This paper presents a comparison of women’s economic positions in two ethnically similar, and economically different communities, located ten miles apart in the Gamu Highland of Southern Ethiopia. One of these communities. Diga, engaged both men and womenin farming. In Dorze, the men were primarily weavers. They often migrated to the urban centers; most women remained at home. The comparison made here is between women’s work in a peasant farming context with high ‘economic autarky of the family group’ and women’s work in a community involved in the embryonic commercial sector of the Ethiopian economy. To what extent do the economies of the farming and weaving areas exhibit economic equality between men and women? Has this equality been increased or diminished by the involvement of the Dorze community in male migration and male production for exchange value? These questions are discussed in the article. Tables; notes; ref.
