A Gender Analysis of Intra-Household Division of Labor in Cameroon Using Moser’s Triple Roles Framework

Abstract

The relevance of intra-household division of labor for overall household wellbeing is common knowledge, especially among development practitioners from the developing world. While division of labor acquired a newer impetus as a consequence of a strong and emerging gender narrative a few decades ago, its momentum seems to have been torpedoed by the comfort of gender mainstreaming; reducing the role of gender analyses in agricultural extension and sustainable development initiatives. We briefly revisit the gender evolution, and empirically apply Caroline Moser’s triple roles framework in order to rekindle the role of gender analyses in understanding and promoting targeted extension services and sustainable development. A cross sectional, empirical survey was carried out in the North West region of Cameroon from 7-30 October 2014. Two rural and urban divisions were purposively selected. One division had difficult road access, while the other was fairly accessible. Eight villages (four rural and four urban ones) were randomly selected from both divisions. Gender analyses using Moser’s triple roles framework were carried out separately in all villages, with groups of 30-35 self-selected men and women, facilitated by trained enumerators; and complemented with focused group discussions and key informant interviews. Wide differences between the productive, reproductive and socio-cultural roles in rural and urban communities were unveiled; with even stronger differences between men and women based on gendered results. As expected, more women were engaged in reproductive activities than men, irrespective of setting. Strong bias against women evident in the gender literature was not reported. The results emphasize the implications of regular gender analyses for development effectiveness. There is need for consistent gender analysis as prelude to improving agricultural extension initiatives, achieving gender balanced sustainable development of rural and urban areas in developing countries and upgrading development effectiveness. Context-specific aspects should be considered in informing gender based development actions and policy.