This paper hypothesizes that labor and credit market imperfections—by
discouraging off-farm income-generating
activities and restricting access to inputs, respectively—
affect female farm productivity more deeply than male
productivity. The paper develops a theoretical model
that decomposes the contribution of various market
imperfections to the gender productivity gap. The paper
shows empirically that agricultural labor productivity is on
average 44 percent lower on plots managed by female heads
of household than on those managed by male heads. Thirtyfour
percent of this gap is explained by differences in labor
market access and 29 percent by differences in credit access.