticulture export industry in the Niayes region 89 per cent indicate to have never been
employed outside the home and the household farm before, and 83 per cent indicate to have no
other possibilities for wage employment outside the horticulture export industry. Similarly, in the
Senegal River Delta area only 11 per cent of households have female household members
working as o-farm wage laborer outside the tomato export industry (compared to 22% for male
household members).
 1420 M. Maertens & J.F.M. Swinnen

Agro-industrial rms mention their preference to hire female workers to be related to the
capabilities of women for delicate harvesting and handling of fresh produce; except for
harvesting mango, which involves climbing trees and for which male workers are preferred.
There may be other explanations. Dolan (2004) argues that the concentration of female labour in
horticulture export supply chains in Kenya is related to low cost and exible labour adjustment
to just-in-time strategies of overseas supermarkets at the downstream end of the supply chain.
Another possible explanation is that women are more ecient in certain tasks: in the bean sector
in Kenya female farmers were found to do a much better job in harvesting, leading to
substantially higher prots (Kimenye, 2005). Finally, gender biased employment for specic
activities may reect local traditions and cultural factors, as specic tasks have been traditionally
performed by either men or women. We do not have good empirical evidence to test these
various potential explanations.
However, we can conclude that the growth of MSC in Senegal, and other developing
countries, has resulted in a feminisation of the rural labour market. This is an important nding
in itself, given that o-farm employment opportunities for rural women in developing countries
are often lacking while female wage employment is positively associated with womens wellbeing
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and broader development goals.

5.3. Employment Conditions in Labour Contracts

Some studies argue that labour markets themselves may be bearers of and even reinforce
gender inequality (Casale, 2004; Barrientos et al., 2003). Gender discrimination in labour
markets may come from wage dierentials between male and female workers and from gender
dierences in job security, working conditions, type of contracts, etc. Tables 2 and 3 present
gender disaggregated data on the employment characteristics of hundreds of workers in the bean,
mango and tomato export chains in Senegal. First, a quarter of female workers in the bean and
mango industry in the Niayes region is remunerated as pieceworkers based on the number of
bags or boxes of produce handled while all male workers receive daily wages (Table 2). We
have no information on whether the piecework performed by women is more or less strenuous
and entails more or less work for the same wage. However, we do nd that there is no signicant
dierence in the actual daily wages between pieceworkers (1645 FCFA, Francs Communate
Financiere Africaine, on average) and daily wage workers (1700 FCFA on average).
Second, in the Senegal River Delta region, nearly all female workers in the tomato export
industry are casual or seasonal labourers while 30 per cent of the male workers are permanent
employees12 (Table 3). During our interview, the tomato exporting company explained that the
reason for this gender dierence in permanent and temporary labour is the higher skills needed
for permanent positions and the general low level of education among women. Here we do nd a
statistically signicant dierence, at the 1 per cent level, in the actual daily wages between casual
or seasonal workers (2062 FCFA on average) and permanent employees (3984 FCFA on
average).
Third, we nd that women have shorter employment periods than men, but work somewhat
more hours per day when employed. Female workers in the bean and mango export industry
work on average 8.6 hours per day, 11 per cent more than the average of 7.8 hours per day for
male workers. They are employed on average 3.6 months a year, 16 per cent less than the average
of 4.3 months for men (Table 2). Likewise, female workers in the tomato export industry work
on average 5.7 months a year compared to 8.1 months for male workers (Table 3). The shorter
employment periods for women might be because several women of the same, often polygamist,
households often take turns in working in the agro-industry and staying at home for
housekeeping and child care.
Fourth, there are large and signicant dierences in daily and hourly wages between male and
female workers in both regions. Daily wages are on average 1664 FCFA for women compared to
1895 FCFA for men in the bean and mango industry in the Niayes region (Table 2); and on
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Table 2. Gender disaggregated employment conditions for dierent type of workers, Niayes region, 2007

