Pastoral and agro-pastoral communities are mainly found in four regions of Ethiopia: Afar, Somali, Oromiya, and the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). This study is conducted in the SNNPR, home to about 10% of the population [14]. The region is divided into 13 administrative zones [7]. Among these, South Omo is one of the most remote parts of Ethiopia. About 50% of the population is nomadic, migrating in search of water and grazing land for their animals, the mainstay of their livelihood [15]. South Omo covers an area of 22,000 square kilometers. It is regarded as a typical marginalized region, where infrastructure and social services are either very poor or non-existent in most areas. According to the SNNPRS livelihood profile [7], the study districts (Figure 1); Hamer and Bena-Tsemay, have an estimated total population of 62,006, of which 45% are female.

Sample households were selected through a multi-stage stratified sampling technique. In the first stage, the South Omo zone was purposively selected from among the pastoral and agro pastoral regions of Ethiopia due to its accessibility to Arba Minch University. In the second stage, two districts were purposively selected from the six (agro-) pastoral districts within South Omo, representing pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihoods. Finally, 3,876 households from four villages were stratified by well-being and sex of the household head, and 197 households were randomly selected using a lottery method. Household heads were selected as the unit of analysis since they are responsible for managing their family in all spheres. This unit of analysis is regularly used to capture the overall household well-being level [16]. It is also used as a proxy for assessing decision-making within a household.

Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, percentage, t-test, and chi square test were used to analyze gender inequality with respect to socio-economic variables. In order to decide on the major correlates of well-being, multinomial logistic regression [18] was used. Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.

Gender inequality is a multidimensional term embracing economic, cultural, and social dimensions. This section discusses the key socio-economic characteristics of (agro-) pastoral households by the gender of the head of the household. As noted earlier, interviews were conducted with 197 households, 129 (65.5%) of which were headed by men and 68 (34.5%) which were headed by women.

Gender roles refer to the rights, responsibilities, expectations, and relationships associated with men and women. The Focus Group Discussions identified three primary roles for (agro-) pastoral women. Their reproductive roles include: bearing and rearing children; processing, preparing, and serving food; caring for sick family members; collecting water and fire wood; milking and churning milk to make butter; grinding grain; and gathering wild foods. Women’s productive roles include; marketing of dairy products; herding, watering, and selling small stock; making handicrafts like wooden vessels and utensils; running small enterprises (coffee and local drinks); caring for young animals; taking animals to water; getting forage for calves, and weeding the crop farm. The social responsibilities of pastoral women include; maintenance of scarce resources, such as water and pasture, active participation in cultural events like weddings and funerals, as well as religious feasts.

In order to quantify the time and effort invested by pastoral women to maintain their livelihoods. Table 3, Figure 2 present their daily routines and reproductive responsibilities.

During FGDs, women were asked to describe and schedule their daily routines on the scale of 24 hour a day. Accordingly, Table 3 shows the average duration required to accomplish specific activities from different FGDs. We learned that pastoral women work longer than men. If a woman does not work hard, she is not a good woman. Thus, women work from early morning to late at night. In the morning they prepare the fire, cook breakfast and clean the house. They then collect water and firewood, grind maize/sorghum, which is laborious work, and look after children. As a result of these burdens, the daily routine of women takes more than 18 hours per day, women work 67% of the world’s working hours [20], whereas men work less than 12 hours a day, as confirmed from FGDs. In general, it is widely accepted that pastoralists, especially women, do not like to see a man doing women’s activities like fetching water and cooking food.

During the interviews, respondents were given a list of activities to rate as men’s, women’s, or joint decision-making responsibilities. The summary response in Figure 2 indicates that decision regarding sale of livestock, mobility, and restocking are the responsibilities of men. Whereas cooking, and water and firewood collection are the main tasks of women. The majority of women were more involved in livestock-related activities. They play a major role in grass collection and feeding, watering, milking, and processing milk by-products into food items. In most cases men supervise and command, women work and obey.

A participatory approach was used to identify the indicators for ranking well-being. About 8–10 key informants were recruited through the Peasant Associations and included a minimum of two men, women, and youths. However, in some cases more than 10 people have attended the wealth ranking exercise. The key informants first identified local indicators of living well and determined the number of well-being strata; as ‘poor’, ‘average’ and ‘better off’. When asked to identify the characteristics of a household that lives well, key informants ranked ownership of livestock as the key indicator. Livestock serve as buffers against disasters, as longer-term prosperity, as capital for payments for wives, and as a measure of prestige. Next to livestock, land ownership and cultivation of crops were identified as a good sign of well-being. Another dimension of well-being was the ability to cope with shocks like drought and death of livestock, and being food self-sufficient. In the latter case, households that depend on relief food aid were considered poor.

