This
essay briefly discussed the roles that men and women played in agricultural
activities in Ethiopia. Gender roles are the different tasks and
responsibilities of men and women determined by a particular society. Ethiopia is a country where more than 85%
percent of the people’s livelihood mainly depends on agriculture. Since there
are cultural differences among various societies, the gender roles also vary. In
some parts of the country such as Menz of Amhara region women did not plough
where as in that of Awra Amba they were equally taking part in all agricultural
tasks with men. Among the Sidama, women were taking part in agricultural
activities such as manuring, harvesting, storing but they were culturally
prohibited from ploughing, hoeing, sowing and weeding. Agriculture among the Maqi Oromos was mainly carried
out by men. Harvesting and threshing were all the activities of men while women
were confined in cooking food, milking and keeping the house.