Employment in the Other agricultural Other non-agricultural

export agro-industry employment (on family farms) employment
Female Male Female Male Female Male
workers workers t statistic workers workers t statistic workers workers t statistic

Workers in the sample 228 53 79 30 33 64

Share of casual/seasonal workers 97.8% 96.2% 100% 100% 36.4% 18.8%
Share of permanent workers 2.2% 3.8% 0% 0% 63.6% 81.3%
Share of pieceworkers 25.9% 0% 8.9% 6.7% 0% 1.6%
Share of xed rate workers 74.1% 100% 91.1% 93.3% 100% 98.4%
Daily wages (FCFA) 1,664 1,895 2.59*** 1,309 1,995 4.07*** 1,391 2,846 3.85***
Working hours per day 8.6 7.8 72.47*** 7.4 7.4 0.006 8.5 10.3 2.76***
Working months per year 3.66 4.35 2.43*** 5.42 6.13 0.86 8.42 9.73 1.74*
Hourly wages (FCFA)1 205.1 257.8 3.61*** 180.7 294.4 4.36*** 166.5 306.5 2.88***
bean subsector 194.2 204.0 0.44
mango subsector 265.8 283.2 0.73

Source: Calculated from survey data.

1
Hourly wages are calculated from observations on daily wages and working hours per day.
Daily wages, working hours per day, working months per year, and hourly wages for female and male workers are compared using ttest: t statistics are reported for
the hypothesis H0: mean (male worker) mean (female worker) 0 with statistically signicant dierences indicated with *p 5 .1, **p 5 .05 and ***p 5 .01.
Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries 1421
 1422 M. Maertens & J.F.M. Swinnen

Table 3. Gender disaggregated employment conditions for dierent type of workers, Senegal River Delta
region, 2007

Employment in the export

agro-industry Other employment
Female Male Female Male
workers workers t statistic workers workers t statistic

Workers in the sample 303 196 43 82

Share of casual/temporary workers 98% 70% 93% 82%
Share of permanent workers 2% 30% 7% 18%
Share of pieceworkers 0% 0% 0% 0%
Share of xed rate workers 100% 100% 100% 100%
Daily wages (FCFA) 2,055 2,712 5.04*** 2,062 2,948 1.95**
casual/seasonal workers 2,045 2,100 0.49 2,082 2,405 1.99**
permanent workers 2,500 4,134 1,805 5,497
Working months per year 5.73 8.14 6.97*** 5.53 6.42 1.27*

Source: Calculated from survey data.

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Daily wages and working months per year for female and male workers are compared using ttest: t statistics
are reported for the hypothesis H0: mean (male worker) mean (female worker) 0 with statistically
signicant dierences indicated with *p 5 .1, **p 5 .05 and ***p 5 .01.

average 2055 FCFA for women compared to 2712 FCFA for men in the tomato industry in the
Senegal River Delta region (Table 3). However, gender wage dierentials disappear when
comparing male and female wages within the bean and mango subsectors (Table 2) and among
seasonal and permanent workers in the tomato industry (Table 3). This suggests that men and
women receive equal wages for the same jobs and hence that there is no direct gender wage
discrimination. Gender wage discrimination is indirect and related to the fact that men and
women are involved in dierent types of jobs. The fact that wages in the mango sector, where
more men are employed, are higher as compared to the bean sector is likely related to the season:
mango is harvested and exported during the main agricultural season when labour is scarce and
hence more expensive.
These ndings are in line with previous studies showing that employment conditions in labour
markets in high-value supply chains are gendered, for example Barrientos and Kritzinger (2004)
and Nelson et al. (2007) on the South African fruit and wine export sectors, and Dolan (2004) on
the Kenyan horticulture export sector. Most of these studies point to occupational segregation:
men have permanent positions and higher skilled jobs while women have low skilled and casual
or seasonal jobs, resulting in indirect wage discrimination.

