In this paper we review research studies on gender-based productivity gaps in agriculture
with an objective of assessing the nature of evidence since the wide-ranging productivity gaps
reported in the SOFA 2010–2011 of FAO. Broadly, we address two questions. One, what are
the trends in and extent of current gender gaps in productivity? Two, what has worked and
what has not worked in bridging the gaps? We also critically examine the conceptualization
of gender productivity gaps, including the measures of productivity, units of analysis and
methods of estimating gaps. We find that recent studies offer more nuanced evidence on
gender productivity gaps, which estimate gaps at the plot level and show heterogeneity
in gaps across crops, productivity distribution, and regionally within countries. They show
significant gender gaps, which vary between four and 28 percent, persisting across countries
though temporal trends are difficult to infer due to methodological differences. There is
less but mixed evidence on the impact of interventions in bridging gender productivity gaps,
even when they improve productivity in general.