A Comparative Study of Gender Roles in Tea Sector in Embu and Murang’a Counties, Kenya: A Case Study of Smallholder Tea Farmers

Abstract

Men and women perform different roles within the household and in agricultural sector. However, women’s roles are more strenuous and more pronounced and they work extra hours in providing the much needed labour on the tea farms than the men counterpart. But in spite of women’s much involvement in agricultural sector, they undergo discrimination in all aspects not only related to land ownership but also kept out when it comes to control and access to the benefits accrued from tea farming. This study therefore sought to determine gender roles in tea production in Embu and Murang’a counties and also to assess the accessibility and control over the benefits accrued from tea farming by gender. Stratified random sampling; simple random sampling and Purposive sampling techniques were used to sample 276 respondents from estimated target population of 18,000 tea growers from the two counties under study. The study established that women perform more roles in tea plantation than their male counterparts. The findings clearly demonstrated that the most tedious and difficult roles that took long hours to accomplish were assigned to the women for instance, the plucking of tea, taking green leaves to the buying centre and collecting/receiving pay slips from the factory or buying centre was majorly done by the women but it’s men who goes to the bank to earn bonus and monthly payments for the work didn’t participate and also  attending annual general meetings (AGMs) or any meetings at the factory or buying centre and even organized educational forums and surveys since they knew that at the end of it they would either receive certificate of participation and more importantly sitting allowance. The finding further revealed that, men were assigned themselves roles that lighter duties that might require bit of skills such as pruning of tea bushes and nursery establishment. On the other hand women are unable to attend the forums or meetings because of numerous roles waiting for them ranging from household chores to agricultural production. Although conflicts have been in arise over the control of proceeds of tea sales because men receive the benefits and women who worked for them do not seem to benefit much, this gender discrimination had negatively affected tea production and by extension resulted in decline of tea yields and neglected tea bush. This study recommends that Kenya tea development agency to increase its sensitization forums and conducts regular workshops to educate the tea growers on gender balance in regards to distribution of proceeds from tea sales, access to and control over tea benefits. This could not only help to empower and motivate women but also demystify the gender stereotypes that men have about women and therefore eliminate gender discrimination in tea growing communities.