5.4. Gender Inequality in Labour Markets

The above evidence suggests that labour markets in horticulture export supply chains in Senegal
are gendered due to indirect wage discrimination and dierences between men and women in
terms of job tenure, remuneration methods, working hours and employment periods. However,
to understand the impact of the growth in MSC on gender inequality, one should also compare
gender inequality in other forms of employment. Hence, an equally, and possible more,
important issue is whether employment in MSC has more or less gender bias compared to other
rural employment. In other words, does the growth of MSC reduce or increase gender inequality
in wages and employment conditions?
To analyse this, we compare gender dierences in wages and working conditions in
employment in the export agro-industry with gender dierences in other wage employment. For
this comparison in the Niayes region we can distinguish between employment in other
agricultural activities and in non-agricultural activities (Table 2) but in the Senegal River Delta
 Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries 1423

region we need to pool all other employment because of a small number of observations
(Table 3). The data show that also among workers in other wage employment, men more often
have permanent positions and longer employment periods, and that there are large and
signicant gender dierentials in wages (Tables 2 and 3). Moreover, the observed gender wage
gap is much larger in other employment sectors than in the horticulture export industry. For the
Niayes casestudy, we nd that the dierence in mean daily wages of males and females is 231
FCFA in the horticulture agro-industry compared to 686 FCFA in other agricultural and 1455
FCFA in non-agricultural employment (Table 2). For the Senegal River Delta case study the
evidence points to the same result with gender dierences in mean wages much smaller in the
horticulture agro-industry 55 FCFA for casual workers and 1634 for permanent workers
than in other employment 323 FCFA for casual workers and 3692 FCFA for permanent
workers (Table 3). Hence, gender wage dierentials in MSC are only a fraction, one third to one
sixth, of the observed wage dierential in other rural employment sectors.
Another important aspect in this comparison is that wages for female workers in the
horticulture agro-industry are higher than in other employment sectors. In Table 4 we compare
hourly wages for workers in dierent sectors. The gures indicate that hourly wages for female
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workers in the export agro-industry are signicantly larger (205 FCFA) than wages in other
agricultural employment (180 FCFA) and non-agricultural employment (166 FCFA). These
dierences, again, are substantial: the wage premium for women in the agro-industry is 23 per
cent compared to non-agricultural employment. These dierences appear particularly important
because this does not hold for the wages of male workers, for which there is no signicant
dierence between the agro-industry (257 FCFA) and other agricultural employment (294
FCFA) while wages in non-agricultural sectors are 16 per cent higher (306 FCFA).
In summary, these ndings indicate that the growth of modern food supply chains in Senegal is
reducing the gender inequality in rural labour markets. Moreover, the reduction is large. Wage
gaps in MSC are much smaller than in other types of wage employment.
Possible reasons why there is less direct gender discrimination in MSC than in rural labour
markets in general relate to the use of high standards and the involvement of foreign companies
in the chain. First, high-value supply chains are governed through stringent public and private
standards, including labour standards and codes of conduct that are meant to improve poor
working conditions and abolish gender (and other types of) discrimination. Other studies
examining the impact of such labour standards and codes of conduct nd that they improve
certain, but not all, aspects of employment conditions (Barrientos and Smith, 2007), that they
lead to higher wages and improved wellbeing of workers (Nelson et al., 2007) but that they fail to

Table 4. Gender disaggregated comparison of hourly wages across sectors, Niayes region, 2007

Female workers Male workers

Di. (other- agro-industry) Di. (other- agro-industry)
Wages Wages
(FCFA) Di. % Di t statistic (FCFA) Di. % Di t statistic

Employment in the 205.1 257.8

export agro-industry
Other agricultural 180.7 724.4 714% 71.92** 294.4 36.6 12% 1.23
employment
Other non-agricultural 166.5 738.6 723% 71.84** 306.5 48.7 16% 1.41***
employment

Source: Calculated from survey data.

