Impact Of Male Out - Migration on Rural Women's Livelihood The Case of Chencha Woreda, South Ethiopia

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Date

2006-12

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Addis Ababauniversity

Abstract

Migration is a selective process which encourages certain section of the community to involve more 'than the others, Gender is known to be one of the se lective criteria of migration for a long time. Migration streams that are predominantly male or female have implications for the organization of gender roles in both communities of origin and destination. Although rural-urban migration is dominated by women nationally in Ethiopia, the feature of out migration from certain parts of the country has been largely men's affair. Little is known how the livelihood of women is affected in the long run when their counterparts migrate out and the former assume the virtual headship of their households' in Ethiopia. This study is therefore, intended to assess how women cope up in the absence of their husbands and support their fami ly and identify the major socioeconomic and institutional factors that influence their effol1 to improve their livelihood. The result of the study indicates that male-out migration has greatly affected the livelihood of the women who are left behind. The labor gap created due to the absence of male head has negati vely affected the agricultural production and the natural resource conservation activity in the study area. The work burden of the women has increased due to their high involvement in domestic and outdoor activities. Moreover, access of women to Agricultural Extension Service, inputs and credit is constrained by lack of control over household resource and the male-biased agricultural extension orientation. To the dismay of most women remittance from most migrants is also found to be very low, irregular and unreliable. Thus, to improve the lives of de facto women heads by mitigating the social, economic and cultural ban'iers which hinder their effort to win a decent livelihood, certain recommendation, gleaned out from thi s study are suggested

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Chencha Woreda

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