| dc.description.abstract | Interest in gender roles, decision making and control of income in a specific society
has been growing for more than ten years, driven by the realization that women
often do not benefit from development activities and in some cases become even
poorer and more marginalised. Commercialisation leading to increased incomes
could have negative consequences for women and as intra-household gender
dynamics in Africa have shown, when a crop enters the formal market economy,
men are likely to take over from women. On a balance women are more vulnerable
in a market-oriented production than men.
This study investigated how commercialisation resulting from market
formalisation in the dairy sector has influenced gendered patterns in; division of
labour in livestock production and marketing, milk marketing, dairy income
management and decision making over dairy resources and benefits. The overall
objective of this study was to analyse dairy commercialisation and its effects on
gender in terms of division of labour, participation in markets, income control and
decision making. The specific objectives were to analyse the effects of
commercialisation of the dairy sector on gender roles in the dairy value chain, to
determine the effect of dairy commercialisation on women’s and men’s participation
in dairy marketing, to analyse the influence of dairy commercialisation on gender
control over dairy income and to determine the effect of dairy commercialisation on
household decision making on dairy resources and benefits as result of dairy
commercialisation. The study was guided by a combination of the cooperative and
non-cooperative bargaining household models in order capture the complex and
dynamic realities embedded in household relationships and interactions in terms of
division of labour, market participation, income control and decision making.
This study was conducted in Nandi and Uasin Gishu Counties situated in the
Rift Valley region of Kenya. Structured interviews were conducted where 147
households were interviewed from Nandi County and they represented the actors in
the formal market and 143 households from Uasin Gishu County, who represented
the actors in the informal set up. In each household both husband and wife were
interviewed. Focus group discussions as well as Key informant interviews were
held. Survey data subjected to bivariate and multivariate analysis which provided
associations between and among variables. Qualitative data were sorted out and
assembled around themes according to the study objectives.
The results revealed that both husbands and wives in commercialised and
non-commercialised dairy households were involved in livestock production, but
the roles, marketing patterns, income control and decision making varied between
men and women and among women. When compared to husbands, wives from both
commercialised and non-commercialised households were more disadvantaged and
when compared among themselves wives from commercialised households were
more constrained than those from non-commercialised households. The negative
effects resulting from commercialisation were in form of increased labour demand
for women, decreased participation in formal dairy markets by women, reduced
level of control of the increased incomes from milk and decreased decision making
ability regarding main livestock resources and benefits.
The study concludes that commercialisation of the dairy sector has some
negative effects on women in terms of increased labour, reduced participation in
formal markets, reduced control of milk incomes and reduced decision making
ability. The study, therefore, recommends that research projects should incorporate
the potential impact of any livestock technology on gender with monitoring and
evaluation indicators for commercialisation focussing on changes in production
system and distribution of the income. Gender trainings challenging the status quo
in livestock production and marketing should be held to help erode some of the
negative cultural practices which are oppressive to women and lastly market
interventions should aim at improving the informal markets where women are
mainly involved in addition strategies aimed at increasing women’s participation in
the formal markets. | en_US |
