Impact of Male Out-Migration on Rural Women Livelihood, the Case of Chencha Woreda, South Ethiopia
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Date
2006-12
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Addis Ababa University
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 selective 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 family and identify the major
socioeconomic and institutional factors that influence their effort 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 negatively
affected the agricultural production and the natural resource conservation activity in the study atea. 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 conh·ol 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
barriers which hinder their effort to win a decent livelihood, certain recommendation, gleaned out from
this study are suggested.
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Keywords
Male Out-Migration on Rural