How are the Lives of Women in Burkina Faso-West Africa Improving through the Shea Butter Industry?

 

Shea butter is the urban super-ingredient women love slathering on as a beauty elixir: women's gold!

 

Little did the world anticipate that shea butter would trigger the employability of millions of women across Africa, especially in Burkina Faso.

 

In the beautiful savannah of West Africa, over 3 million women alone are responsible for generating a cosmetic business worth $200 million. Almost 95% of women in West Africa are in some way involved in the collections of shea nuts.

 

The high concentration of women in the shea butter industry means it’s thoroughly structured and organized. Many women see an immediate improvement in their financial situations after taking jobs in the shea nut industry. Often, they earn enough to help them funds the education and upkeep of their children.

 

Burkina Faso & The Shea Industry

Shea goes by a lot of other vernacular names such as the "butter tree" or "women's gold". It is naturally grown as a wild fauna stretching over the wooded savannahs of East Africa and West Africa. This 5000-kilometre strip is called the "Shea Belt". Shea butter is only grown in the 18 countries covering both East and West Africa. Among these countries, Burkina Faso is a considerable contributor.

 

Shea butter, then, is now a crucial part of East and West African culture and provides livelihoods to fully 80% of the population of the savannah regions.

 

It’s not just the nuts used to process shea butter that are valuable, but every part of the shea tree from the fruits and leaves to the bark and branches. Even the deadwood is used. These products are exported all around the world for medicines, food flavoring, soaps, and luxury brands.

 

In Burkina Faso, the activities concerning and revolving around shea are predominantly female- orientated. Chores include collecting the shea nuts, processing shea butter for various purposes, and packaging.

 

The shea sector in Burkina Faso is the largest export of the country after cotton and livestock-related items. This is the main reason why the entire socio-cultural role of Burkina Faso contributes to the national economy to the tune of $17 million and employs over 1.5 million workers.

 

The women of Burkina Faso have rolled out an environment of togetherness while generating basic household income. The social culture, along with the traditional one, often witnesses dance and songs to celebrate this industry. This is seen as the modern take of women empowerment while still keeping the traditions intact.

 

Shea butter is not just exported, though. A significant portion of shea butter is used for local purposes and consumption. It’s estimated that over 600,000 tonnes of shea nuts are harvested from Burkina Faso alone with over 2 million nuts consumed locally.

 

Burkinabè Women & Shea Sector

As you can see, this industry is a vital source of economy for the Burkinabè women.

 

Unfortunately, if one you look at the international poverty line in terms of dollars, these local women are living below the line. While their situation has markedly improved, they are still in real terms poor.

 

Burkinabè women earn less than $1.90 per day, and only 36% of women working in the shea sector are literate. Also, the production of nuts is at the mercy of weather conditions, the stability of nut prices in the market, and the entrepreneurial growth of the local region. All these reasons make Burkinabè women prone to employment vulnerabilities and poverty.

 

Despite these obstacles, shea remains the primary source of reducing the national poverty range of the country.

 

Over 600,000 women of Burkina Faso can identify the marketable quality of shea nuts by just looking at them. This milestone was achieved after the government undertook projects with the help of Northern Ghana to train Burkinabè women to identify, explore, and manage the shea industry with advanced production skills and techniques.

 

After multiple government-sponsored workshops and projects, the Burkinabè women are now finally capable enough of maintaining a better standard of living. This also can contribute to the advocacy of Burkinabè women, and now people see women as an opportunity for learning, growth and an essential aspect of decision-making in a family.

 

Talking about the economic empowerment of the women of the country, the shea sector beautifully illuminates the empowerment that’s taking place due to the socio-cultural impact of the shea industry. This industry has made many pioneering women the source of inspiration to other women.

 

Female employability in Burkina Faso had made it possible for women to increase their status in society, and given them the freedom to avoid child marriage, the freedom to choose a partner, and also the confidence to divorce a spouse if needed. This empowerment has also enabled women to reflect upon their financial independence and enhanced their relationships within the local community. It’s estimated that over 60% of women improved their productivity of labour immediately after gaining financial independence.

 

Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, and Burkinabè women fight against chronic malnutrition and a life expectancy of just 58 years. Burkinabè women have made the shea trade a “she-trade” because it is through the efforts of Burkinabè women that the country's poverty scale is sliding slowly upward.

 

Transformational Change For The Empowerment

Currently in Burkina Faso, women are involved in shea production responsible and capable of generating a reasonable income. Burkinabè women benefit greatly from being decision-makers, resulting in improved self-confidence in life and in business.

 

This employability alone doesn’t steal all the credit, though.

 

These women reap many benefits from doing business. From exposure to national and international markets and the acquisition of new skills and modern techniques through to the ability to obtain credit and conduct public meetings are all enormously positive for the women of Burkina Faso. They can not only dramatically increase their overall employability but they are also empowering themselves along the way.

 

The interpersonal relations of Burkinabè women have also improved. The quality of relations with friends and family routinely improves thanks to superior spending power and an elevated standard of living. It’s much easier to focus on life without the endless concern of whether there’s enough money in the kitty or enough food on the table.

 

Husbands and wives have become more intimate, and women supporting other women for social empowerment is highly encouraging and a pleasure to witness. So, the women of Burkina Faso are not only helping men, but also offering invaluable support to other Burkinabè women. This is an essential social transformational change of empowerment due to the shea sector.

 

This is not to say that the shea sector requires no males. Men generally do not involve themselves in the harvest or production process, though. Instead, they market and sell the work of their sister or wives.

 

This is where the involvement of men in this sector can be witnessed profoundly. Call it patriarchy or the social conditioning of men, but the process of making shea butter is not considered a man's job in the first place. Harvesting, sorting, cleaning, drying, crushing, milling, toasting, grinding, kneading, heating and scooping - Burkinabè women can handle everything from post-production, production, and pre-production.

 

Burkinabè women have now also started questioning the age-old social practices of child marriage and not promoting their desire to decide the age when a woman marries. This entire decision has been handed over to working women, and this is so far the most significant milestone set up by Burkinabè women.

 

Women no longer face any hurdles controlling or heading the family as it’s now completely socially acceptable to run a household without a financial contributor, and even without a husband. In this way, the dominance of Burkinabè women has changed the fundamental social dynamics of gender roles in West Africa.

 

Conclusion

Education and community projects are in full swing to enable the empowerment of women to continue snowballing and flourishing.

 

With the help of various research and studies, female advancement in Burkina Faso has enjoyed tremendous community development in rural areas of the country when it comes to sanitation, literacy, disease prevention, and drought. The country has seen that women can play a much more powerful role not just commercially but also in the home and in society at large. There’s now a more cooperative understanding between men and women thanks to the shea butter industry.

 

Clearly, the shea sector has a significant role in strengthening the households of Burkina Faso citizens, both in terms of subsistence consumption and generating money for an improved standard of living. Burkina Faso may still not be doing well when it comes to female empowerment compared to some other countries.

 

That said, the government along with many NGOs are trying hard to improve the civil status of the country. As a result, women in Burkina Faso have started to witness a real taste of equality and access to the decision-making community to control and dominate the shea trade. To ensure that women's role in decision-making is always welcomed, several pilot activities are being organized where both men and women's roles are celebrated equally. Ultimately, the social and cultural marginalization of women is no longer blighting the females of Burkina Faso thanks to ever-growing shea trade.