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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Carlo Azzarri

Carlo Azzarri is a Senior Research Fellow in the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. His work focuses on the relationships among poverty, nutrition, food security, agriculture, the environment, production, and migration—analyzed at both micro and macroeconomic levels, primarily using quantitative methods.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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experts

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Agnes Quisumbing

Senior Research Fellow

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Bio

Agnes Quisumbing is a Senior Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit. She co-leads a research program that examines how closing the gap between men’s and women’s ownership and control of assets may lead to better development outcomes. She is currently engaged in impact evaluations of agricultural development programs, focusing on their impacts on gender asset inequality, in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Her past work at IFPRI analyzed the factors that enable individuals, households, and communities to move out of poverty over the long term, and on how resource allocation within households and families affects the design and outcome of development policies. Her research interests include poverty, gender, property rights, and economic mobility. She led a study on intrahousehold allocation and development policy in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Guatemala, and South Africa. Quisumbing has also worked on women’s land rights in Ghana, the Philippines, and Sumatra, and has been involved in longitudinal studies in Bangladesh, Guatemala, and the Philippines.

A citizen of the Philippines, Quisumbing joined IFPRI in 1995, before which she worked at the University of the Philippines, Diliman and Los Baños; the World Bank; Yale University; and the International Rice Research Institute. She received her PhD and MA in Economics from the University of the Philippines, Quezon City and her AB in Economics from De La Salle University in Manila.

Languages spoken: Cebuano, Chinese, English, Filipino (Tagalog), Spanish

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Publications

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Preprint

Intrahousehold dynamics in South Asia: Understanding the relationships between women’s empowerment, task sharing, decision making, and diets among women

2025Kumar, Neha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Manohar, Swetha; Banerjee, Archis; Gupta, Shivani; Chauhan, Alka; Patwardhan, Sharvari; Koirala, Uma
Details

Intrahousehold dynamics in South Asia: Understanding the relationships between women’s empowerment, task sharing, decision making, and diets among women

Despite the growing evidence on the role of women in agriculture and nutrition, interlinkages between empowerment among women, gendered task allocation, and nutrition are rarely studied together. Using data from the Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA), a household survey that used a plate-to-farm assessment approach in three countries (Bangladesh, India and Nepal), the paper investigates the associations between empowerment of women, gendered task allocation, decision-making among women, and diets among women. Our findings reveal complex and context-specific differences in associations between task allocation, decision-making and empowerment among. While agency in decision-making among women is positively associated with empowerment in all three country contexts, associations between gendered task allocation and empowerment vary. The share of tasks performed by females, particularly in agriculture and food preparation) is positively associated with empowerment among women, but the proportion of tasks shared equally between males and females does not necessarily empower women. Gendered task allocation and empowerment among women are not significantly associated with diets of women in the three countries, owing to the greater importance of broader socio-economic and context-specific factors such as wealth, education, and regional factors in explaining the variance in dietary outcomes. These findings highlight the need to take a holistic approach that addresses gender norms and household resource constraints to improving empowerment of women, while also addressing local accessibility/availability of nutritious foods to enhance the quality of diets of women.

Year published

2025

Authors

Kumar, Neha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Manohar, Swetha; Banerjee, Archis; Gupta, Shivani; Chauhan, Alka; Patwardhan, Sharvari; Koirala, Uma

Citation

Kumar, Neha; Quisumbing, Agnes; Manohar, Swetha; Banerjee, Archis; Gupta, Shivani; Chauhan, Alka; Patwardhan, Sharvari; and Koirala, Uma. 2025. Intrahousehold dynamics in South Asia: understanding the relationships between women’s empowerment, task sharing, decision making, and diets among women. MedRxiv Preprint. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.08.25320196

Country/Region

Bangladesh; India; Nepal

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Intrahousehold Relations; Decision Making; Women’s Empowerment; Diet; Agriculture; Household Surveys; Gender Norms

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.08.25320196 Source record

Project

Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia

Record type

Preprint

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Journal Article

Diet quality and micronutrient intakes in nutritional value chains: A synthesis and suggestions for further research

2025Meenakshi, J.V.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Details

Diet quality and micronutrient intakes in nutritional value chains: A synthesis and suggestions for further research

This paper provides an overview of a virtual collection of papers analyzing drivers of diet quality and micronutrient intakes, and what has been learnt from various interventions to address micronutrient malnutrition, the contexts in which they succeed, and factors that affect their impact. We frame this using a micronutrient value chain, to highlight the important linkages from farm to plate. Our focus is on representative studies along this value chain in low and middle income countries where micronutrient malnutrition is most prevalent. The papers reviewed suggest that (a) both production diversity and market access work hand-in-hand to improve dietary quality. (b) However, the evidence on whether commercialization improves or reduces diet quality is context-specific and depends on whether markets exist for goods to be sold and micronutrient-rich foods purchased. (c) Not surprisingly, incomes and prices emerge as key factors affecting consumption decisions, with the cost of a healthy diet remaining unaffordable for many. Furthermore, the poor are most sensitive to changes in the relative prices of micronutrient-rich foods. (d) Also important is how food is consumed within the household: the review suggests that social context matters greatly in assessing relationships between women’s empowerment and diet quality. We then review several supply and demand side interventions, and note that while many are successful, not all are easily transferable, and thus may need adaptation to local contexts. We conclude with a set of ten areas that remain open for further research.

Year published

2025

Authors

Meenakshi, J.V.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.

