The role of Afghan Pashtun nomad women is conventionally
described as having very little to do with the
family's livestock, except for milking the animals and
processing milk products. This implies that women's
knowledge of animal health care is limited, in any case more
limited than that of men. However, recent
ethnoveterinary research among Afghan Pashtun nomads not only
shows that the women play a greater role
in the care of livestock than previously described, but
suggests that they also know as much, and sometimes
more, about livestock health and disease than the men.
Background
For centuries, the Afghan Pashtun nomads known as the
Koochi have migrated with their herds
biannually between the lowlands and highlands of what are now
known as Afghanistan and Pakistan. The
raising, selling, and trading of animals (fat-tailed sheep and
goats) and animal products form the basis of
Koochi economy.
Much of what has been written about the Koochi, as about many pastoral nomadic societies in the Middle East, stresses that the role of women is confined to household duties such as cooking, washing, sewing, and making and breaking camp. Their role with respect to the animals is usually described solely in terms of milking the livestock, processing milk products, spinning, weaving, and felting the fleeces (Balikci, 1990; Barth, 1961; Glatzer, 1983; Nyrop and Seekins, 1986; Tapper, 1977). Most authors indicate that herding and the care of livestock are almost exclusively the domain of men.**1 The unwritten implication is that women have only a limited knowledge of animal health care issues.
It is clear from recent publications that such perceptions have consciously or unconsciously excluded women from the design and implementation of development projects (Awa, 1989; Horowitz and Jowkar, 1992). Some of this literature has persuasively argued that the exclusion of women has undermined the long-term effectiveness of many development projects and, moreover, that projects implemented without due consideration for the knowledge and role of women can exacerbate existing power inequalities (Norem et al, 1989) and/or create new perturbations in power structures (Horowitz and Jowkar, 1992). These authors and others, such as Rocheleau (1991), have issued pleas for more field work on, and case studies of, the indigenous knowledge of women.
The current research
This article demonstrates that Koochi women play a
greater role in the care of the family's
livestock than previously described, and that their knowledge
of animal health and disease is comparable to,
and in some cases more extensive than, that of Koochi men. The
data discussed in this study were collected
in 1992 during 35 interviews with Afghan Pashtun Koochi nomads
(17 women and 18 men) currently living
as refugees in Balochistan (Pakistan)**2.
The sample size varies from 22 to 35,
due to the respondents' inability or unwillingness to answer
certain questions or to complete the interview.
In addition to open-ended 'subjective' questions about the
role of women, animal management practices,
livestock health and disease, and the treatment of diseases,
the interviews included a 'quiz' on basic
concepts of animal health, and the symptoms and processes of
disease. The quizzes were graded 'blind',
that is, with no knowledge of the respondent's name or gender.
The quiz results, which were 'objective'
measures of ethnoveterinary knowledge, support those of the
interviews.
Gender-based division of labour
The results of this research reveal that although
actual herding is usually performed by men and
boys and/or by hired--male--shepherds, Koochi women work with
the animals in many other significant
ways. In addition to milking the animals and processing milk
products, the women care for newborn and
young animals, which are kept at the tent until they are old
enough to go to pasture with the herd. The
women care for the animals that are ill, and these too are
kept at the tent, thereby reducing the chance of
contagion by effectively isolating them from the herd.
Other livestock-related tasks for which the women are responsible include helping with dystocias (difficult births), providing health care, feeding and watering animals kept at the tent, and cleaning the livestock pens.
It should be noted that although the men usually slaughter the livestock, the task of cleaning the innards of the animals before preparing them as food is carried out by the women. Additional duties mentioned by individual women include the removal of ectoparasites such as ticks, collecting manure, and restraining animals when necessary. This gender-based division of labour may have an effect on the ethnoveterinary knowledge of men and women among the Koochi. The following discussion of differential ethnoveterinary knowledge suggests that the patterns of expertise among women and men are similar to the patterns of their labour responsibilities.
Women's ethnoveterinary expertise
The ethnoveterinary knowledge of Koochi women is extensive, as
is that of Koochi men. Both men and
women know, employ and administer a wide variety of indigenous
treatments, making use of native plants,
minerals and animal tissues. Local plants and minerals are
often used to treat internal and external parasites,
as well as other livestock diseases. Animal products such as
lung tissue from a diseased or freshly dead
animal are used in the preparation of indigenous 'ear-slit'
vaccines for such diseases as contagious caprine
pleuropneumonia (Davis et al, in press). This study reveals an
interesting trend, namely that the women's
most detailed ethnoveterinary knowledge is found in those
areas in which they have the most responsibility
for animals.
One of the most illuminating questions asked during the interview was 'What do women know about animals that men do not know?' The responses indicate that women are more knowledgeable about mastitis (infection of the udder), as well as about which animals produce the most milk. They also know more about dystocias and the care of newborn animals. It is significant that the response of the vast majority of men (94%) was that women do not know anything about animals that men do not know as well. This is not corroborated by the results of the quiz.
For example, when asked which diseases or internal parasites they encountered while cleaning slaughtered animals, the women listed a total of four (liver flukes, 2 kinds of intestinal worms and lung worms), as well as two other diseases (anthrax and hardware, a disease of the stomach). The men listed only two parasites (liver flukes and intestinal worms). These responses suggest that women have a more intimate knowledge of internal parasites, as all of those listed by women are known to be important causes of livestock disease in Afghanistan.
