Annotation 2_Affirmative action policy in bridging the gender gaps in governmental institutions of Ethiopia: Implementation, successes and challenges

Alemu, N.E. et al. (2022) ‘Affirmative action policy in bridging the gender gaps in governmental institutions of Ethiopia: Implementation, successes and challenges’, Cogent Social Sciences, 8(1). 

Overview: Affirmative action is a controversial concept worldwide, with critics and advocates bitterly divided. It aims to eliminate discriminatory practices, redress racial and sexual discrimination, and achieve employment equity through active measures to ensure equal opportunity. Affirmative action policy has not bridged gender gaps in terms of management positions, education, and wage in Ethiopian governmental institutions. Little research has been conducted on the successes and challenges of affirmative action in bridging these gaps.This study examines the success, implementation, and challenges of affirmative action policy in Ethiopian governmental institutions. It uses Social Identity Theory to understand how social categorization, social identification, and social comparison bridged the gender gaps in Ethiopia. The research focuses on the knowledge and attitude of civil servants toward affirmative action provisions for women in Ethiopia, as well as the gender equality status of Ethiopia in the global context.

Methodology: This study was conducted in Dabat District, Ethiopia and employed a cross-sectional research design and a quantitative research method to assess the policy of affirmative action and whether it bridges the gender gap in governmental institutions in Ethiopia. The quantitative sample size was selected from the employees in public institutions of Dabat District using Kothari’s formula (2004). The sample size required was 116, but the response rate was 113. 

Findings: Theoretically, affirmative action policy can bring equal opportunities between men and women regardless of gender, age, education, religion, types of occupation, level of income, and years of experience. However, in practice, it has not yet bridged education, wage, and managerial position gaps in the study area. Additionally, women are still faced with systematic discrimination based on their demographic characteristics, especially women employees above 33 years old with diploma holders. 

The other finding from this study is that affirmative action policy in Ethiopia is facing challenges, problems, and constraints. These include confusion related to implementation details, bridging the gender gap, and addressing women’s rights explicitly. Despite increasing visibility and political mobilization, gender gaps have not been bridging in governmental institutions. This may be due to attitudes and practices related to affirmative action that persist in discrimination and gender inequality. In addition, the implementation of affirmative action policy in governmental institutions has been hindered by sociocultural factors, stereotypes, lack of training and control mechanisms, and a lack of budget and motivation from the workers and focal persons. 

Conclusion and Recommedation: The study found that affirmative action policy did not close the gender wage, education, and administrative position gaps without discrimination. To reduce these problems, advocacy for regulation of gender affirmative action and management policy is needed. The practical contribution of the research is that it provides empirical evidence on how gender mainstreaming and gender affirmative action interact in reducing gender and socio-economic disparities in service employees in governmental institutions. Training and skills to work within systems with multiple partners are essential to implement affirmative action policy. In conclusion, this study found that affirmative action policy is not effective in bridging gender gaps for unmarried youngest women with low work experience. Future research is needed to understand the factors and social elements for bridging the gender gap. The findings have implications for policymakers to modify affirmative action policy.