Analysis of Women Empowerment in Agriculture in East Shewa and West Arsi zones of Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper presents the women empowerment level in agriculture using an Index in two zones of Oromia, regional state, Ethiopia. Eight representative districts were considered in West Arsi and East Shewa zones for empowerment analysis. The overall result of five domains of empowerment (5DE) for both (East Shewa and West Arsi) zone shows that 10 percent of women are empowered. The GPI shows that 67.5 percent of women have gender parity with the primary male in their households. Of the 32.5 percent of women who are less empowered, the average empowerment gap between them and the males in their households was found as low as less than 5 percent. Thus, the overall and Average gender parity index (GPI) of East Shewa and west Arsi was found to be 95 percent. In terms of the disempowerment measures as decomposed by the five dimensions and the ten indicators (M0) for women (0.184) and men (0.154) the domains in the two zone sample areas that contribute most to women’s disempowerment were lack of adequate time to be involved in agricultural activities (32%) lack of control over resources (27 percent), and little decision-making power in agricultural production (27 percent). Over One third (34%) percent of women in the study are not yet empowered and lack time. Furthermore, women are work loaded to participate in agricultural activities, and more than one fourth are not yet empowered and have little leisure or free time (26 percent). More than a half of women are not yet empowered and lack adequate access to and decision on credit (56% percent), and 41 percent have little input in decision in production and so that they have less autonomy in production decision.

Keywords: Women Empowerment, Gender, WEAI Index, Agriculture

DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/15-3-01

Publication date: February 28^th 2023