Building gender awareness amongst PATSPO II staff and partners in Ethiopia

Adanech Asfaw is an assistant professor and vice president at Mettu University in Southwest Ethiopia. While participating in a gender awareness training organized by the second phase of Provision of Adequate Tree Seed Portfolios (PATSPO II) project on 6 April 2023, she shared the following story.

“Coming back from work, when my husband and I open the door, gender roles get into our house together with us. I am educated; I work as hard as my husband. But when we get home, even though we are both educated, I act just like my mother and my husband acts just like his father. At home, I cook and take care of household chores while my husband watches TV sitting on the couch. And I have accepted it and don’t complain about it. My mother helped my father with the farmwork, but when they got back home, my mother cooked dinner while my father sat waiting for dinner doing nothing. 

Ethiopian women don’t feel comfortable when men try to cook. I must admit that the culture we are raised in has dominance over the personal beliefs of both women and men. The training should bring about change on the ground. I hope things will change in the future with such gender awareness trainings.” 

In late 2022, two consultants – Katrine Gro Friborg from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and Stepha McMullin, a scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) in Nairobi – conducted a gender analysis report for PATSPO II. To do so, they conducted key informant interviews and focus group discussions with dozens of people, including PATSPO II staff, relevant staff members of key stakeholders, and women seed collectors, among others.

In the report, the two consultants made recommendations to make the tree seed project more gender inclusive. One such recommendation was training PATSPO II staff and project partners. “Conceptual barriers to gender equality are related to the lack of a clear understanding of the concept of gender,” the consultants wrote. “Gender can easily be confused with biological distinctions and overlooks its social construction which generates gender inequality. The lack of understanding of gender can reduce progress at all levels. Therefore, we recommend that all PATSPO II team members participate in gender sensitisation and awareness training.”

Based on this recommendation, a gender awareness training was conducted for PATSPO II/CIFOR-ICRAF Ethiopia staff on 31 March 2023, and to staff of key partners of the project on 6 April 2023.  Opening the second training, Senior Team Leader of PATSPO II Soren Moestrup noted that these events are the first of their kind. “PATSPO II will do more trainings in the coming years, including at regional level,” he said. “It will also do other gender-focused activities, such as preparing guidelines, organizing information campaigns, and hiring more women.”

The one-day training helped the participants to identify the difference between gender and sex, and to understand gender roles, norms, and stereotypes. It also included topics such as the need for respecting human rights and ensuring gender equality and equity in all aspects of life – both in the workplace and at home. The participants had lively discussions about how to improve women’s engagement in PATSPO II, in the Ethiopian tree seed sector, and in their respective families.

One of the male participants said, “It is surprising to know that what I used to think of as exclusively women’s or exclusively men’s roles are cultural norms which vary from one context to another... For instance, statements such as: ‘women are natural caregivers’; ‘women are shy’; ‘women cannot work dangerous jobs’; ‘men are strong and fearless’; and ‘men don’t cry’ are cultural norms or gender roles which are not related to sex.”  

He continued: “Recently, I saw a young lady having difficulty parking her car in between two cars. It was obvious that she started driving recently, and she was visibly afraid that she might hit or scratch one of the cars. And I immediately concluded that she was afraid because she was a woman. But, when I was taking this training, I remembered that woman and realized that I was as fearful and nervous as that young lady when I started driving. The gender roles set by society have seriously affected the way both men and women think.”

Hayat, a young woman working at the Ethiopian Forestry Development, said: “I grew up in a rural area. In many meetings, I have abstained from speaking, because culturally, as a woman, I am supposed to be shy and quiet. The society believes women shouldn’t be outspoken and try to attract the attention of other people.” Hayat smiled and added: “But now I am improving.”

Participants discussed in groups how to increase the number and enhance the roles of women in tree seed collection groups. Ideas discussed included: opening up opportunities for women to also become chairpersons of the farmer groups; providing gender awareness training to group members and to the communities; communicating with kebele (local administration) leaders, religious leaders and communities about the benefits of the tree seed sector; improving the seed market and making the seed collection business more financially attractive to women; providing training on how to use equipment and encouraging fair sharing of equipment with women group members; providing time- and energy-saving technologies, and creating space for women to voice their needs and opinions.

Friborg, who played a key role in preparing the consultancy report and the training program, said that “a gendered division of labor and decision-making is found in many areas of Ethiopia – both in the rural and the urban areas. Based on our findings, we encourage respect and active listening to the needs and perspectives of both genders at all levels of the tree seed sector. There is a need for communicating in a gender-inclusive manner, crushing harmful gender stereotypes, and including strategies to share decision-making and household responsibilities to create a more gender-equitable tree seed sector and society.”