Technical change and intra‐household welfare: A case study of irrigated rice production in south Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

In this article the effect of an agricultural technical change on intra‐household welfare is discussed. Existing theories of the household suggest that the distribution of resources within the household is a function of household members’ employment. The differences in male and female employment levels under rainfed and irrigated rice production are investigated in a case study of two villages in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is concluded that the pattern of labour allocation in the irrigated area involves higher absolute labour requirements for both men and women, compared to the rainfed area, but that women's agricultural labour relative to men's is lower. Furthermore, women's participation in the cash economy is, relative to men's, lower in the irrigated than in the rainfed area. It is argued that these differences can be seen as a response to the different agricultural production technologies being used. This suggests that the levels of inequality within the household are greater in the irrigated than...