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Women’s Tears or Coffee Blight? Gender Dynamics and Livelihood Strategies in Contexts of Agricultural Transformation in Tanzania

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  • Olivia Howland
  • Dan Brockington
  • Christine Noe

Abstract

The transformations of the coffee sector have posed major challenges to rural farmers who have lost an important source of income. However, the way in which such shocks are experienced by families hinges on the gender relations governing families’ production and sale of coffee. In this article, it is argued that in Meru, Tanzania, which once had a strong coffee economy, the production of coffee depended on the subjugation of women by men. The collapse of coffee has created new opportunities for women. They do not mourn its demise, as one might expect from a merely financial perspective. At the same time, women’s new opportunities for income earning and business are also contested by men. The changes in this part of Tanzania in response to recent transformations can only be understood through the gender dynamics, and the contests, they fuel.

Suggested Citation

  • Olivia Howland & Dan Brockington & Christine Noe, 2020. "Women’s Tears or Coffee Blight? Gender Dynamics and Livelihood Strategies in Contexts of Agricultural Transformation in Tanzania," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 9(2), pages 171-196, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:agspub:v:9:y:2020:i:2:p:171-196
    DOI: 10.1177/2277976020925318
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    References listed on IDEAS

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