Sender, John, and Christopher Cramer. 2022. ‘Desperate, Deceived and Disappointed: Women’s Lives and Labour in Rural Ethiopia and Uganda’. Journal of Contemporary African Studies 40 (2): 153–71
The study begins by explaining where and when the questionnaire had been administered and collected. It also stated two East African countries as study areas. The study employed qualitative and quantitative evidence in a ‘mixed methods’ research approach. The article administered 1700 questionnaires. Based on the data from the questionnaire response, the study also painstakingly selected respondents for less structured interviews about rural women’s life and work experiences about more than 100 respondents using purposive sampling.
The authors have argued that the existing literature regarding rural women is unconvincing. The authors have discussed the cooperation conflict model which has been used by many feminist scholars. Cooperation conflict can take place instead of open bargaining but in a mere silence or consent in a given family. The author further explained that the agency of poor rural women’s capacity is appreciated. Decision making within the family which is considered in pursuit of cooperation, cooperation solution is a good for both parties in the bargaining. Nevertheless, the authors have criticised this model for not addressing the elephant in the marriage i.e. physical violence. Some feminists’ scholars admit that there is a need to study more on the subject as there is a need to study the agency of coercion. ‘Economic imperialism’ as the authors termed, they have tried to present the nested life’s work stories to understand poverty, migration and employment in Africa.
The authors have pointed out how the rural women left their village hoping for escaping desperate life in the rural area. As to demonstrate this case by example, the authors have presented the life history of a young Ethiopian who abandoned her husband, came to Addis Ababa believing life is easy. However, she had gone through being an unpaid housemaid in her aunt’s house, a migrant horticulture farm worker, the small product vendor like Injera (traditional pancake), married to an abusive husband, and finally became a divorced woman with a child in Ziway town. Thus, the author has stressed that the life of this young woman resembles thousands of rural women who migrated here for work in the farms. As a young girl, the authors have explained how the girl was desperate when she left her village. She was informed to get a better life, however the reality she met was the contrary (she was apparently deceived). Due to all these life challenges, she was inevitably disappointed.
The authors hope that this piece of work contributes to a deeper understanding of the processes determining the poorest women’s participation in labour markets in rural Africa and to more relevant policy responses. Regarding policy, the authors suggested two pieces of policy advice. Firstly, the government makes it possible for girls to stay in school for more years. Secondly, the government works to create more jobs in the agricultural sector as there is a huge opportunity for women with no and little education.