All of these areas of livestock expertise are closely correlated with the areas for which women have most responsibility. These include milking, caring for sick and newborn animals, and cleaning the internal organs of slaughtered livestock. The reportedly superior knowledge of the women is supported by the results of the quiz, which is a more objective measurement of the comparative ethnoveterinary knowledge of Koochi men and women.
Results of the quiz on animal health and
disease
The blind grading of the quizzes indicates that among those
Koochi interviewed, the over-all knowledge of
men and women with regard to animal health and disease is
roughly the same. On average, the men scored
57.27% and the women 57.88%. It is significant, however, that
the three highest scores were all achieved
by women, while the highest was almost 10% higher than any of
the men's scores. The highest scores
achieved by the women were 77%, 73% (2), 68%, and 64% (2)
whereas the highest scores achieved by the
men were 68% (2), 67%, and 64% (5). For 10 out of the 17
questions on the quiz, the percentage of
women who gave the correct answer was higher; for 5 out of the
17 questions, the percentage of men
answering correctly was higher; for 2 questions, the
percentage was the same. Although the differences
between the results of the men and those of the women were
'statistically significant' in only a few cases,
the over-all trend points to areas in which Koochi women
clearly have more in-depth ethnoveterinary
knowledge.
The most obvious of these areas are those concerned with diseases of the udder, the care of newborns and the importance of colostrum.**3 Only women reported that mastitis can be contagious and stressed the importance of washing the hands after milking each animal (if possible), or leaving infected animals to the last. Some 89% of the women were able to name a disease which causes mastitis or describe the symptoms of the disease, whereas 70% of the men listed God or the Devil as the cause of mastitis. Nearly 20% more women than men displayed an understanding of the importance of colostrum in protecting newborn animals from disease. These areas of demonstrable ethnoveterinary expertise are precisely those in which women have the most responsibility and reportedly have more knowledge than men.
More subtle differences in the knowledge of women and men are reflected in the results of several other quiz questions. For example, 10% more women than men reported that intestinal worms can cause diarrhoea. All of the women were able to provide at least one other cause of diarrhoea in livestock, while only 83% of the men could do so, a difference of nearly 20%. Slightly more women than men were able to designate two or more correct locations for worm infestation, although more men than women listed the correct symptoms accompanying intestinal worms. All of the women were able to describe at least one correct symptom of liver fluke infection, about 6% more than the men, but the men were better at listing a second correct symptom. Approximately 10% more women than men correctly described the causes of submandibular oedema. It is important to note that 33% of the women knew that diarrhoea can be contagious, as against only 20% of the men.
In general, the marginally superior ethnoveterinary knowledge displayed by women correlates with the responsibilities of women in Koochi society, namely, the care of newborn and diseased animals at the tent, preparing slaughtered animals, cleaning out pens, and providing health care to animals. Together, these responsibilities provide an opportunity for women to observe at close hand the symptoms of livestock disease, as well as the internal pathology visible at slaughter.
Conclusion
Although the sample size is too small for 'statistically
significant' calculations, these results do point to
some meaningful patterns in women's ethnoveterinary knowledge,
and in effect represent a small case study
on the subject. The interview findings and the results of the
quizzes on animal health care among the Koochi
strongly suggest that the ethnoveterinary expertise of women
is at least comparable to, and perhaps superior
to, that of men. In some areas, such as the ability to
recognize mastitis, and the care of newborns, the
women appear to be more knowledgeable than the men. The women
also seem to have more in-depth
understanding of the relationship between parasites, symptoms
and disease.
As noted above, this may be because women spend more time in close contact with sick and newborn animals, and are also responsible for cleaning the innards of slaughtered livestock. In effect, there appears to be a gender-based difference in ethnoveterinary knowledge among the Koochi which parallels the gender- based division of labour within their society.
The results of this study suggest that future development projects should give more careful consideration to the livestock-related role of pastoral nomad women and to their indigenous knowledge. This is of particular significance in the light of the fact that most livestock development projects in the Middle East focus on men or exclude women. Women's indigenous knowledge should also be taken into account in the case of other types of development work such as income-generating and human public-health projects. This study also points out that the role of women and their ethnoveterinary knowledge may not have been adequately researched in the past. It is hoped that this example will spur interest and future research in this area.
Dr D.K. Davis
Department of Geography
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley
CA 94720.
USA
E-mail: geovet@uclink2.berkeley.edu
Acknowledgments
Funding for the initial fieldwork used in this article is
gratefully acknowledged from the Tufts University
School of Veterinary Medicine, the United States Agency for
International Development and Mercy Corps
International. Dr David Sherman provided expert assistance
with the quizzes and questionnaires.
References
Awa, N.E. (1989) 'Underutilization of women's indigenous
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L.J. Slikkerveer, and S.O. Titilola (eds)
Indigenous knowledge systems: Implications for agriculture
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Endnotes
**1 Exceptions to this view have recently
been put forward in countries such as
Syria (Shoup, 1990). Another exception is North Africa, where
women are often involved in herding small
stock such as sheep and goats.
**2 The influence of their refugee status on the patterns or differentiation of their knowledge is discussed in David et al (in press).
**3 Colostrum, the very first milk produced, confers maternal antibodies which provide temporary protection from many diseases.