Summary_Unpaid care norm in Ethiopia

Annotation Summary for  “Unpaid Care Norm in Ethiopia”

The Articles(Background)

Men and women in regards to culture and tradition behave in specific ways when engaging in livelihood activities that are culturally shaped by the society of a specific geographic area. Because of the unpaid work in the home, women are less mobile to access environmental information important for improving their standard of living. Power imbalance between men and women in rural household livelihoods where women engaged in unpaid reproductive roles, made women have more work burden. difficulties faced by working mothers in Ethiopia in regards to childcare and its effects on workplace productivity. Articles that focus on norms affecting adolescent girls’ access to education, economic and overall well being were assessed and articles that used mixed method research were used. 

  Main Findings

1. Cultural belief accepted from the previous generation, beliefs and attitude related to gender and lack of education was stated as the main pre-existing conditions for gender norms in the community
2. Women’s lack of decision-making power was found to be one of the most stated challenges regarding poor utilisation of family planning among married men and women.
3. Culturally based gendered division of labour contributes to unequal access to and control over resources and extension services. 
4. Working mothers at higher education institutions experience a variety of childcare challenges, which negatively impacts their work performance. 

Conclusion

Although there have been some changes in communities due to some awareness raised about women’s rights or equality through woreda women’s and children affairs, gender norms are still heavily practised in daily life in the community. Women’s productive work in the home has been disregarded, and little has been done to account for the value of these activities in national accounts. Working mothers are negatively impacted by these practices, which lowers their productivity and causes them to arrive late for work

Recommendation

1. Interventions on awareness-raising activities, community discussions, even at the individual level involving men, would be a possible solution to those gender-related issues on family planning decision-making.
2. Efforts from development actors and policy-makers working on agricultural and rural development interventions to implement strategies for gender mainstreaming, sensitization and responsive actions with the ultimate goal of ensuring gender equality, equity and balance in rural areas.
3. Gender responsive social protection to  improve women’s access to and control over income and assets
4. Daycare facilities and other incentives are suggested for working mothers in order to improve the working environment and boost working mothers’ performance.
5.  Initiatives to offer  young girls who are already married on mental health services and support, including possibilities to re enter school after a gap in education is recommend.