Youth transition is a concept used to explain young people’s choices when they leave compulsory education. In many low-income countries, schooling has not been or is not available, and young people’s transitions are non-linear. This has become a common concern for policy interventions globally, as children who live in poverty may benefit least from the education system. Young people’s labour is essential in rural areas, both paid and unpaid, and much research has focused on urban youth. (Chuta & Morrow, 2015) explored the situation for young people in rural Ethiopia who have not completed a cycle of basic education due to parental expectations and family livelihoods. It focuses on two categories of transition: work and livelihoods, and marriage and concludes that transition in Ethiopia is not neat, with no straightforward progression through education or training to paid work or domestic work. Young people’s trajectories differ according to factors such as gender, place of residence, socio-economic background and education, changing social norms and cultural expectations.
Young people in rural poverty in Ethiopia take up paid work and/or contribute their labour to their families’ farming and off-farm activities, which is seen as interdependence rather than autonomy. Young people’s trajectories in rural Ethiopia are shaped by economic instability, social and cultural factors, leading to conflict between personal and family needs. Young people leave school early and transition directly to the labour force, school-to-work schemes often do not consider young people not at school and already working in the informal sector. The other concept discussed in the literature is that, early marriage is an important aspect of adulthood in rural Ethiopia, where children may not have access to formal schooling and assume adult responsibilities from an early age. (Chuta & Morrow, 2015) found that young people’s norms and actions are constrained by their communities’ accepted norms, so it is important to consider their specific needs and determine the most effective approaches. Policies and programmes should consider cultural definitions of acceptability when designing interventions to protect girls from premarital sexual activity, rape and pregnancy. Parents want their children to be educated, but economic problems and cultural beliefs/norms are important when making decisions about sending girls to school or marriage.
Gender is a social construct and codification of differences between the sexes and social relationships between women and men. Gender roles and relationships influence the division of work, the use of resources, and the sharing of the benefits of production between women and men. Gendered cultural norms, values and practices in rural Ethiopia perpetuate the low status of women, making them voiceless and powerless in all spheres of life and women continue to work more hours than men on domestic tasks, with sex segregation of housework. Gender specific behaviour is determined by culture, with girls encouraged to play with dolls and boys channelled towards aggressive toys. Gender differences in attitudes towards work and gender-role attitudes are important determinants of gender inequality in the labour market.Respondents have positive sex role and family role orientations, but have a negative attitude towards gendered sex role. Men’s attitudes and practices about household division of labour have changed in Wolaita Sodo town, Southern Ethiopia. (Zewude et al., 2021, 101 – 114) findings show that most (86.1%) share household tasks with their spouses and gender division of labour is changing, with education, religious leaders, role models, and support from male relatives playing a key role.
(Heissler & Porter, 2013) examines the roles of children’s work in the household economy in Ethiopia, and answers two research questions: what factors shape work roles and how do household members value children’s contributions and found that greater flexibility and dynamism as regards gender and age within the household division of labour, and a contradiction with some types of work.Ethiopian children play a central role in the household economy, with work essential for schooling and interdependence between girls and boys. Household composition, birth order and sibling composition determine which children do which type of work, with some having heavier burdens than others. According to (Heissler & Porter, 2013) findings siblings play an important role in teaching prosocial skills and providing flexibility in working hours to meet household and schooling obligations and oldest girls in the household often have higher workloads than their brothers and their younger sisters. This finding is particularly important in the design of social protection programs with a labour requirement and integrating research methods to gain a more complete picture of children’s experiences is important. In addition, according to (Chuta & Morrow, 2015)finding, migration is seen as a pathway to adulthood among rural young people, either as a rite of passage or as a means to achieve educational aspirations. Rural children and young people in low-income countries are particularly disadvantaged in terms of education, with leaving school being the most common first transition to work. This is related to poverty, not poor academic performance.
(Crivello et al., 2019) reviews the changing place of motherhood in the lives of girls and young women in Ethiopia from a generational, life course perspective and examines the social value given to, and roles of marriage and motherhood in, life trajectories towards womanhood, and highlights changes in these values and practices across generations. (Crivello et al., 2019) have stated that young mothers have a vital role to play in influencing social change and reshaping family life and social relations, as they become mothers at different ages within the second decade of their lives. Addressing structural inequalities increases the likelihood of gains being sustained through the transition to adulthood. The other findings from (Crivello et al., 2019) is that the younger generation of Ethiopian women have complex, nuanced and contradictory expressions of female agency across the early life course. They are exposed to emerging social values related to children’s rights and gender equity, but these expressions of agency come with social risks, especially after motherhood. These young women are increasingly subject to the influence of patriarchy. Marriage was seen as a way to gain independence and gain social status and finding showed that young married women, aged 19, were spending up to 8 hours a day on unpaid work and care, reflecting the naturalisation of rigid gender norms that assigned men the role of ‘breadwinners’ and women, carers. Young mothers argued that the man had the decision-making power and the wife had to be polite and obedient, while some claimed that men were ‘useless’ at childcare.
