Factors Affecting Women’s Tripled Gender Roles: The Case of Awura Woreda, Afar Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

Pastoralist women have enormous roles but not recognized yet. Thus, this issue becomes field of inquiry because pastoral women provide economic values for non-pastoralists. Hence, this study intends to assess factors affecting women’s tripled gender roles in Awura Woreda. The study employed concurrent design with a mixed approach. The quantitative data were collected from 196 systematically selected women whereas the qualitative information gathered from purposively selected participants. Descriptive and advanced statistical tools were employed to analyze the quantitative while thematic analysis for qualitative data. Thestudy found that (29-39 women’s age group, married, family size 3-5, 6-8) were positive factors; climate variability, drought, inter-conflict, violence, gender relation, and social-service inaccessibility were negative factors. Harassment, low decision-making power, and Poverty were challenges. Access to property, traditional healers, and food aid were opportunities. The study recommends that governmental and nongovernmental organizations should work on service delivery, training on income-generating potential and awareness-raising.