Gender-based constraints and opportunities to women’s participation in the small ruminant value chain in Ethiopia: A community capitals analysis

Gender issues in livestock production systems in Ethiopia: A literature review

“…The gender division of labour between women and men varies according to the enterprise, the farming system, the technology used, and the wealth status of the household (Aregu et al 2010;Tangka et al 2000), culture, religion, stage of economic development, species of predominant animals, and population pressure (Tangka et al 2000) influenced by sociocultural and socio-economic factors (Mulema et al 2016). Nevertheless, women are dominant in livestock management and husbandry practices compared to men and other household members across locations in Ethiopia.…”

“…The evidence documented so far shows that animal management and husbandry practices across the various farming systems in Ethiopia is shared among household (HH) members with various degrees of involvement. However, further disaggregation of these practices with detailed probing in order to understand their local meanings, such as by a recent study in small ruminant-based systems, reveals that there are portfolios of subactivates where distinct gender roles are more clearly exhibited implying that actually men control the political aspects of animal husbandry while women are responsible for all the technical-related roles in animal production (Kinati et al 2017;Mulema et al 2016). Although this appears in line with the established knowledge, the further disaggregation of animal management and husbandry practices from the livestock keepers' point of view was a novel contribution to the literature on gender roles in livestock.…”

“…Different understandings of ownership of livestock exist in rural Ethiopia based on five separate domains such as benefiting from the livestock, how livestock was sourced, decision-making, taking care of the animals and knowledge of resources (Galiè et al 2015). Both men and women are constrained by similar stocks of capitals, but women are more constrained by lower levels of social, financial, human, natural, political, cultural, and physical capitals (Mulema et al 2016).…”

“…In Ethiopia, evidence has shown that control over of productive resources, including livestock particularly large animals, tends to be centralized into the hands of the household head even if owned jointly, be it a man or a woman, irrespective of ownership at or after marriage (Fafchamps and Quisumbing 2002). Even if women may independently own small animals such as sheep and goats, men have more control over income from sale of these animals (Mulema et al 2016). The right to sell livestock and the management of the income from livestock sale predominantly falls in the hands of the household head (Fafchamps and Quisumbing 2002).…”

“…A recent study in Oromia region reveals that over the past five years women are increasingly participating in making decisions related to sale of livestock, although the final decision remains in the hands of the household head. Women tend to have more bargaining power over livestock that they inherit or purchase using their own money (Mulema et al 2016).…”