Table 4 Decision-making by men, women in male-headed households (WMHH) and women in female-headed households (WFHH) Ugandan smallholder pig farmers about buying and selling pigs and pig-sales income allocation
Who makes the decision | Who said they make the decision | Participants’ perception |
|---|---|---|
Buying pigs | ||
Men | Men | Men [normally buy the pigs] because they are the ones with money. It’s men that plan for the welfare of their families, like paying school fees |
Men | WMHH | …its women that normally buy the pigs however, after some time men also tend to come in but the fear is when men buy pigs and bring them home, after these pigs have grown up, they will just sell them even when they have not been looking after them. And if a woman wants to discuss something about the pigs, man will just tell the woman to “keep quiet” because after all the woman wasn’t there when the man [inaudible] making money which he used to buy the pigs |
Men and WMHH | WMHH | [Who normally buys the pig] depends because some of us it’s men that buy pigs and others, it’s out of our initiative. For those that said that it’s men that buy pigs, they first sit as a family and decide |
WMHH | WFHH | [In a home] women [usually buy the pig for rearing]. The woman decides to start the piggery enterprise. It is the woman who feels the pain of poverty, not the man and decides to start rearing pigs |
WFHH | WFHH | I make the decisions. I am head of the home. So I have to decide for myself. Doctor it is like this, like what [name] has said; we are household heads, I decided to rear pigs with an objective, but they send our child away from school for school fees. You cannot sit when the child is not in school. You sell it and take the child to school |
Ownership | ||
Men | WFHH | It is difficult to find a piggery enterprise that was started and belongs to both the man and woman. Even if it was started by both, it later belongs to the man |
Men | WFHH | You may find out that even when men don’t have ownership of our pigs and they have not contributed anything, they will sell the woman’s pigs without asking or seeking permission |
Men | WFHH | There are men in our communities who put up strict regulations in their homes. If a woman owns a project like that of piggery, she has to give him a piglet every time the sow furrows (farrows). Even when it furrows only two[piglets], one [piglet] is for the man. Even when you sell, you have to give him some money on top of the piglet because you are doing the project in his home |
Men | WFHH | There is a man who sold a pig which had been given to a child by an organization called World Vision. He sold it to raise money for medical expenses for his sibling. The pig had been bred. The woman had no say on the selling. It is the men who make the decisions |
Men | WMHH | …pig projects are our business and if you asked a man to help you, he may end up selling your pig or even ask for something when you sell |
Men | WFHH | For the married couples, it is usually the men who decide. Especially if they are involved in the management. How can you not involve him when the project is in his home? [Facilitator: But it is your pig?] Whatever you do in his home belongs to him. He can even sell off your chicken. He sells it and even uses all the money |
Men | WFHH | There may be instability in the home if the man looks for a buyer, when the pig belongs to the woman. Although the woman will usually not complain |
Men and WMHH | Men | Sit and agree and if the reasons why you should sell the pigs are valid, then we can go ahead and sell the pigs. However, even if the pigs are not ours and purpose for selling is not valid, as men we don’t let the women sell off the pigs even if they don’t belong to us |
Men and WMHH | WFHH | If it’s a woman’s project, she doesn’t need to consult anyone but if it’s a joint project, they sit and agree on when to sell and how the money will be spent |
Men and WMHH | Men | It depends on the understanding between husband and wife. For instance, in my family each one owns a pig thus when it comes to selling, the owner decides. But when it comes to management, whoever is at home looks after the pigs. However, I buy maize bran and my wife collects other feeds |
Men and WMHH | Men | [Facilitator: Finally, what we have been discussing that men are not transparent when spending money is it true or not true?] It is true, but not 100%. There are men who do it. We cannot say it even accounts for 60%. The men who have one wife, they sit and discuss, but those with more than one wife, they are not transparent. When we were looking for pigs to buy, we moved Sub County by Sub County but they were telling us to wait until the women came back before they could decide to sell to us. There was one family with 18 pigs which were ready for sale, and it was the number we wanted. The man had to consult with the wife. When I asked him who owned the pigs, he told me he bought them but it is the wife who looks after them |
Men and WMHH | WMHH | It’s the owner who sells the pig because we have contacts for pig traders and it’s a [phone] call away and [a trader] will be at the farm |
WMHH | WFHH | In the male headed households, it is the women who decide on how to spend the money, since the pigs belong to them |