Hourly wages for female and male workers in employment in the export agro-industry and in other
employment are compared using ttest: t statistics are reported for the hypothesis H0: mean (employment in
the agro-industry) mean (other employment) 0 with statistically signicant dierences indicated with
*p 5 .1, **p 5 .05 and ***p 5 .01.
 1424 M. Maertens & J.F.M. Swinnen

address complex gender needs (Barrientos et al., 2000, 2003). Second, studies on foreign direct
investment often nd that foreign companies pay higher wages because they use higher levels of
technology and that they adopt better labour practices out of reputational concern (Colen et al.,
2009; Lipsey and Sjoholm, 2004). The bean, mango and tomato export sectors in Senegal include
a variety of companies, including companies adopting and not adopting high labour standards,
and FDI and domestic companies, but our survey data are not detailed enough to analyse
formally how work conditions and wages dier between companies.

5.5. Contract-Farming and Resource Allocation

Rural households participating in MSC through production contracts allocate (part of) their
land, labour and capital resources to the production of the contracted crops. This might have
direct implications for the allocation of these resources within the household and the access to
productive resources for women.
Table 5 presents gures on farm characteristics and resource allocation for contract and non-
contract farm-households. The gures suggest no large eects of export contract-farming on land
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and labour allocation. First, as could be expected, given that women are largely excluded as
contracted parties and given that usufruct and ownership rights on agricultural land in the
Niayes region are held mostly by men, the area under contract is almost exclusively controlled by
men. In addition, very little agricultural land is controlled by women and the gures indicate no
large dierences in female control over land between contracted and non-contracted households.
Second, female family members perform some of the work on contracted bean and mango
plots but this is only a relatively small share: 6.5 per cent on average in bean production and 17.8
per cent in mango production (Table 5). These relatively low gures are related to the fact that
mango contract-farming does not increase per hectare labour requirements much as the most
labour intensive task, harvesting, is in 90 per cent of the cases performed under the control of and
by labourers from the contractor company. In addition, contract-farmers in the bean sector are
relative better-o farmers13 who have the means to hire additional labour, resulting in 34 per
cent of the farm work on contracted bean plots being performed by hired labour (Table 5).

Table 5. Gender related farm characteristics for contracted and non-contracted farm-households, Niayes
region, 2007

Bean contract Mango contract Non-contract

farmers farmers farmers

Number of contracted farm-households 73 58 321

Number of female contractors 2 2
Average farm size (ha) 4.50 7.15 3.50
Share of cultivated area controlled by women (%) 3.7% 1.7% 4.8%
Average contracted area (ha) 0.75 3.42
Share of contracted area controlled by women1 (%) 3.7% 1.7%
Amount of labour on contracted plots (persondays) 274.79 234.26
Share of female labour on contracted plots (%) 6.5% 17.8%
Share of hired labour on contracted plots (%) 34.8% 1.8%
Gross revenu from farming (FCFA) 1,854,113 2,116,276 1,056,241
Gross revenu from contract-farming (FCFA) 751,953 732,107
Share of revenu from contract-farming 2.7% 3.4%
controlled by women (%)

Notes: 1Control over agricultural land is dened as taking management decisions (such as what to plant,
when to plant, when to harvest) on the plot.
2
Control over gross revenue is dened as to whom the earnings belong.
Source: Calculated from survey data.
 Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries 1425

These ndings from Senegal contradictother empirical ndings. Some studies show that while
men control the contracts as contracting party, the majority of the farm work done on
contracted plots is performed by women as family labourers and thereby replacing labour from
food production: for example Singh (2002) on vegetable contract-farming in the Indian Punjab;
and Eaton and Sheperd (2001) on contract-farming in China. Other studies report conicts over
land and labour resources between high-value contract production by men and basic food crop
production by women: for example Eaton and Sheperd (2001) on China and Dolan (2001) on
vegetable production in Kenya.
The dierence in ndings might be related to specic case study settings but also to the
peculiarities of a gender division of labour in agriculture. In the Niayes casestudy the results
might be driven by specic aspects of the environment, the farming system and the market. The
Niayes region is not a land scarce region and beans are exported during a conned period from
November till April (when the domestic supply in the EU is small) which does not coincide with
the main rainy season when food crops are cultivated. Also, women usually work on the same
plots and crops as men but perform dierent tasks such as sowing, weeding and especially
marketing. With such gender sequential division of labour in agriculture, the eect of contract-
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farming on intra-household resource allocation might be more limited compared to for example
case studies from Kenya where the labour division might be more gender specic. In addition,
gender roles in the Senegalese horticulture export sector might change when the export sector
further develops and the season extends or when land becomes more scarce.

