Borana women’s perception of role change in livestock care

In the Borana pastoral system, all family members are engaged in livestock management but, in recent times, external changes at various levels have affected the labour requirements and division of labour. In the study “Caring for livestock: Borana women’s perceptions of their changing role in livestock management in southern Ethiopia” (2015), Marie-Luise Hertkorn et al used an actor-oriented approach to understand how Borana pastoral women in southern Ethiopia perceive how their roles and work in livestock management have changed. Based on information gained through 58 semi-structured and nine narrative interviews, women’s perceptions of the activity of collecting fodder for young stock are presented as an example, as environmental issues and government policies have affected labour needs and gender-based division of labour.

This paper was published in Nomadic Peoples 19: 30–52. doi: 10.3197/np.2015.190104

Posted on 24 October 2017 in Pastoralism, Gender & Youth