Gender equality and decent employment in the dairy sub-sector – evidence from ethiopia

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Reduce Rural Poverty RURAL tRAnsfoRmAtions - infoRmAtion note #8

©FAO/Giulio Napolitano

introduction

The dairy sub-sector offers a pathway out of rural poverty and hunger for millions of small-holder farmers through employment creation and income generation. The sub-sector engages over 750 million people globally (mostly in developing countries) and is continually expanding, given the growing demand for milk and dairy products. Ethiopia is an important dairy producing country, creating a source of

livelihood and self-employment for over 85 percent of households in some areas. Much of the Ethiopian rural population owns cattle for income, household nutrition and manure. However, gender inequalities prevent women and men from engaging and benefitting equally. This reduces the sub-sector’s capacity to realise its potential.

What does the evidence say?

Decent employment is a key contributing factor to the empowerment of rural women and poverty reduction. Thus, better quality jobs and work conditions associated with gender equality in employment in the dairy sub-sector can contribute to increased food security, as well as sustainable development of agriculture.

With 10.5 million dairy cattle, Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa. In 2010, dairying created an estimated 588 000 full-time on-farm jobs and can create more, given the untapped potential of the sub-sector. However, in Ethiopia, women earn, on average, less than one third of what men do for the same occupation.

The same can be assumed for the dairy sub- sector. Women also tend to be more involved in informal dairy value chains, and furthermore, have less access to formal marketing institutions like dairy cooperatives than men do. This goes against ILO labour standards and fails to provide decent livelihoods and income for women.

Gender inequalities hinder rural women’s capacity to improve their dairy businesses in Ethiopia, limiting their opportunities as self-employed or wage

workers, as well as their ability to establish dairy enterprises capable of generating additional jobs.

These inequalities interact with rural women’s limited access to credit and other financial services, as well as to education and vocational training, preventing them from acquiring the necessary technical skills to scale-up their dairy activities.

Whilst data on this topic are scarce, it is possible to identify broad trends based on published studies

Gender equality and decent employment in the dairy sub-sector – evidence from ethiopia

Janine (fictitious name for confidentiality) is a 26 year old woman engaged in small scale home-based milk processing in Arbaminch Town. She buys raw milk from traders and processes it to produce yogurt (Ergo), butter, butter milk (Arear) and cheese (Ayib). She employs three women on a permanent basis, paying them monthly. Currently she can process and sell around 90 litres per day. Janine makes a gross margin of approximately USD820 per month from yogurt sales. With her savings, she has invested in urban land in Hawasa and around Addis Ababa, thereby strengthening her livelihood while also creating job opportunities within her community.

Box | FAO case study example of how the sub-sector creates jobs in Ethiopia and contributes to the empowerment of rural women

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and other sources of evidence. They point out that in Ethiopia’s dairy sub-sector, women are mainly involved in dairy production, providing the day- to-day care of animals. Activities include milking, feeding, herding, watering livestock, and cleaning animal sheds. This disproportionately exposes women to various health risks and occupational hazards including zoonotic diseases (e.g. gastro- intestinal diseases, respiratory disorders, dermatoses) that can be transmitted to other family or community members, particularly children and elderly. Children are also involved in the sub-sector, mainly in herding animals and taking milk to collection centres.

The number of hours that women dedicate to dairy-related activities add to the time spent on housework, because traditional gender roles assign women the responsibility to also cook, clean the house and provide care to children and elderly. A FAO case study shows that during the wet season in Degem Woreda, women spend around 8-9 hours daily on dairy-related activities, 6 hours on domestic activities and 2-3 hours on community activities.

This triple burden of work (productive, domestic and community) results in very long working hours, with insufficient time to rest or engage in other activities and skills development.

What can fAo do?

In order to improve the performance of the Ethiopian dairy sub-sector by promoting women’s employment, FAO can:

• Assist the Ethiopian government and its partners in reviewing national policies and strategies affecting the gender dimension of employment in the dairy sub-sector (including the 1994 Gender Policy), to better reflect Ethiopia’s evolving socio-economic and cultural context. This includes generating knowledge on rural women’s contributions to the sub-sector and the positive impact of gender-sensitive employment interventions.

• Promote access to training, specifically targeting rural women engaged in the dairy sub-sector. This includes lessons on dairy and financial management (including fairer division of responsibilities between men and women), entrepreneurial skills, and training to improve occupational health and safety (in particular, training on milk safety and quality to prevent transmission of zoonotic agents). In convening meetings, training sessions and workshops, women’s needs with regard to timing of activities need to be taken into account (in line with other responsibilities).

• Assist in accelerating the empowerment of rural women, through their increased participation in the diary sub-sector, under the same conditions as men. This can be done through different practical interventions, for example locating milk collection facilities closer to producers within villages, or providing women with access to technology (and provide training on its efficient use) to enable women to expand their engagement in the sub-sector.

[email protected] Raffaele Mattioli

Senior Officer

Animal Production and Health Division (AGA)