Some Aspects of the Status of Women Among the Konso of Southern Ethiopia
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Date
2002-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to present the ethnography of Konso women and to
document their activities and status based on the different categorical division of women
as farmer women, craft-women and as wives of the spiritual leader.
Research methods used to conduct this study include key informant method, focus
group discussion, participant observation, case studies and, in a limited scale, survey
method. Even if I encountered some limitations with regard to time, I tried my best to
look in to the life and status of Konso women in their different roles and interaction in the
society.
Findings from the study indicate that the konso women are very hard working and their
contribution to their family and the society are immense. There is no work as such that
the women in Konso do not involve in, except few. But, however hard working the Konso
women are, due to social, cultural and less regard to women's domestic labor
contribution and income earning activities like marketing, they are holding a secondary
status and subordinated position to men.
This study even if it is not a complete account of the Konso women, will give some
insight about the status and condition of Konso women. It also gives some insight about
konso society and can serve as a background for those who want to study the Konso
women. Moreover, it may also serve policy makers and development agents to use it to
improve the social, cultural and economic conditions of Konso women in particular, and
the Konso people in general.
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Keywords
Women Among the Konso