D. Brockington, Women's income and the livelihood strategies of dispossessed pastoralists near the Mkomazi Game Reserve, Tanzania, HUMAN ECOL, 29(3), 2001, pp. 307-338
There are numerous incidences of impoverishment and livelihood change in pa
storal societies following transformations in landuse, and land and livesto
ck ownership. Opinion is divided over the effect of these changes on women.
This paper considers the case of the former residents of the Mkomazi Game
Reserve. Pastoralists were evicted from the Reserve in the late 1980s and t
heir livelihoods have changed as a result. I show that women from poorer ho
useholds now have to sell milk, firewood, or medicine frequently to meet da
ily family needs, but I argue that increased income-earning activity by wom
en is not only the result of impoverishment. Selling goods is useful for wo
men as it provides an income that they control and some choose to earn thei
r own money. The income resulting is also subject to intrahousehold power d
ynamics. Women may have to sell more goods more often and may be less free
to use the money as they wish because men sometimes withdraw "normal" provi
sions for day-to-day needs in the expectation that women's income will meet
the deficit. Debates over the changing status of women in pastoral society
need to be cognizant of these intrahousehold contests.