Abstract
Achieving gender equality is the Third Millennium Development Goal, and the major challenge to poverty reduction is the inability of governments to address this at grass root levels. This study is therefore aimed at assessing gender inequality as it pertains to socio-economic factors in (agro-) pastoral societies. It tries to explain how “invisible” forces perpetuate gender inequality, based on data collected from male and female household heads and community representatives. The findings indicate that in comparison with men, women lack access to control rights over livestock, land, and income, which are critical to securing a sustainable livelihood. However, this inequality remains invisible to women who appear to readily submit to local customs, and to the community at large due to a lack of public awareness and gender based interventions. In addition, violence against women is perpetuated through traditional beliefs and sustained by tourists to the area. As a result, (agro-) pastoral woman face double marginalization, for being pastoralist, and for being a woman.
Highlights
Gender equality and women’s empowerment is the third Millennium Development Goal [1] and is considered to be an essential component of sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction.governments continue to struggle with their capacity to translate gender policies into effective, actionable programs
While all pastoralists suffer from marginalization, pastoralist women suffer from double marginalization, being both pastoralists and women [4,8,9,10]
Gender based harmful traditions such as early marriage, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), the beating of woman, and lack of access to education for girls are widespread in parts of Ethiopia, including the research site
Summary
Gender equality and women’s empowerment is the third Millennium Development Goal [1] and is considered to be an essential component of sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. Pastoral women have less decision making power within the home, while at the same time bearing a disproportionate burden of tasks and responsibilities Both men and women have vital roles in the continuation and adaptation of pastoral systems. Gender based harmful traditions such as early marriage, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), the beating of woman, and lack of access to education for girls are widespread in parts of Ethiopia, including the research site. Many of these violations are perpetuated from generation to generation, mother to daughter, due to a lack of public awareness, media attention, and availability and access to services. The remainder of this paper is organized by methodological framework, findings and discussion, and conclusions
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