Following the introduction of the seed-fertilizer-irrigation technology popularly
known as the green revolution the agricultural and rural sectors of many LDCs,
including Bangladesh, have undergone significant transformations. While there
is little controversy surrounding output implications of the green revolution
technology, distributional consequences remain largely a topic of acrimonious
debate (see for example, Chambers, 1984; Freebairn, 1995; Shand and Kalirajan,
1991).
The bulk of empirical literature on distributional implications of agrarian
change concentrates on share of gains between poor and rich farmers, the
landless and the landowners, rural and urban consumers. For instance, in
analysing the effect of the green revolution in Bangladesh, Hossain (1988)
compared the changes in income between two villages (one is technically
developed, the other not developed) while Ravallion (1990) observed that rural
income inequality among farmers registered a slight increase from 1987.
Ahmed and Sampath’s (1992) findings confirm those of Ravallion (1990). While
the findings of these studies are revealing and substantial, they suffer from a
fundamental limitation in that they pay very little attention to the effects of
technological change on males and females. In other words, gender-based
development remains largely an unexplored area. However, of late there is a
growing awareness that men and women have experienced differential impacts
of development and there seems to be a substantial body of evidence that
women have consistently lost out in the process (see for instance, Pearson, 1992;
Roy and Tisdell, 1993a, 1993b).