<mark>of the Ricardian framework to take into account a number of stylized facts of the African colonial period, most notably the surplus of land, the transition from subsistence production to the coexistence of food crops, export crops and resource extraction. Section IV discusses the implications of the underlying structure of gender production for women's economic empowerment and overall economic development in the post-colonial period. Section V provides the concluding remarks.</mark>

# **II Gendered production in SSA: Literature review and historical perspectives**

Although it is relatively more difficult to trace economic research focusing on intra-household distribution of resources and gender production in pre-colonial Africa<sup>8</sup> —owing in a large part to the preeminence of oral traditions, absence of household surveys, and distortions of knowledge in the colonial period<sup>9</sup> —there is a larger body of research devoted to gender production in the colonial period [Boserup (1970), Rodney (1982), Alesina et al. (2011), Akyampong and Fofack (2012)]. The majority of these studies highlight gender segregation with respect to economic activity. In particular, they point to gender bias in the non-agricultural sector and sexual division of labor in the agricultural sector, with some types of work strongly associated with women and some with men.

Reviewing the sexual division of labor in the African colonial period, Boserup (1970) established that African women performed mostly domestic duties. Outside the household in the realm of soil cultivation, women are primarily employed as workers, helping their husband in the process of food production and conservation. As the sole owner of the family enterprise and related production factors, men enjoyed the full control of household assets and inherent production of goods as the household head.<sup>10</sup> Thus, gender bias and sexual division of labor is largely driven by gender inequality in the distribution and ownership of assets.

However, the sexual division of labor is the part of the colonial construct that encompasses assumptions and positions of imperial powers that gained force or reality in the colonial setting through policies and institutions. A classic example is the colonial assumption that African societies were patriarchal like European societies, and that women were subordinate with no political or economic power [Saidi (2010)]. Although constructs were artificial or reifications, they gained significant force through operationalization and over time have become part of the sticky domain of gender inequality.

Inequality in the ownership of resources and sexual division of labor in the agricultural sector is widespread, irrespective of the imperial power. For instance, as part of a review of production in the central province of Cameroon—a French colony, Guyer (1978) established that husbands had the ultimate rights of disposal over the production of goods from subsistence farms, though their

> 8 This is not to say that attempts have not been made to investigate gender production and sexual division of labor in that period. Other methodological approaches have been used, most notably ethnological study of economics, social history and anthropo-geographical methods (see for instance Baumann (1928)).

> 9 See for instance, Meillassoux (1981) and Channock (1985).

> 10 In other words, the prominent role played by women in the subsistence agricultural production sector did not necessarily result in them enjoying the full ownership of inherent output.

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