Inherently connected: donkeys, gender equality and the trade that threatens them both

‘Sharing the load’ means different things, depending on who you ask. Whether in work, family or nearly any other aspect of our lives, including literal load bearing, support is essential.

For many communities around the world, this support comes from a familiar, yet often unrecognised source: the donkey.

Supporting livelihoods and income generation, from rural agriculture to urban refuse collection, working donkeys are an essential means of transport, particularly where motorised vehicles are too expensive or the terrain is too demanding. They can provide their owners with access to vital resources and services and help them adapt to the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

The link between donkeys and gender equality

For women in particular, a donkey can make a significant difference to day-to-day life. By sharing the physical burden of tasks such as transporting water, food and other supplies, and reducing the time needed to undertake them, working donkeys provide valuable assistance.

Freeing up time and facilitating tasks that can generate direct or indirect income, the support of a donkey can enable women to become economically active, establish social connections and, for young girls who might otherwise share wider household responsibilities, provide the opportunity to attend school.
For many women, their donkey is so much more than a physical asset. It is a valued companion, a symbol of positive change, a lifeline. As Samuna, a woman interviewed in Harabafta Village, Ethiopia, puts it: “If there are no donkeys, there is no community. Donkeys are my right hand. My donkey doesn’t fail me – she is everywhere I am, doing everything.”

Individual stories highlight the profound importance of these animals; collectively they speak to a wider contribution made to the global development agenda.

The global trade in donkey skins

Donkeys play a critical role in achieving resource security, gender equality and resilient livelihoods, in both traditional and modern day lives. However, their vital contribution is undermined by damaging industries that view them as mere commodities. This is the case for ejiao, a traditional Chinese medicine made from donkey gelatine, which drives a high-demand global trade in donkey skins.

Our research reports show that this trade is both inhumane and unsustainable and has ties to wider international wildlife crime. It poses risks to biosecurity as unregulated slaughter and transport provide cross-border pathways for diseases to spread, and both legal and illegal global sourcing are commonplace. Additionally, while donkeys rarely feature in related policy discussions, the biodiversity impacts of trading donkey skins resemble those of higher profile trades, such as ivory and pangolin scales.

Research suggests that at least 5.9 million skins per year are needed to meet current ejiao production demands; a figure projected to grow to 6.8 million by 2027. While it is difficult to accurately determine the global donkey population, this implies a potential annual loss of around 10%, and China’s donkey population has already been depleted.

For donkeys, the impact of this trade goes beyond loss of life. From sourcing to slaughter, they can experience indescribable suffering. They endure long transport routes and, if they survive, may wait days to be processed at their destination. As sentient creatures who form lifelong bonds with human and animal companions, this experience is extremely stressful.

The impact of losing a donkey to the illegal skin trade

For those who depend on donkeys, losing one can be the difference between modest survival and destitution. With current trends suggesting that approximately 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty by 2030, this is a line that many cannot afford to cross. In Africa, home to nearly two thirds of the global donkey population, many donkey owners fear waking up in the morning to find their animals missing or mutilated, the victims of theft for the illegal skin trade.

Donkey theft can take a disastrous toll. Incomes drop, often dramatically, overnight. Reduced income affects essential spending, living standards and opportunities for education, healthcare and savings. For women, the loss of a working animal can irrevocably change the demands placed on them, with trade-offs in time and labour creating impossible choices between necessities. And replacing a stolen donkey is often beyond people’s reach, with demand for skins prompting greatly inflated prices.

This financial harm is compounded by the emotional toll on donkey owners. Many African women spend years working closely with their donkey and develop strong emotional bonds. Describing their trauma, women emphasise both the cruelty of the slaughter of their beloved animal and the devastating loss of their most valuable asset.

The connection between animal welfare and development

Although working animals are often not recognised in national policy and legislation – they are either completely absent or fall into the grey area between pets and production stock – years of influencing and cross-sectoral partnership are bringing the connection between animal welfare and development to a global stage.

From explicit language on working animals being included in UN frameworks and resolutions to an unprecedented continent-wide ministerial decision to preserve African donkey populations, working donkeys and mules’ vital contribution to people’s lives, development and adaptation is being recognised.

This recognition must drive urgent action. The global trade in donkey skins is a major threat to donkeys, the women who depend on them and to attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

There is a need for the global community to follow the lead shown by the African Union’s unanimous decision to ban the donkey skin trade. The Donkey Sanctuary is working with governments, the transport sector and industry experts to end the global trade in donkey skins, protecting both donkeys and the people who depend on them.