5.6. Income and Intra-Household Decision-Making Power

In previous work, we have shown that high-value contract-farming and employment in agro-
industries results in substantial increases in household income. We nd that wage employment in
the export industry increases income by 60 per cent in the Niayes region and 80 per cent in the
Senegal River Delta region, and that bean contract-farming increases household income by 110
per cent (Maertens and Swinnen, 2009; Maertens et al., 2011). An important gender issue is
whether the increased income also benets women directly.
Gross revenue from contract-farming in the Niayes case study is mainly controlled by men.
The data in Table 5 show that there is a discrepancy in the share of work that is done by
women on contracted plots and the share of the revenue from contracting that they control.
In bean contracting women represent 6.5 per cent of the labour force but control only 2.7 per
cent of the revenue and in mango contracting they perform 17.8 per cent of the work for
controlling only 3.4 per cent of the revenue. These data suggest that the exclusion of women
from MSC as contracted farmers results in very limited control over the additional income
derived from contract-farming.
Women involved in MSC through labour contracts with the agro-industry might benet more
directly. In this case women are themselves the contracted party and directly receive cash wages.
Figure 3 present total household income for the 12-month period prior to the survey,
disaggregated over dierent sources and, where possible, over gender.14 It is clear that in both
case studies an important share of the income derived from wages in the horticulture agro-
industry is earned by women and that these wages contribute importantly to the income of those
households that are employed in the sector. In the Niayes region, these wages are 80 per cent
earned by women and make up a quarter of total household income. In the Senegal River Delta
region agro-industrial wages have become the major source of income and constitute 50 per cent
of household income while female wages in particular account for 26 per cent of total income. In
comparison, in households without members employed in the horticulture agro-industry, female
income earned outside the own family farm represents only a small part of total household
income: 8.8 per cent in the Niayes region and 6.5 per cent in the Senegal River Delta region.
Hence, apart from leading to higher household incomes, the growth in MSC also has a large
impact on the importance of wages earned by women in total household income.
 1426 M. Maertens & J.F.M. Swinnen
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Figure 3. Gender disaggregated sources of income in two case-study regions in Senegal

Source: Calculation from survey data.

This change in the level and composition of household income has implications for intra-
household bargaining power and for female empowerment. Women in the Niayes region were
specically asked for additional advantages of their employment in horticulture export
companies: 94 per cent of these women indicated that their decision-making power in the
household has increased, 67 per cent indicated that they receive more respect in their community
and 78 per cent indicate that the contact with other women is a main additional advantage of the
employment.
The evidence from Senegal suggests that the growth in MSC has created direct economic gains
for women through labour market channels and that female-generated wage income has become
an important part of household income, leading to more economic independence and
empowerment of women.

