nationally-representative data, collected within a multi-topic framework and with emphasis on agriculture.

While the gender gap in Malawi is estimated at 25.4 percent at the mean, it ranges from 22.6 percent at the 10<sup>th</sup> percentile to 37.6 percent at the 90<sup>th</sup> percentile. The findings support the view that large and significant gender disparities in use of inputs and asset ownership are the central factors behind the gender gap, particularly in the first half of the agricultural productivity distribution. At the mean and the median, the differences in observable covariates are associated with 82 and 87 percent of the gender gap, respectively. Above the median, the percentage contribution of the endowment effect towards the gender gap declines steadily, whereby at the 80<sup>th</sup> and 90<sup>th</sup> deciles of the distribution of agricultural productivity, the structure effect, which is driven by gender differences in returns to factors of production, explains 30 and 34 percent of the gender gap, respectively.

Higher levels of household adult male labor and area under export crop cultivation on male-managed plots, in particular, widen the gender gap; a result that holds true across the vast majority of the agricultural productivity distribution. These disparities appear to be compounded by gender differences in the availability of time devoted to productive activities, as negative returns to household child dependency ratio on female managed plots are found to exacerbate the female structural disadvantage component of the gender gap at each decile of the agricultural productivity distribution. In addition, lower and declining returns to household adult male labor on female managed plots _vis-à-vis_ male-managed comparators across the agricultural productivity distribution might be suggestive of potential household adult male labor supervision difficulties on female-managed plots. These mutually reinforcing constraints appear to generate a female productivity trap; as such, policies need to prioritize and target the key factors underlying the gender gap.

Our study shows a number of factors that seem to be driving the gender differences in agricultural productivity in Malawi. While we demonstrate that diversification among female farmers into high-value agriculture (with appropriate adoption support and risk mitigation mechanisms), and counteracting the effects of household male labor shortages on femalemanaged plots with enhanced access to inorganic fertilizer, improved seeds and labor-saving agricultural implements could lead to significant contractions in the gender gap across the agricultural productivity distribution, our analysis alone is not enough to inform effective policy interventions that will ensure the realization of these outcomes. In other words, while we can quantify the relative contributions of various factors towards the gender gap, we cannot determine why inequalities in time use, access and returns to agricultural inputs, and the like persist. Although this limitation is inherent in the use of decomposition methods, our empirical approach identifies the key inequalities that will be the focus of our future research, which will seek to map out their determinants in order to inform policy interventions aimed at addressing the gender gap at its roots in Malawi and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

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