The Business Case for Women’s Participation in Agricultural Cooperatives

To address the misconceptions that contribute to low levels of female participation, this paper has two objectives. The first is to use evidence from the Manduvira cooperative to demonstrate to cooperative members and leaders in Paraguay and other countries that women can and do succeed in positions that have historically been seen as more appropriate for men. The second is to show that women’s participation and leadership in agricultural cooperatives can have advantages to their overall business performance.

Claire Clugston

7th Class, 2013-2015 Policy Placement: ACDI/VOCA, Washington, DC For her policy year, Claire worked as a Gender Specialist in the Technical Learning and Application unit of ACDI/VOCA. In this role, she provided gender support to ACDI/VOCA’s projects and programs. These … Read more