6. Conclusions
In this article we reviewed the literature on gender aspects of the growth of MSC, and identied
several mechanisms through which women are aected. We used original survey data from
Senegal to quantify various eects.
We nd that the growth of MSC in developing countries has important and complex gender
implications. Part of the complexity is due to the fact that the industrial organisation of these
supply chains has taken various forms. In some of the chains companies use smallholder
contract-farming to source their supplies. Others are organised as vertically integrated supply
chains with large-scale farm production. Our analysis shows that these dierent organisational
arrangements lead to very dierent gender eects in Senegal.
In MSC with smallholder contract-farming schemes, female farmers have been mostly
excluded, in the sense that the contracts are almost exclusively signed with men. Women do
perform some of the work on contracted plots controlled by men but the share of female family
 Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries 1427

labour is relatively small. In contrast, women make up a large share of the work-force on large
farms, where they benet from employment and direct access to wages, which also enhances their
bargaining power in the households. The growth in MSC has increased access to rural labour
markets for (poor) rural women. It thus leads to an increased feminisation of rural labour
markets.
Moreover, while there appears to be gender discrimination in employment in MSC, the gender
discrimination is much smaller than in other sectors. We nd evidence that in the Senegalese
horticultural chains there is gender discrimination in wages, be it mostly indirect, and in other
employment conditions. This corroborates earlier ndings from the literature and the validity of
policy conclusions drawn in previous studies about the need to address gender discrimination in
rural labour markets and the need for more gender sensitivity in labour standards and codes of
conduct. However, our results from Senegal also show that MSC entail much less direct and
indirect gender discrimination as compared to other rural employment sectors. Therefore the
growth of MSC might contribute to decreasing albeit not eliminating existing gender
inequalities in rural labour markets.
An important insight from this article is that women benet more and more directly through
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labour market eects than through product market eects in these chains. Women benet more
as hired employees in the agro-industry because of direct access to wages and because the wages
they receive improve their bargaining power over household income while income derived from
contract-farming is mainly controlled by the mostly male contractors. This is a particularly
important result since earlier studies have indicated that labour market channels in MSC are also
more eective in reducing rural poverty as compared to product market channels from which
poorer households are often excluded (see Maertens and Swinnen, 2009; Maertens et al., 2012).
Hence, MSC can be more eective in assuring that the benets from high-value production and
trade are more equally shared among the rural poor and rural women when supply chains are
based on agro-industrial production and hired labour rather than on smallholder contract-
farming and family labour.
These ndings contrast strongly with most studies in the literature, and with most
development policy. Development policy in this eld almost exclusively focuses on the inclusion
of smallholder farms in modern value chains and the promotion of smallholder contract-farming
to assure an equitable distribution of the gains from high-value agricultural trade. While one
should be careful not to generalise based on a few casestudies, our ndings should at least induce
people to reect on the potential benets of other types of development models. Hence, there is a
need for integrating insights on labour market eects of MSC, including gender aspects, in policy
thinking.
The focus of this article was on gender issues related to the direct economic eects of MSC and
many issues, especially related to indirect eects and the interaction with the reproductive
activities of women, remain unresolved. We need better conceptual frameworks and more
empirical evidence. Some issues which certainly need more research are the following. First, there
is mixed evidence on whether high-value contract-farming results in land and labour resources
being shifted away from basic food production and it is unclear what the ultimate eects are in
terms of food security and child nutrition. The reallocation of resources between high-value
contract production controlled by men and basic food crop production controlled by women
might strongly depend on the gender division of labour in agriculture.
Second, there is very little evidence on whether, besides employment eects in the emerging
agro-industries, MSC entail indirect labour market eects through an increased demand for
hired labour on contracted smallholder farms. If such indirect labour market eects exist, their
implications in terms of female participation and gender discrimination is a potentially
important issue as well.
Third, the allocation of female labour to rural o-farm wage labour in emerging modern agro-
industries might have indirect eects on the allocation of household resources. On the one hand,
the wage income generated by women might increase their decision power in the household. On
 1428 M. Maertens & J.F.M. Swinnen