As demonstrated in Table 4 15.75%, 38.58% and 45.1% of the total households are categorized as better off, average, and poor respectively. Comparison of well-being by gender indicated that out of the 31 better off households, only three are headed by females. This indicates that FHHs share only 9.7% of the wealth as measured by local indicators. This further indicates that households managed by women are more vulnerable to poverty than those headed by men. This again confirms that, in spite of women’s contribution to pastoral systems, their access and control over livestock is far below that of men.

Access to credit, extension service, and veterinary services are key indicators of success in pastoral households. As shown in Table 5, access to credit, extension, and veterinary services are higher for MHHs than FHHs. In general, access to credit is limited in pastoral areas and the number of households that receive credit is very small. However, the proportion of women who benefited from credit is still somewhat lower than that of men. On the other hand, over half of FHHs accessed food aid, while the figure for MHHs is only 17.8%. The average months of food shortage for FHHs is also three times that of the MHHs. This indicates that the sex of the head of the household is an important variable in determining the ability of a household to achieve food security.

Physical and psychological harm to women is common in the study area. The major reasons are related to traditional beliefs about the status of women as it relates to marriage. This begins in the family and has been perpetuated across generations. Gender based harmful traditions like early marriage; Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), wife beating, and restricted access to education for girls are widespread practices in the study area.

During the focus group discussions with the women’s groups, two key reasons for the continuation of FGM emerged. The first one is due to the community’s value on ‘a circumcised girl behaves appropriately’. As a result mothers facilitate the circumcision of their daughters with a strong feeling of ‘a girl does not get married without being mutilated’. The belief is that a non-excised girl will run loose exhibiting highly inappropriate sexual behavior [4].

The concept that ‘women need to be beaten up to behave’ is viewed as the prerogative of her husband and is very strongly held to in the study areas. Local sayings like “women and donkeys need the stick”; “a woman is men’s servant” inspire husbands to show their power over their wives. The whipping of women is a ritual associated with the cattle-jumping ceremony, a rite of passage prior to marriage for all young men. During a man’s cattle jump in the cultural ceremony; sisters or other female relatives are whipped to express their love and devotion for the man. Scarring is considered a matter of pride. During the survey period we observed two ceremonies that included the whipping of women. We were shocked to see the backs of several women being wounded and bleeding. Even more distressing was their continued eagerness to ask for more beatings. The local authorities have been trying to stop the tradition of whipping women. However, elders are not willing to comply and condemn the threatened legal sanctions as an attempt to destroy their culture. There have been incidences where community members have clashed with the police while whippings were taking place. This challenge is compounded by tour guides and tourists. Many foreign tourists are attracted to the area specifically to view these traditional women beating practices. This increases the frequency of the practice which is often organized by local tour guides and hotels. Thus, a mechanism has to be devised to support the efforts of local authorities in tackling these harmful traditions.

As indicated above, the measurement of well-being was mainly based on livestock and land ownership. However, well-being is also a function of other socio-economic factors. In order to identify the major socio-economic determinants of well-being in the study areas a multinomial logit model (MNL) was applied. The model test is significant at less than a one percent probability level, indicating that the variables included were relevant in distinguishing between the well-being categories. In regressing, MNL, the probability of being in the poor and average categories is compared to the probability of being better off since it is the reference category. The Nagelkerke’s pseudo R goodness of fit coefficient also supported this finding indicating that the model performed fairly well.

Table 6 shows the odds ratio among the independent variables entered in the model, (agro-) pastoral income, family size, and gender of head at p < 0.01, distance to market center at P < 0.05 were negatively correlated with the probability of being poor. This indicates that the likelihood of a household falling into the poor category decreases by a factor of 0.99 for a unit increase in (agro-) pastoral income, by a factor of 0.62 for an additional family size, and by a factor of 0.11 for MHHs. For average households, education and gender of head at p < 0.01; were significant. Education, gender, and family size have a negative correlation, which implies that they decrease the likelihood of households being in the average category, keeping other factors constant.

This finding indicates that the main socio economic factors affecting well-being in pastoral livelihoods are gender, family size, (agro-) pastoral income, distance to market, and education of head among other factors. The impact of level of education and market distance on the poor category is unexpected. The probable reasons may be due to the negligible role education, in general, plays in improving well-being in pastoral communities. Overall, educational attainment is very low and does not afford increased access to economic opportunities.