in ethiopia for example per cent of rural women are engaged in nonfarm activities compared with per cent of men central statistical agency of ethiopia and world bank in lao people s democratic republic per cent of the household members involved in nonfarm activities are women the great majority per cent of them working in wholesale and retail trade faosida b artisanal agroprocessing is a traditionally female occupation in many countries and agroindustrial processing of highvalue products such as fish flowers and livestock products exhibits a marked occupational pattern by gender characterized by predominantly female employment table and significant occupational segregation by sex