Scoping study: gender and social equity in wheat research for development (R4D) in Ethiopia

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the main sources of income for women in Ethiopia; yet women are disadvantaged compared to men. According to the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey, more than half of women (56%) engaged in the agricultural sector were unpaid workers, and 65% of women were working for a family member.2 Traditional gender norms link women to household work, contributing to the general societal perception that farming is “a man’s job.” This cultural perception remains strong, even though numerous agricultural tasks, such as weeding, harvesting, grinding, and storing, are deemed “women’s work.” Consequently, women’s work in agriculture continues to be invisible to researchers and to the extension agents that deliver technical scientific knowledge. Unlike for other staple cereals, Ethiopia relies on a significant proportion of imported wheat to meet domestic demand.6 Wheat imports vary between 25 and 35 percent, depending on the size of the harvest and other factors.7 The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has announced its plans to become self-sufficient in wheat production and to stop importing substantial amounts of wheat by the year 2021. GoE has also committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have a number of gender and food security indicators, such as “zero hunger” and gender equality. All of the goals aim to “leave no one behind” and deliver more equitable development outcomes. The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) funded a research development project, “Understanding gender in wheat-based livelihoods for enhanced WHEAT R4D impact in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Ethiopia.” The aim of this research project is to help take stock of the current situation regarding the integration of gender and social equity in WHEAT research for development (R4D) in Ethiopia, and to identify and conceptualize opportunities for strengthening this integration. This scoping study report summarizes four outputs from this project and explores the following questions: How are gender and social equity issues around WHEAT R4D currently being addressed? How should gender and social equity issues be addressed in future WHEAT R4D in Ethiopia? The report begins with a summary of a literature review of 92 articles from peer-reviewed and secondary/gray literature. The following research questions are answered: How does the world look, and work, for men and women in households that rely predominantly on growing wheat? How do gender relations shape livelihoods in terms of nutrition, food security, and agriculture? Next is an overview of the policy analysis results. Seven pivotal policies were subjected to a critical feminist analysis while twenty-two other policies and legislation were reviewed along with regional and international commitments to contextualize the results. The policy analysis asks two questions: What is the quality of Ethiopia’s agriculture and gender policies as viewed through a feminist lens? How can the heterogenous needs of women working across the country in the agricultural sector be enshrined in policy? A data mining activity follows and explains that the reason the agriculture literature and policies fail to substantially address gender may be related to the way agriculture research is undertaken. The objective of the data mining component is to find out if identity (sex, religion, age, location, marital status, education level, and ethnicity) has any bearing on wheat productivity and efficiency; and how effectively is gender and social equity integrated into WHEAT R4D survey instruments? By considering the sampling strategy and size and the division of labor question from two surveys, recommendations are made for adopting an intersectional approach to survey development. The final section presents results from a country-level stakeholder analysis. In Ethiopia, stakeholders are defined as all those agencies that have a role to play in mainstreaming gender and social equity in WHEAT R4D (and therefore agriculture more broadly). The following questions guide the analysis: What is the current thinking and understanding by stakeholders about gender equality and social equity in R4D? Who are the main actors driving change? What promising practices and methodologies exist? The report concludes that there is a need, and plenty of scope, to improve gender and social equity in WHEAT R4D and in the agriculture sector generally