Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Seminar Series, January 25-26, 2012

1. Women’s Participation in
Agricultural Cooperatives in
Ethiopia
International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI)
Ethiopian Strategy Support Program
(ESSP II)
BY: Thomas Woldu and Fanaye Tadesse

2. Introduction
• Ethiopia’s economy is characterized by smallholder subsistence
farming
• Among the major impediments faced by small holder farmers
are:
– lack of modern inputs and access to markets.
– the participation of small holder farmers in the market and
the extent to which they benefit from their participation
are very low
• Agricultural cooperatives are believed to play a crucial role in
curbing these problems by
– making credit and modern inputs available
– creating market opportunities and sell members’ output.

3. Introduction cont.
• Co-operatives bring together the economically weak members
of the society and thereby enhance their individual capacities
• Women’s participation is important:
– For sustainable cooperative development
– As an effective means to empower women in rural areas
– In helping them to overcome the constraints they face in
accessing education, knowledge and information, as well as
productive assets (FAO 2010)

4. Introduction – cont’d
• In most developing countries
– The participation of women in cooperatives is very minimal
(Idrisa et al 2007).
• In Ethiopia,
– Women’s participation in agricultural cooperatives was only 8
percent in 2004 (USAID 2005) and
– 16 percent in the total urban and rural cooperatives in 2007
(Bernard et al. 2010).

5. Introduction cont.
• In most countries, there are formal and informal prejudices
about what women can and cannot do.
• Factors preventing women from full participation in
cooperatives
– formal and informal prejudices about what women can and
cannot do.
– Laws, and even co-operative rules and by-laws, sometimes
hinder women's membership in cooperative societies (ICA
1983).
– Religious rules and traditions
– Rural women in developing countries often work long hours
– Women in developing countries often lack the basic
education

6. Objective
• This paper aims at filling a critical knowledge gap by
identifying through different methods the characteristics of
cooperatives, households, and individual women that are
associated with women’s participation in cooperatives in
Ethiopia.
• It quantifies which factors contribute to the low participation
of women in cooperatives and which type of cooperatives are
more successful in attracting women as members.

7. Data and methodology
• Data were jointly collected by Ethiopian Economics Association
(EEA) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in
2009.
• The surveys were conducted in eight selected Woredas in 7
regions: Afar, Amhara, Beneshangul-Gumuz, Gambella,
Oromia, SNNP, Tigray
– Household survey:
– in 4 randomly drawn kebeles of each of the 8 weredas
– 35 randomly drawn households in each selected kebele
– total of approx. 1120 households
– Kebele-level surveys:
– in all kebeles of each selected weredas
– total of approx. 156 kebeles

8. Survey Design
Kebele level survey
Local Political Representatives
-Kebele chair
-Kebele council member (1 male, 1
female)
-Kebele council speaker
-Wereda council member
Household survey Kebele level survey
Household Members Service Providers
-Both HH head and spouse -Development agents (1 livestock, 1
separately crop)
-Agricultural cooperatives
-Water committee head

9. Distribution of Cooperatives in the Sample
Number of Number of
Agricultural Kebeles in Cooperative-
Region Woreda Cooperatives Woreda Kebele Ratio
Afar Telalak 2 12 0.17
Amhara Bati 14 23 0.61
Amhara Sekota 19 33 0.53
Benishangul-Gumuz Yaso 5 14 0.36
Gambella Gambella 3 11 0.27
Oromia Ibantu 10 20 0.50
SNNP Sheko 6 25 0.24
Tigray Ofla 14 18 0.78
Total 73 156

10. Cooperative Characteristics
• The average number of members
– At time of establishment – 245
– At the time of the survey – 600
Percentage of
Activities Cooperatives
Have members outside of the Kebele 32%
Sell shares to members 67%
Obtain inputs for members 55%
Sell products of members 23%
Provide credit services 77%
-Lending directly 49%
-Playing Intermediary role 24%
-Both lending directly and playing intermediary role 4%

11. Women’s Participation in Cooperatives
• Women constitute about 20 percent of members on average
• Five percent of the cooperatives do not have women
members at all
• The percentage of women is not increasing over time (only 3
percent increase on average)
Percentage of Women Members in Cooperatives

12. Women’s Participation in Cooperatives – Cont’d
Cooperatives that have women in leadership position 18%
Participation of members in cooperative meetings (considering the last meeting
before the survey)
- Men who attended the meeting (as a percentage of total men members) 47%
- Women who attended the meeting (as a percentage of total women members) 45%
Leaders think it is better for the community if cooperatives have more women
members 96%
Leaders discussed about increasing women's participation during meetings they
held in the past one year 16%
Leaders received some sort of training 55%
- Leaders’ trainings had component that addressed women's issues 28%

13. Econometric Analysis
• At cooperative level
– Tobit model; in modeling determinants of women’s
proportion in cooperatives
• At individual/household level
– Logit model; to study the determinants of membership

