Hoof Work: The Feminisation of Donkeys in Ethiopia

Abstract

This article explores how gendered divisions of labour manifest across species lines. It applies a feminist, more-than-human intersectional approach, building on previous work on animal labour. The vital labour donkeys do with and for humans and their contributions to multispecies societies have been under-recognised and under-theorised. Drawing on empirical research conducted in central Ethiopia on the human-donkey relationship, findings reveal the multiple ways human gender and class coalesce to shape the kinds of labour performed and social relations among women, men, and donkeys across urban and rural environments. At the nexus of these intersecting forces, equivalence is drawn, by research participants themselves, between women and donkeys. Women and donkeys are aligned and othered, differentiated from men, a dynamic that results in the feminisation of donkeys and mutual marginalisation of women and donkeys and exposes male violence perpetrated on both groups. The article contributes empirical insights into human-donkey relations and interspecies labour and offers theoretical considerations of more-than-human intersectionality.