Patriarchal Shadows : Gendered Power Relations, Food Production, and Livelihood Struggles among Female-Headed Households in Mbarara District, Southwestern Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate gender dynamics and how their implications on food production, livelihood issues in female headed households in Mbarara District, Uganda. The contention f the study is that female-headed households in sub-Saharan Africa are frequently portrayed as uniformly disadvantaged, yet the specific mechanisms through which gendered power relations shape food production and broader livelihoods remain insufficiently explored from an intersectional, multi-voice qualitative perspective. Drawing on in-depth interviews with ten key informants (KIs), twelve female household heads (FHHs), and five focus group discussions (FGDs) comprising 40 participants in total, this study employs reflexive thematic analysis informed by Connell's Power Relations Theory and Scoones’ Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) to examine how patriarchal norms, resource control, and decision-making dynamics affect agricultural and socioeconomic outcomes among female-headed households in Mbarara District, rural Southwestern Uganda. Findings reveal a “production-control paradox”: women perform the majority of agricultural labour but have limited authority over land, crop choices, and harvest proceeds due to the persistent influence of male kin and extended family structures. This disjuncture perpetuates food insecurity, dietary monotony, economic precariousness, and psychosocial stress. A novel contribution of this study is the foregrounding of women's own voices alongside institutional perspectives, which reveals significant divergences between policy narratives and lived experience. The study demonstrates that food production mediates the relationship between gendered power relations and livelihoods, and that equitable intra-household collaboration, even within patriarchal settings, can substantially mitigate vulnerability. The article argues for gender transformative interventions that go beyond resource access to address the deeply embedded cultural and institutional barriers constraining women's agency in agrarian systems.