Global cannabis cultivation as a gendered activity: Findings from the 2020 International Cannabis Cultivation Questionnaire (2025)

Background: As the global cannabis policy landscape shifts in some places from prohibition to decriminalization to different forms of regulated markets, there is a unique opportunity to explore how the experiences of women cultivators may vary along with such policy change. This study aims to advance our knowledge of women’s participation in cannabis cultivation in a time when the legal status of cannabis is becoming more diversified globally.
Methods: This research draws on the cultivation experiences of cannabis growers reported in response to the International Cannabis Cultivation Questionnaire administered between August 2020 and September 2021 to a purposive sample of 11,479 cannabis growers in 18 countries. Specific cultivation experiences examined include growing as a social activity, motivations for growing, income from growing, and contacts with the criminal justice system.
Results: While our results indicate the persistence of gender differences in cannabis cultivation, key findings are that policy shifts towards legalization seem to be related to further reducing gender differences and disparities in cannabis cultivation. We found that in jurisdictions where cultivation was legal, women were more likely to grow than in nonlegal contexts and to earn a higher proportion of their income from growing compared to men, and to supply cannabis to others for medical use.
Conclusion: The findings presented here come from the first multi-national study to provide a descriptive analysis of gendered differences in cannabis cultivation and how these vary in different legal contexts. The experiences of men and women cannabis growers varied across policy contexts. One of the impacts of legalization may be the increased involvement of women in cannabis production. Our study suggests a lessening of the gendered nature of cannabis cultivation over time - but also points to the need for more gender-sensitive future research to develop a more in-depth understanding of how policy shifts affect the gender constitution of cannabis markets. [Author's abstract]