Abstract
This study acknowledges that women participation in bee keeping is still low despite the initiatives and programs by the government and non-governmental organizations to have women participate in bee keeping in Baringo South Sub- County. The study identified that one of the factors blamed in low participation of women in bee farming in most developing countries is gender roles. This is particularly evident in male dominated societies. The study therefore sought to determine the influence of gender roles on women participation in Bee Keeping in Baringo South Sub- County. The study collected data from 128 women sampled from women engaged in bee farming in the sub-county. Data was collected through research questionnaires with closed ended questions that were self-administer by the researcher. The study revealed that gender roles had a significant influence on women participation in beekeeping. Women had huge gender roles that hampered their participation in beekeeping. The study also revealed that the high burden of gender roles on women presented itself in forms such as childrearing, household chores, income generating activities, provision of labour (paid and unpaid) and community development roles, influence female participation in bee keeping. The study recommends that gender roles should not be assigned according to biological and cultural stereotyping in order to create time for women to participate in bee keeping. Greater load with gender roles reduces women participation in beekeeping. Promotion of time saving technologies for household chores could go a long way in creating the much needed time necessary for women participation in beekeeping.
Highlights
An overview of women involvement and gender roles in beekeeping Previous studies have shown that beekeeping has often been considered a male-dominated enterprise in Uganda, Kenya and Zambia [10, 17]
This study focused on the gender roles and their influence on bee farming in Baringo South Sub-County
The study findings revealed that bee farming among women was low rise with distribution of number of hives among women as shown in table 1
Summary
An overview of women involvement and gender roles in beekeeping Previous studies have shown that beekeeping has often been considered a male-dominated enterprise in Uganda, Kenya and Zambia [10, 17]. Further research indicates that women are increasingly taking up beekeeping as an income generating activity in Nyando and Mwingi, Kenya [6, 15] They often encounter social and cultural constraints that hinder them from performing apiary cultural practices [18]. Women encounter many obstacles as they try to practice bee farming in most African countries. These obstacles include cultural norms and belief that prevent them from setting apiaries or owning hives. In Kenya, where there have been campaigns from government and nongovernmental institutions, encouraging women, especially those living in arid and semi-arid locations to practice bee farming, empirical evidence indicates that bee farming is still popular among the men. This study sought to investigate the gender roles and their influence in beekeeping in Baringo South Sub-County
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