Gender, Agricultural Development and Food Security in Amhara, Ethiopia: The Contested Identity of Women Farmers in Ethiopia

While women take an active role in agricultural production and processing and marketing of food products their identity as farmers is highly contested within the agricultural development framework in Ethiopia. This has led to a series of structural barriers, augmented by local cultural perceptions, that have largely precluded women’s participation in the agricultural extension process. In addition, women’s access to land, technology and decision making power is critically impeded. Unless these structural and cultural barriers are actively addressed by agricultural development programs women’s location within the agricultural production process will continue to be marginalized hampering efforts to obtain household food security at a regional and national level.