(table 5.50); 13 percent of men and 2 percent of women belonged to agricultural (also called multipurpose) cooperatives. (Nationally, 9 percent of households belong to an agricultural cooperative [Bernard and Spielman 2009].) The small percentage of women who belong to cooperatives reflects the fact that almost all members are household heads. Men are five times more likely than women to hold a leadership position within a cooperative (3 percent of female and 15 percent of male cooperative members hold such roles). The cooperatives in the study area appeared to have been relatively new (table 5.50). Three-quarters of male respondents and a majority of women who were in a cooperative had to pay an “establishment fee” upon joining. This fee helped defray the costs incurred in setting up the cooperative. A nontrivial proportion of men and even women were directly or indirectly involved in the development of the cooperative’s rules and policies. Few members were obliged to pay regular membership fees. One of the reasons for this may be the diverse ways in which cooperatives obtain revenues, with many cooperatives marking up the price of agricultural inputs purchased from cooperative unions or the district government office of agriculture before selling them to members. Cooperatives engaged in output marketing may withhold a small amount of the revenues from commodity sales before paying farmers. Cooperatives in the study area tend to be large. The prevalence of women is very low (figure 5.12). Table 5.50 Involvement in and Contribution to Cooperatives in Ethiopia, by Gender (percentage of respondents, except where indicated otherwise) Residents’ involvement in cooperative
Men (n = 843)
Member of any cooperative 24 Of those who are members of a cooperative (n = 205) Member of any agricultural (multipurpose) cooperative 13 Hold a leadership position in the cooperative 15 Involved in development of cooperative’s constitution/bylaws 34 Had to pay establishment fee upon joining the coop 74 Had to contribute additional resources upon joining cooperative 25 Have to pay periodic membership fee 17 Average number of meetings attended (per year) 12 Duration of membership (years) 6
Women (n = 918) 4 (n = 39)
Significance of difference ***
2 3
**
15
**
62 26 26 13 4
* *
Source: Authors, based on data from EEPRI-IFPRI Survey 2009. ***Significant at the 1% level; **significant at the 5% level; *significant at the 10% level.
184
GENDER AND GOVERNANCE IN RURAL SERVICES