Livestock Services and the Poor: A global initiative - IFAD

CHAPTER 1: POOR LIVESTOCK KEEPERS
As the table illustrates, the majority of women in Kenya viewed
livestock primarily as a means to ensure food security for the
family, whereas men perceived livestock as a means to meet
present needs, such as food and school fees, and as a form
of investment.
The responses did not show the same profile in Bolivia. In
Bolivia, both men and women consider livestock to be a source of
income and a guarantee of future food security. However, men
value livestock highly as aids in the performance of agricultural
activities such as ploughing, which confirms the traditional division
of labour in Bolivia, where men hold the main responsibility for
the preparation and ploughing of fields.
In India, both men and women highlighted the role of livestock
in income generation and food security. Interestingly, few men said
that livestock ownership confirmed a household’s social status.
The differing perceptions can lead to work-related conflicts
within the household. For example, in India, women often voiced
resentment over the additional workload that livestock ownership
demanded. Similarly, a group of women in a Mexican village
complained about the labour demand represented by the cattle
belonging to their husbands. They saw cattle as unproductive
assets that they have to tend only because their husbands perceive
cattle as the basis of status and authority in the local community. In
contrast, the Mexican women consider poultry readily accessible
capital for meeting daily consumption needs and pigs as a sound
investment that can be readily capitalized in times of need
(Villarreal, 2001).
Ownership and control of livestock
The traditional view is that women may own the livestock in their
care, but that they have little control over it. For example, women
in pastoralist and agropastoralist societies in Eastern Africa
generally obtain livestock through culturally formalized ceremonial
events, but rarely via the marketplace. Livestock is given to woman
in marriage either through bride wealth, or through allocation by
the husband or the men family members (Joekes and Pointing,
1991; Watson, 1994; Smith-Oboler, 1996). Women also inherit
Women may own the
livestock, but have little
control over it
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