Bargaining Positions And Trust In Ethiopian Coffee Cooperatives: A Gender Perspective

This paper addresses issues of equity and development by presenting research results on the relation between women's bargaining position and trust in agricultural cooperatives. Data was collected from 232 households of 2 low- and 2 high-performing coffee cooperatives in rural Ethiopia. Results indicate that female cooperative members had a stronger bargaining position than spouses of male members. Outcomes on institutional trust revealed that female members (from male-headed households) indicated higher levels of institutional trust than male members and their spouses. In addition, in economic experiments, both groups of female members (from male-and female-headed households) showed more cooperative and trusting behaviour than their male counterparts. In a socio-cultural context in which female members face a variety of constraints in their membership and participation in the cooperative, these are conspicuous findings. They imply that increasing women's membership and participation in the cooperative domain contributes to higher levels of trust and cooperation in the cooperative and to a stronger bargaining position within and outside the household.