Selling pigs | ||
Men | Men | We don’t allow [women] to sell pigs because they can be easily manipulated by the pig traders and we consider women to have no information about the prices. Thus we take the lead in selling. When it comes to how the money should be spent, it’s men that take charge |
Men | Men | When you give a woman liberty to sell the pigs, she will sell and spend money recklessly like buying children’s clothes, buy things that are even of no use and not needed |
Men | WFHH | [Facilitator: What about selling, who normally decides?] There the man gets involved. If the woman goes away for a burial at her [ancestral home], she can even get back to find the pig sold off by the man. I have seen that happen. My real brother has ever done that |
Men | WFHH | It is like this most times; the women are not always free to decide because when there is a financial problem at home the man can order the woman to sell the pig to meet that financial obligation, because he has been squeezed onto the wall. Yet for her she had kept [the pig] for another objective. But the man uses it for his own needs. Even though the kids are ours, and we have to take them to school, still we have to discuss |
Men and WMHH | WMHH | In most families in our villages, a man has his own pigs and a woman has hers thus when it comes to selling, the owner takes the lead on when to sell the pig |
Men and WMHH | WMHH | Yes sometimes it’s our husbands that look for the market but if he is not there, we look for the market |
Men and WMHH | Men | Do I need to know whether my wife has money or not? When I know that what she is doing earns money? Unless I do not know what she is doing? Such situations do not exist, just like you have said it is a story. I believe there are people like that in Buganda, but I don’t believe it is the voice of all of us. The majority people I have moved through are not like that. We wanted to buy pigs, we moved to homes a number of times, but men had to first consult with their wives on the price. We went to a man called [name], for them they discussed there and then how they were going to spend the money. We were to buy them a certain quantity of maize bran and do other things first before they could sell to us the pigs. That is the experience I have with pig farmers who we work with, except those who are not with us, it may be different |
WFHH | WFHH | We are the ones who sell. Even for the male headed households. The man may come home to find the woman has already sold the pig if it belongs to her [Facilitator: When you asked him to look for a buyer?] You do not ask him. He can send a butcher to collect the pig from you after getting the money from him. The woman can chase the butcher away in case the pig belongs to her. In the end, it is the man who owes the butcher |
WFHH | WFHH | It depends on the situations in the household. Like for us where we have young children, and grandchildren, we decide to sell the pig to meet a need |
Using pig-sales income | ||
Men | WFHH | In most cases, it is the men who make the decisions. There is unfairness on the side of the women. There is no equity in sharing especially for the women and children |
Men | WFHH | [What we are asking is, don’t women have that liberty to make decisions?] Yeaa, they are shy…they talk but they are not listened to… Where the [name of the man in the scenario] are, they even make decisions on property that does not belong to them. After looking after the pig and it grows, when there are no school fees for the child, he decides that you sell it for the school fees. Even to the extent of saying that the enterprise is in my land |
Men | WFHH | Doctor, I think since women are submissive, she could have yielded to avoid quarrels and fighting resulting into physical damage to her body. She could have decided to start afresh |
Men | Men | [It’s men [who decide what to do with the money from the pig] because men buy most of the things for the home like food, school fees etc. |
Men | WMHH | There is a family where a woman went away from home for a time and when she got back, the husband had sold all her pigs and spent all the money got from sales |
Men | Men | [Facilitator: in some groups women said a woman might initiate keeping a pig in their home, but when it comes to selling, the men take all the money, saying that it was reared on his land. Does that happen?] It used to be so in the old days. Some of the things may be true because they have experienced them, but it is not the majority. These days it is about 2%. Men no longer hoard money. Women these days know the laws. Since they are the ones at home most of the time, you cannot bring another pig for her to look after, when she does not benefit from it |
WMHH | WMHH | My husband doesn’t ask for money from me when I have sold pigs but he will ask how the money is going to spent. And he would be very happy because the burden to attend to such needs [will] have been lessened |
WMHH | WMHH | However, sometimes you can decide on how the money is going to be used on your own. These days men no longer look after their wives. It’s you to find what to do so that you can have what to put on and look good |