An Investigation of the Household Economy: Coffee Production and Gender Relations in Papua New Guinea

Using two years of intra-household data from one area of the Papua New Guinea Highlands this article examines the impact of gender relations on household coffee production. Poor relative labour returns for women and the unequal distribution of tasks within the household were found to exert considerable influence on the level of household success in cultivating coffee. The article concludes with the construction of a model linking the intra-household distribution of economic benefits, determinants of household resource allocation and underdevelopment.