The findings from (Crivello et al., 2019) emphasise the role of context in making sense of young women’s choices and empowerment. Education and gender equality are central features of modern childhood in Ethiopia, but there are challenges to achieving these goals due to poverty and discriminatory gender norms. Young people’s entrapment between tradition and modern life lead to uncertainty in life choices and the study found that young women had greater choice in their pathways to adulthood, but their capacity to make independent decisions was limited. Gender inequality between girls and boys is caused by socially biassed outlook, economic status, social attitude towards girls and boys’ education, and household decision making. It is difficult to change, but behavioural change of both men and women and the community as a whole is needed. According to (Dula, 2019) gender roles in rural societies restrict women’s choices, leading to time poverty and unpaid domestic and reproductive activities, which can have a negative impact on women’s economic opportunities. Rural women’s domestic unpaid work and lack of substitutability of female labour in household work by men limit their access to paid employment. Low access to assets affects women’s bargaining power, as it affects decisions regarding producing consumption and human capital formation. Research has indicated that lack of bargaining power is responsible for women having restricted access to information and new technologies in agricultural production. This finding was supported by (Dula, 2019) which states that female time poverty leads to fewer opportunities and unequal education outcomes, hindering women from competing for more skilled and better paid jobs. Gender discrimination often results in lower school enrolments and attainments for girls, which worsens their educational levels and also contributes to unequal education outcomes, hindering women from competing with men for more skilled and better paid jobs
Recent findings also state that women spent the majority of labour time on agricultural activities, with a higher proportion of unpaid household responsibilities. Rural women play a variety of roles in agricultural production, including producers, distributors, processors, and domestic chores, and represent 50% of the agricultural workforce in Africa. Women typically take on three roles in terms of paid and unpaid labour: productive, reproductive, and community management. They are major contributors to the agricultural workforce in some developing countries, making a large share of the labour. Gender roles and relationships influence the division of work between women and men, but little is known about their contribution to household income and food security. According to (Tigabie et al., 2022) finding girls had a better advantage than women in agricultural production activities, but cultural/community norms and social taboos hindered their participation. Women contributed a higher share of household labour requirements than men in rural households and reproductive activities were mostly done by women, with 64 percent of household labour requirements covered by women. Men worked for 7 and half hours per day, while women worked for 14 hours per day. Women’s participation in agricultural activities was mainly affected by age, marital status, and social capital, with girls having a better chance. Single women are more responsible for managing their households and participating in agricultural activities. (Tigabie et al., 2022) finding showed that women contributed 42.8 percent of agricultural labour supply, consistent with Messay (2012), Aklilu (2014), Cheryl (2011), and the World Bank (2013). Most women participated in self-employed off-farm activities to enhance their household income, with 70 percent performed by female household members and the balance by male family members.
References
Chuta, N., & Morrow, V. (2015). Youth trajectories through work and marriage in rural Ethiopia. Young Lives, 135.
Crivello, G., Boyden, J., & Pankhurst, A. (2019). ‘Motherhood in Childhood’: Generational Change in Ethiopia. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 3(1-2), 12.
Dula, T. (2019). Impact of Gender Inequality in Socio-Economic Development: The Case of Women in Ethiopia. Developing Country Studies, 9(11).
Heissler, K., & Porter, C. (2013). Know Your Place: Ethiopian Children’s Contributions to the Household Economy. European Journal of Development Research, 25(4), 600 -620.
Tigabie, M. A., Kassa, Y., Teferra, B., & Mamo, D. (2022). Rural women’s role in agriculture and household workloads: the case of North Shewa Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The Official Journal of the Amhara Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI), 2(2), 86.
Zewude, B., Melese, B., & Habtegiorgis, T. (2021). The Attitude of Married Men towards Gender Division of Labor and their Experiences in Sharing Household Tasks with their Marital Spouses in Southern Ethiopia. East African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 6(2), 101 – 114.