Does cooperative membership matter for women’s empowerment? Evidence from South Indian dairy producers

Rural women substantially contribute to agricultural production and development in South Asia, and farmer cooperatives have been promoted to empower them. However, there is limited evidence regarding the effects of cooperative membership on women. In this paper, we evaluate impacts of membership in women-only and mixed-gender cooperatives in South India on women’s intra-household decision-making power, using data of 313 female milk producers. Propensity score matching and a two-step control function approach are employed to account for selection bias due to observed and unobserved factors. We find that membership in either women-only or mixed-gender cooperatives has a positive impact on intra-household decision-making power. In particular, members of mixed-gender cooperatives gain significantly more power over decisions regarding dairy production, compared to members of women-only cooperatives. We conclude that women-only cooperatives are not more effective for women’s empowerment than mixed-gender cooperatives. However, because women have limited access to mixed-gender cooperatives, women-only cooperatives are generally more accessible for the majority of them.