Gender and Livelihood Diversification: Maasai Women’s Market Activities in Northern Tanzania

Changing practices and shifting meanings of female genital cutting among the Maasai of Arusha and Manyara regions of Tanzania

“…However, this portrayal underestimates the capability for critical thought and reinterpretation of cultural values (Ferguson 1990;Hodgson 2001). Various scholars have illustrated how the Maasai actively engage with social change, both from within the community and in dialogue with outsiders seeking to change Maasai society (Butt 2015;Fraser et al 2012;Smith 2015;Winterbottom, Koomen, and Burford 2009). Winterbottom and colleagues (2009) also indicate that several Maasai women's organisations have been successful in implementing alternative rites of passage that abandon female genital cutting.…”

Well-being and conservation: diversity and change in visions of a good life among the Maasai of northern Tanzania

“…In response, Maasai have diversified their livelihoods into agriculture (Homewood et al 2009, McCabe et al 2010) and wage labor including migration to urban areas and to the Tanzanite gem mines (Smith 2012). Women's labor that traditionally centers on milking livestock, taking care of small livestock, and household tasks has diversified to include income generating activities including petty trading at local markets, and involvement in agriculture (Homewood et al 2009, Smith 2014. The expansion of cultivation has been a particular concern for conservationists because the Simanjiro plains are the wet season dispersal area for many of the animals living in Tarangire National Park.…”

“…Many women we interviewed aspired to start, or had already started their own small businesses to be in control of their own money, primarily as a means of gaining authority within their household and beyond, pointing to freedom as a fundamental foundation of well-being. Selling products on local markets is accepted by men for the most part because it contributes to the household economy, but is unlikely to be transformational with respect to power structures (Smith 2014). These activities could form an incremental step within processes of empowerment, in which resources (material, relational, and knowledge) are being used by Maasai women to take control of their lives, make decisions, and in doing so challenge gender norms (Goldman and Little 2015).…”

Innovative Grassroots NGOS and the Complex Processes of Women’s Empowerment: An Empirical Investigation from Northern Tanzania

“…Hodgson has also shown that women do maintain power in domestic as well as the public sphere in ways that often go unrecognized by outsiders (Hodgson, 2000(Hodgson, , 2001, see also Talle 1987Talle , 1988. Additionally, with increased diversification, Maasai women are taking on new roles and expanding old roles in relation to livestock production (Wangui, 2008), and market exchange (Brockington, 2001;McCabe, 2003;Smith, 2014). Recognizing these factors, we are concerned here with the structural and ideological contexts which keep women in a subordinate position relative to men within Maasai communities; as well as the work of NGOs targeting Maasai women for 'empowerment' development interventions.…”