14. Cooperative level Analysis
Modelling Determinants of Women’s Proportion in Cooperatives
• A tobit model, truncated from below at zero, was estimated
• Explanatory variables include indicators for
• the way the cooperatives are organized and function,
• the characteristics of the cooperatives at the time of
their establishment,
• the characteristics of the leaders,
• link of the cooperative with the government, and
• the type of services the cooperatives provide

15. Modelling Women's Proportion in Cooperatives (Tobit regression)
Explanatory variables dy/dx Std. Err.
Cooperatives are formally registered (Yes=1) 0.015 (0.06)
Number of visits to government officials -0.001 (0.00)
Entrance fee of members (in Birr) -0.011 (0.01)
Members can buy shares (Yes=1) 1.642 (0.84)
All members are in one kebele (Yes=1) 0.125 * (0.05)
Proportion of leaders who can read and write 0.181 *** (0.03)
Leaders have taken some sort of training (Yes=1) 0.104 *** (0.02)
No. of years a cooperative head serves in a position -0.003 (0.02)
No. of total members at the time the cooperative is established 0.000 ** (0.00)
Established after 2000 G.C (Yes=1) -0.06 (0.08)
Provide input to members (Yes=1) 0.118 ** (0.04)
Sell output for members (Yes=1) -0.045 (0.09)
Provide credit service to members (Yes=1) -0.149 (0.11)
Number of observations=57
Pseudo R2 =-0.87
Notes: clustered standard errors in parenthesis. Coefficients are significant at *10 percent,
** 5 percent and *** 1 percent. District fixed effects were used in the regression.

16. Determinants of Women’s Proportion in Cooperatives – cont’d
• Cooperatives’ links with government officials do not have a
significant effect on women’s proportion.
– This might be due to less emphasis given to women’s
participation when the cooperatives visit government
officials
• The ways the cooperatives are organized and function
significantly affect women’s proportion in cooperatives.
– Women’s proportion is more likely to be higher in
cooperatives
• with members only in one Kebele
• which distribute input to members
• that have a higher proportion of literate leaders
• that received leader’s training

17. Individual Level Analysis
Modelling Determinants of Cooperative Membership
– Included explanatory variables
• Demographic variables,
• household variables and
• variables which serve as a proxy for social interaction
of individuals
– A logit model is estimated

18. Modeling Determinants of Membership (Logit models)
Explanatory Variables Model one Model two
dy/dx Std. Err. dy/dx Std. Err.
Gender (Male=1) -.088 ** (.039) -.007 (.019)
Age of the individual (in years) .002 ** (.001) .001 (.001)
Literacy (literate=1) .066 (.046) .054 (.042)
Household size .008 ** (.003) .010 *** (.004)
Place of birth (in the Kebele=1) .009 (.041) .022 (.035)
No. of visits by an expert in the past 1 year .007 (.005) .006 (.005)
Position (held official, village or traditional position=1) .071 ** (.032) .051 * (.027)
Relatives ever held positions (Yes=1) .091 *** (.021) .079 *** (.023)
Land holding of the household (in hectars) .002 (.003) .002 (.003)
Household head (Yes=1) --- .122 *** (.043)
Number of observations 1877 1877
Pseudo R2 0.15 0.17
Notes: Marginal effects are reported. Clustered standard errors in parenthesis. Estimates are
significant at *10 percent, ** 5 percent and *** 1 percent. Model one does not include
household head variable but model two includes the variable.

19. Modelling Determinants of Cooperative Membership
- Cont’d
• One of the main reasons for lower participation of
women in cooperatives is related with their power of
decision making in the household.
• Individuals who are more likely to be members
• are older
• are living in a bigger family
• have held village, official or traditional positions and
• have relatives who have held such positions

20. Characteristics of Women Members as Compared to
Non-members – Cont’d
• We couldn’t do regression due to few women members (6%)
• Hence, simple mean difference tests are conducted between
members and non-members
• The results show that
– Women who are members of cooperatives
• come from households with educated head and higher
average level of education within the household.
• have higher family sizes in general and more women
household members
• are more likely heads of their households.
• are relatively older
• have held relatively more some sort of official, village or
traditional position

21. Conclusion
• Women’s participation in cooperatives is limited both as
members and as leaders.
– Therefore, there should be more efforts in improving women’s
participation
• Such efforts in its current form do not seem to be persuasive
• The ways cooperatives are organized and function is also
found to significantly affect women’s proportion in
cooperatives
• Leaders’ characteristics are also found to be the main factor
that determines women’s participation in cooperatives
– leaders of cooperatives should be educated/educated members
should become leaders
– leaders should be trained, especially on the issue of improving
women’s participation.

22. Conclusion
• Women are found significantly less probable to be member of
cooperatives
– One of the main reasons is seemingly related with their
power of decision making in the household
– most of the women that are members of cooperatives are
heads of their households
• Empowering women in their household improves women’s
participation in cooperatives
• Women who come from households with educated heads and
who have higher average levels of education are also more
likely to be a member.
– Education plays a significant role in improving women’s
participation in cooperatives