2025 Volume 34 Issue 2 Pages 147-160
This study investigates how women farmers' responses to risk shape intrahousehold gender relations in southwestern Nigeria. Drawing on survey and interview data from smallholder farmers in Ogun State, the analysis distinguishes between two categories of risks: external risks―including climate variability, pests, and price fluctuations―and structural risks―such as limited access to land and credit, gendered divisions of labor, and unequal marital relations.
The findings reveal clear gender differences in risk perception. Men primarily interpret risks in terms of agricultural yields and income loss, whereas women perceive them as threats to household food security, children's education, and family stability. Coping strategies also diverge. Women adopt immediate and flexible measures, such as cassava processing and market diversification. While these strategies are essential for household survival, they also compensate for men's withdrawal from their provisioning responsibilities, thereby reproducing existing gender inequalities. At the same time, women's income-generating activities enhance their bargaining power and open up opportunities for transforming household relations.
The analysis engages with Whitehead's concept of the conjugal contract, Sen's cooperative conflict model, and Kandiyoti's notion of bargaining with patriarchy, while underscoring the contextual specificity of income separation and polygyny in southwestern Nigeria. Overall, the study contributes to development research by showing that women's risk responses are not merely coping mechanisms but constitute a dual process of both reproducing and transforming intrahousehold gender relations. Policy implications highlight the need for integrated approaches that link agricultural support with gender equality and legal protections in order to strengthen women's adaptive capacity.