Citation

Meenakshi, J.V.; and Quisumbing, Agnes R. 2025. Diet quality and micronutrient intakes in nutritional value chains: A synthesis and suggestions for further research. Food Policy 130(January 2025): 102789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102789

Keywords

Diet Quality; Nutrition; Trace Elements; Value Chains

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102789 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Working Paper

Do empowerment impacts endure? The medium-term impacts of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) Project in Bangladesh

2024Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Ahmed, Akhter; Hoddinott, John F.; Rakshit, Deboleena
Details

Do empowerment impacts endure? The medium-term impacts of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) Project in Bangladesh

Whether impacts of development interventions are sustainable has attracted much recent interest (examples include Bandiera et al., 2017, Banerjee et al., 2021, Blattman et al., 2020, Carneiro et al., 2021, Grisolia, 2024, and Haushofer and Shapiro, 2018). When interventions involve trained facilitators, for example, it is of interest to know whether effects persist once these facilitators are no longer delivering the message (Ahmed et al, forthcoming). The recognition of women’s empowerment and gender equality as intrinsically important has spawned a growing literature on the impacts of development interventions on women’s empowerment (Quisumbing et al. 2023, Quisumbing et al. 2024) and attitudes towards gender roles (Alderman et al. 2025). Yet, with few exceptions (Alderman et al. 2025) there is little overlap between these two areas of work, in large part because many impact evaluations fail to follow up after the initial evaluation is completed. A synthesis of findings from a portfolio of 11 agricultural development projects in South Asia and Africa suggests that, while projects are able to affect aspects of empowerment such as decisionmaking over resources and control over income, changes in gender norms are more difficult to achieve in the two to three year time span over which impact evaluations are typically conducted(Quisumbing et al. 2024). If women’s empowerment interventions aim ultimately to change gender norms, to detect impacts, they should be measured over a sufficiently long period of time to allow for norm change.

Year published

2024

Authors

Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Ahmed, Akhter; Hoddinott, John F.; Rakshit, Deboleena

Citation

Quisumbing, Agnes; Ahmed, Akhter; Hoddinott, John; and Rakshit, Deboleena. 2024. Do empowerment impacts endure? The medium-term impacts of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) Project in Bangladesh. Gender Equality Initiative Working Paper. CGIAR System Organization. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168520

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Southern Asia; Women’s Empowerment; Gender Norms; Development Policies; Agriculture; Diets; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Working Paper

Blogs

Applying the Women's Empowerment Metric in National Statistical Systems (WEMNS) to build gender equity
IFPRI Blog
 | 
May 07, 2025

Applying the Women’s Empowerment Metric in National Statistical Systems (WEMNS) to build gender equity

By Emily Myers, Jessica Heckert, Hazel Malapit, Agnes Quisumbing, Flor Paz, Chiara Brunelli, and Chiara Gnetti

A tool to collect key data sometimes missing from household surveys.

Pathways to power in fragile settings: Rethinking women’s roles in agriculture and food systems
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 25, 2025

Pathways to power in fragile settings: Rethinking women’s roles in agriculture and food systems

By Agnes Quisumbing, Jordan Kyle, Katrina Kosec, and Catherine Ragasa

Difficult circumstances also offer opportunities.

How anticipatory action can empower women in disaster-prone areas
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 12, 2024

How anticipatory action can empower women in disaster-prone areas

By Emily Myers, Katrina Kosec, Jordan Kyle, Agnes Quisumbing, Teresa Gonzales, Ana Madero, Caitlin Mittrick, and Amica Rapadas

How assistance programs can catalyze improvements in gender equality.

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Events

2025 Global Food Policy Report | Food Policy: Lessons and Priorities for a Changing World
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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May 28, 2025, 9:00 – 12:30 pm

2025 Global Food Policy Report | Food Policy: Lessons and Priorities for a Changing World

Also streaming on Over the last 50 years, the world’s food systems have evolved tremendously amid major economic, environmental, and social changes. Throughout this period, policy research has played a critical role in providing evidence and analysis to inform decision-making that supports agricultural growth, better livelihoods, and improved food security, nutrition, and well-being for all. […]

69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69)
IFPRI at External Event

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March 10 to 21, 2025

69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69)

The sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place on March 10 to 21, 2025. The main focus of the sixty-ninth session will be on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the […]

Building More Inclusive and Natural Resource-Secure Food Futures
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

December 12, 2024, 10:30 – 12:00 pm

Building More Inclusive and Natural Resource-Secure Food Futures

Throughout her career, Ruth Meinzen-Dick has made pathbreaking contributions to natural resource management and gender equity, drawing from her deep engagement with communities to improve understanding and measurement in these areas. Dr. Meinzen-Dick’s research encompasses land and water policy, property rights, collective action, and games for experiential learning, with a longstanding focus on improving equity. […]

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News

January 21, 2021 | In the News

Gender equality and food security in rural South Asia: A holistic approach to the SDGs (New Security Beat)

New Security Beat (Wilson Center) published an article on food security, land ownership, and gender.  In South Asia, food security and nutrition have not improved significantly despite the region’s economic growth. Importantly, both are deeply influenced by gender relations in the agricultural sector. Enforcing women’s access to land and other productive assets, accounting for rural women’s growing work […]

February 04, 2020 | In the News

How can data build a truer picture of the gender gap in food insecurity? (Devex)

Devex published an article on the challenges of an accurate picture of the differences in food security between men and women when using typical household survey methods. Research Fellow Jessica Heckert stated that “countrywide surveys offer the advantage of gathering data on a wider variety of topics, but because of that breadth in a single […]

November 12, 2019 | In the News

The 19th Annual ReSAKSS Conference Opens Monday In Lomé (Togo 24)

Togo 24 reported on the opening of the conference and the 2019 Annual trends and outlook report: Gender equality in rural Africa: From commitments to outcomes. (2019 ATOR). The Report presents an Africa-wide analysis on a topic of strategic importance to the CAADP agenda. The ATOR 2019 report examines the progress and results of research […]

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