Women in Agriculture: Application of Alkire Foster Method of Counting Multidimensional Deprivation towards building a Human Recognition Index for Women in Malawi.

Evidence suggests that intangible components of wellbeing like human recognition impacts development. However, human recognition has been hardly examined because of measurement difficulties. In agrarian-based Malawian economy, access to agricultural resources such as land depends heavily on gendered norms. Women s ability to overcome poverty is severely affected by societal norms in which recognition flows. Negative human recognition like violence limits women s ability to control their economic destiny. Thus, we investigate human recognition deprivation among women in Malawi. We adapted the Alkire Foster method of multidimensional poverty to measure human recognition within domains of deprivation using nationally representative datasets. We combine indicators of violence, freedom and autonomy to build a human recognition deprivation index. We found that 84.8% of women in Malawi are recognition deprived. Women working in agriculture account for 47% of the overall deprivation experienced by women in Malawi and have inadequate recognition in 31.7 % of the weighted indicators. In the northern Malawi, women exhibit disproportionally high deprivation levels relative to population size. We recommend that development measures for agrarian economies like Malawi should include the impact of how women are recognized as humans on resource access. Acknowledgement