Petros, S. et al. (2018) ‘Women Farmers’ (Dis)Empowerment Compared to Men Farmers in Ethiopia’, World Medical and Health Policy, 10(3), pp. 220–245.
The main purpose of the study was, to analyse women’s engagement in agricultural activities and how they contributed for food securities in Ethiopia. Smallholder agriculture is the economic source of livelihood for 85% rural population in Ethiopia, where the average landholding size is less. Women’s participation and decision-making in agricultural productivity is affected by the gendered relations and gendered power dynamics between men and women.
The study draws on data from the Ethiopia project of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for the Reduction of Post-Harvest Loss (PHLIL) that was Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Empirical data were also collected using mixed method of quantitative and qualitative research approach. Qualitative data were collected using FGDs and quantitative data is gathered through community surveys.
According to the finding of this study, women are less empowered when compared with the male in all the study areas. There are various causes that affect women’s empowerment such as lack of access to and control over resources/opportunities including critical economic resources like land, credit services, and technology that could facilitate women’s empowerment. Women’s access and control over resource is limited to in house smaller portion whereas, men control outside resources including grain storage which has high economic value. This study also revealed that women access to agricultural extension is low compared to male in the study areas which is 92% for men and 43% for women. According to this study majority of the household income is controlled by the husband as they are contributing most of it whereas women engage only in low-paying income-generating activities due to a lack of education, low business skill and cultural stereotype that limits women engagement in indoor activities.
Limited leadership role at the family and community level is also found to affect women’s empowerment in the study areas. Ninety-two percent of the study participants alleged that women are informed by their husbands on any matter concerning household decisions and the final decision is made by the husband. Finally, the author discussed how time poverty due to labour intensive workload affected women’s empowerment. Accordingly, women are the primary sources of agricultural labour and such is going to be intensified during the farming season. Women work longer than men, particularly during peak seasons, weeding, and harvesting. Most of the post harvesting activities are undertaken by women in which they are responsible for storage and management, including cleaning, follow-up through sensory evaluation, protection, periodic ventilation/aeration, physical maintenance of the storage, storage re/construction, and processing for market or consumption. Due to lack of access to technologies, women are at the risks of facing health risks associated with their increased labor toward post-harvest activities as well as their inhalation and consumption of toxic chemicals related to post-harvest losses.
The author recommended that effective targeting by project interventions along the agricultural value chain shall be implemented and related interventions that aimed at avoiding adding to women’s workload. Moreover, opportunities shall be provided to improve women’s empowerment in agriculture through awareness-raising and a household-based model of extension delivery instead of a head-of-household model. Finally, post-harvest technology development should put women at its core due to women’s significant role in post-harvesting.