the other hand, resources, including land, household labour and the claim on income from other
household activities, might be taken away from women working outside the home and the family
farm.
Fourth, as womens economic activities interfere with their reproductive work, the growth in
MSC and the related feminisation of rural labour markets might entail consequences for matters
such age at marriage, maternal age, fertility rate, and so forth. In addition, while female income
is discussed to be positively related with spending on childrens education, the feminisation of
rural labour markets might have adverse eects on the schooling of girls if they withdraw from
school either to participate in the labour market or to replace their mothers in household
maintenance and child care activities. None of these issues have been substantively analysed, and
certainly require attention.
In summary, important questions remain. Specic characteristics of the commodity, the
region, the company involved, and the prevailing social and gender norms may make our
casestudy a unique positive outcome. However, gender outcomes might even be better in other
cases and regions, for example, where there is more competition for labour among companies.
We can speculate on this, but we acknowledge that the gender eects documented in this article
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could be less, equally, or more successful in other cases. Institutions, infrastructure, commodity
characteristics, government regulations, constraints in accessing inputs, existing gender roles and
socio-cultural norms are factors which dier between locations and which may aect the
outcome. That said, our study challenges several conventional wisdoms and will hopefully
induce further research on this important issue.

Acknowledgements
The authors thank the editors and two anonymous reviewers. The authors thank Fidele Ange
Dedehouanou, Thijs Vandemoortele, the Institut Senegalaise de Recherche Agricole (ISRA) in
Dakar and Saint-Louis and the NGO Amicale Socio-Economique Sportive et Culturelle des
Agriculteurs du Walo (ASESCAW) in Ross Bethio for their much appreciated assistance with
data collection. The authors gratefully acknowledge research funding by the KU Leuven
Research Council (Excellence Financing and Methusalem Project), and the Research
Foundation Flanders (FWO).

Notes
1. The share of high-value non-traditional exports in total food exports from developing countries increased from
14 per cent in 1985 to 30 per cent in 2005 (Maertens et al., 2012).
2. Indirect eects in MSC include consumption eects, analysed by Minten and Reardon (2008), investment spillover
eects, analysed by Maertens (2009) and technology spillover eects, analysed by Minten et al. (2009).
3. Contracts are dened here in a broad sense and can include an informal oral short-term agreement as well as a signed
formal contract extending over a longer period of time.
4. When agricultural production involves gender sequential labour women perform dierent tasks (often planting,
sowing, weeding, harvesting) than men (often ploughing, land preparation, fertiliser application) on the same plots.
This type of gender division of labour in agriculture is often observed in Western African countries.
5. When agricultural production involves gender specic labour women cultivate dierent crops (often food crops) than
men (often cash crops) on dierent plots. This type of gender division of labour in agriculture is often observed in
Eastern and Central African countries.
6. See Maertens et al. (2011) for more details on the tomato supply chain in Senegal.
7. See Maertens and Swinnen (2009) for more details on the bean supply chain in Senegal.
8. Similar observations on supply chain restructuring have been observed in other studies, for example by Jaee (2003)
for Kenyan vegetable exports, by Minot and Ngigi (2004) for FFV exports from Cote dIvoire, and by Danielou and
Ravry (2005) for pineapple exports in Ghana. Usually increasing food standards are mentioned as the main driving
forces of these changes.
9. Three hundred of the 450 households surveyed in 2007 were already surveyed in 2005 as described in Maertens and
Swinnen (2009) and constitute a panel data set. For the purpose of this article we only use the 2007 data as the
second survey round is richer in terms of gender disaggregated data.
 Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries 1429

10. Additionally, our data do not cover the dynamics of intra-household bargaining.
11. This has been documented by Maertens and Swinnen (2009) for the Niayes region and by Maertens et al. (2011) for
the Senegal River Delta region. These studies nd that employment in the export agro-industry is biased towards
households with less land and non-land assets and a lower level of education.
12. Our sample from the Niayes region does not include permanent workers as the bean and mango exporting companies
in this region are mainly family-run businesses where the permanent positions are lled by family members which are
not included in our sample of rural farm-households.
13. Maertens and Swinnen (2009) provide descriptive and econometric evidence on this issue.
14. The data do not allow distinguishing between male and female income for income derived from the own farm and for
transfers. In addition, farm input data are not detailed enough to distinguish income from contract-farming from
other farm income.

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