Opportunities Challenges And Position Of Female Flower Farm Workers The Case Of Three Flower Farms In South West Showa Oromiya Regional State

The development of floriculture industlY in Ethiopia has created opportunities for th erncountlY and its citizens. Ethiopia is now gelling foreign exchange from flower export andrnth e industry has also created job opportunities for both urban and rural population.rnWomen specifically are th e dominant work force in the indUSl1y. Since it is a newrnphenomenon, the industlY has been assessed by few st udies. Majority of th e findings fromrnresearches and journals put in to question mark th e farms labor and welfare system. Inrnlight of th e findings, this stu dy is neli' in its nature of assessing th e positive impact of th ernindustry on th e employees. Thu s it has an objective of assessing opportunities, challengesrnand position of female workers based on a case study of thr ee flower farms in South westrnShowa zone (Sebeta) Or0111iya regional state.rnWith the aim of the above objective sample survey was conducted, focus gro up discussionrnand Interview were held with female farm workers, managers and key informants andrnobservation held by the researcher. The findings gath ered from th e above methods werernanalyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively.rnTh e result discloses that female farm workers in the selected far ms get few oppo rt uni tiesrnand have challenges due to the poor working condit ion . They are also working in th e lowrnpaid posit ion. Income, selfconfidence, accesses for information, education and fewrnin centives are some of th e opportunities that female farm workers obtained after they getrnthe job in th e farm. On th e other hand th ese workers come across challenges like: jobrninsecurity, as majority of them do not have contractual agreements; low wage which doesrnnot cover their basic need,· lack of training on var io us issues that may expose th em tornhealth and oth er forms of hazardl· and if given may protect them from injuries; in adequaternprotective materials, lack of facili ties like: shower, rest room, cafeteria and clinic and th ernabsence of labor union which is their constitutional right.rnBased on th e findings, majority of women in the farms this study covers are found in lowrnand less skilled position. Except for one farm, men employees occupy the farms managerialrnpositi ons. And th e manag ers in th e farms under th e stu dy are awar e of ihe challenges thatrnfemale workers face through , however due measurers do no t seem to be taken to cope withrnthe problems listed above.rnAccordingly, the paper concludes that female workers in th e flowe r industry have bothrnoppo rtunities and challenges and (but) are in the low job position. The challenges womenrnface in the industry can be dealt with if the management g ives allention for the is sues. Duernto managerial problems, workers are exposed for various challenges. Therefo re the studyrnrecommends that fa rm s should respect the constitu tional righ t of workers and respect otherrnlaws and regulations like: la bo r proclamation, international Code of Conduct andrnEthiopian code of practice

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