Market access and gender roles in the Jatun Mayu watershed communities (Tiraque, Bolivia)

This presentation discusses differing gender roles in potato farming families in the Jatun Mayu watershed. Through participatory methodologies, interactions and gender roles are studied at the household, production, and marketing levels. While the findings are in their preliminary stages of analysis, it appears that women have final say in household decision making, men make the majority of the production decisions with consultation of their wives, and women are responsible for the marketing and negotiation of a fair price for the final potato crop. Moreover, women are the primary financial managers of the family and are perceived to be more responsible in handling the family income. The research also examines opportunities to improve marketing efficiency and bargaining power through the use of cell phones to seek out a fair price and possible strategies for value added production.