Women's empowerment and economic collaboration in rural Pakistan

Collaborating among smallholder farm households, such as through marketing groups, is a well established strategy for improving livelihoods. While the potential benefits are well known, so too are the potential challenges. One particular challenge is farm households in strongly familist, patriarchal societies such as rural Pakistan being unwilling or unable to collaborate with other households outside the family. In such societies, women may be more amenable to such collaborations than men. This paper uses data from a household survey in rural Pakistan to test the potential for collaboration among households in rural Pakistan and concludes that in households where women are empowered in household decision-making, the potential for collaboration with other households is significantly enhanced.