Intra-Household Gender-Labour Paradoxes amongst Tobacco Farmers in Kuria Region of Kenya

Abstract

This study undertook to affirm that tobacco production significantly influenced intra-household gender-labour relations, especially considering the socio-cultural and socio-economic factors which in due course played an important role in the utilization of tobacco income at the household level. It emerged from the results that, the more the cultural reverence the more the gender division of labour and the more its functional ability, the more were the significant effects on households' economic welfare aspects. In addition, the division of labour in the farms became more gender arrogant as women took on tasks traditionally reserved for men in response to declining household gender relations and sensitivity. Majority of women thought of themselves to be in a worse position relative to men. They felt that gender differentials in access to resources increased their household difficulties. Kuria men increased pressure on woman to work even harder, especially in tobacco production without associated welfare benefits. The specific objective of this study was anchored in a question that sought to discern if tobacco production had significant effects on intra-household gender- labour relations in Kuria Sub-Counties. The objective informed a search for empirical data. The results therein proved that tobacco production had significant effects on intra-household gender-labour in Kuria Sub-Counties. This study was informed by the Structuration theory. Both cross-sectional survey and ex-post facto designs were adopted in this study. The target population consisted of tobacco farmers in the two Sub-Counties. Data were obtained through interview schedules and focus group discussions respectively. Sample size was 212 household heads. Multi-stage sampling procedures were applied. The unit of analysis was the household, the main respondent being the household head. SPSS was employed for data analysis. Both inferential and descriptive statistics were employed. Results indicated that the distribution of household work had bias on women, of which 91 percent of the respondents agreed, as opposed to men's household labour input at 8 percent. Specifically, tobacco labour input of men was meagre; standing only at 28 percent compared to women at 72 percent. Moreover, majority of the respondents at 97Percent confirmed that this gender rationale affected welfare at household level in Kuria Sub-Counties significantly.