Intersecting issues of gender, women and animal rights as well as beauty standards are explored in this exquisite debut article by Dr.Diana Mandewo. She explores the elusive donkey trade, its relation to the beauty industry and its unintended consequences on African women who require the animals for more vital reasons.
Perfecting a skincare routine is a lot like conducting an endless scientific experiment where one’s face is both the test subject and the unpredictable variable. Just when you think you have cracked the code is when you have an acne breakout or unexpected hypersensitivity triggered by a flimsy change in weather. To make matters worse, when someone does find a moisturiser that works they will inevitably gate-keep and guard it with their life. Inquire from a friend what serum they use and suddenly they “don’t remember” the exact name. Or worse, you might be hit with the clichéd, “I just drink water”. Lies. Now, I could be wrong, but I have come to the conclusion that every woman (myself included) has a graveyard of sunscreens that left ghost-like appearances, toners that burned, and creams that turned one into an oil slick.
A few weeks ago, I took matters into my own hands and scoured online in search of the secret for the elusive “glowing skin” aesthetic. Like any modern day researcher worth their salt, I delved into Reddit threads and peer-reviewed Tik-Tok videos.
It is on this hunt for the perfect moisturiser that I stumbled upon ejiao, a gelatin produced from donkey skin and the ethical crisis left in its trail for millions of the poorest across Africa.
The Women Who Buy Ejiao
The origins of ejiao date back over 2000 years ago to Imperial China. As a prized ingredient used by royalty, it was credited for Empress Dowager Cixi’s radiant complexion, henceforth cementing its public image as a prized skincare product for youthful beauty amongst the elite. The product placement of ejiao in the popular drama, The Empress of China, in 2012 reignited global interest in this arcane potion. Over the past decade, sales of ejiao have skyrocketed, and it has become a multi-billion industry that has drastically dropped the population of donkeys in China by 80% .
Consequently, the Chinese market turned to Africa to sustain the growing demand. In 2020, Africa was home to approximately two-thirds of the global donkey population, estimated at 53 million. The demand for donkey skin, a key ingredient in ejiao, has culminated in a booming black market where donkeys are stolen in the dead of night and smuggled across borders to slaughterhouses. In Botswana, the donkey population declined by 70% between 2011 and 2022, a drop which has been attributed to the donkey trade . Similarly, the donkey population in South Africa significantly declined to 146,000 by 2022 .
The Women Who Pay for Ejiao
While one group of women sought donkeys for their skin, the loss of the animal itself heavily affects another group. 500 million people rely on donkeys as an economic lifeline and rural women across Africa pay the ultimate price for ejiao.
Where donkeys are essential for carrying water, firewood and market produce, their diminishing populations mean that women and girls are forced to take on back-breaking labour, limiting their opportunities for education and financial growth .
In Kenya, over 300,000 donkeys (15% of the national herd) were slaughtered in just 3 years at a rate 5 times faster than they reproduce. A study in rural communities across Kenya found that 85.7% of respondents primarily used donkeys for domestic chores and some women compared the loss of their donkeys to losing a limb, emphasising the profundity of the donkey trade on their daily lives . A report by the Donkey Sanctuary showed that owning a donkey in Ghana allowed women to take on paid work and gave them more time to take care of young children. Concerningly, families without a donkey were forced to keep their children home from school in order to help with chores.
What We Owe the Donkeys
A few days of research into the donkey trade inevitably left me with a moral question: Why do we not care about donkeys? They were first domesticated in Africa and played a crucial role in Christianity by carrying the Messiah into Jerusalem. Yet public perception about donkeys remain either indifferent or largely negative. After pondering about it for a bit, I am now convinced that donkeys have been on the receiving end of “speciesm”, the scientific term for discrimination based on pretty privilege or the lack thereof. Speciesm is subconscious bias that dictates which animals we deem lovable or detestable . It is why dolphins are celebrated for their intelligence and playfulness despite their aggressive behaviours towards other species. It is also why in many cultures dogs are cherished pets while pigs, equally intelligent, are considered merely tasty bacon. Such distinctions are culturally constructed. Historically, donkeys have suffered because of a poor PR image. Phrases like “dumb ass” and “stubborn as a mule” reflect our biases and diminish the donkey’s perceived value. Even in popular culture, Donkey from the popular Shrek movies was portrayed as talkative, foolish, and simple-minded sidekicks.
Perhaps it is due to these cultural perceptions of donkeys that their suffering in the global donkey trade for their skins has not caused shock waves.
It is heinous that donkeys are routinely moved for several days in high temperatures without adequate food or water; under such harsh conditions, an estimated 20% die during transportation . Some slaughterhouses were found with dead and dying donkeys with brutal slaughtering being conducted in full view of other donkeys. Such animal cruelty contravenes internationally agreed standards regarding the treatment of animals, and we owe these sentient and hardworking creatures our outrage and activism.
What Africa Can Do for Its Donkeys
In December 2022, the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources organized the first Pan-African Donkey Conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania . This landmark gathering of government officials and animal welfare organizations met to address the escalating crisis of the donkey trade. This meeting culminated in the drafting of the Dar es Salaam Declaration that called for a 15-year moratorium on the commercial slaughter of donkeys for their skins. Building from this momentum, the 37th African Union Summit unanimously agreed to a continent-wide ban prohibiting the trading of donkeys for their skins.
While this is a momentous step forward, ensuring that countries honour this commitment must be a concerted effort. Porous borders, uneven regional trade regulations, and limited enforcement capacities have led to continual decline in donkey populations even when the trade has been outlawed.
It is imperative that we develop and enforce robust regulations for tracking the movements of donkeys and identifying illegal trading routes.
Why this Conversation Matters During Women’s Month
The donkey trade is not just an animal welfare violation, it is inherently tied to outcomes for women facing dire economic challenges.
It is a wake-up call for us to reflect on whose burdens we choose to ignore and why. Since 600 BC when the first donkey was domesticated in the Horn of Africa, these humble creatures have carried the weights of the world on their backs—much akin to women.
The fact that the donkey trade industry is booming in silence is not accidental but rather an embodiment of how we overlook the labours of donkeys and the women who rely on them. Donkeys, much like Africa’s rural women, are the backbone of an unseen economy and carry heavy loads others will not. Their hard work is done in quiet and their resilience is often unrecognized. It is about the choice we make as a continent to sell to the highest bidder, disregarding the ruined livelihoods left in the wake of such decisions. Women and donkeys are not footnotes in Africa’s progress! How we choose to protect them will determine the kind of future we will build.
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