Ogato, S. (2013) ‘The quest for gender equality and women’s empowerment in least developed countries: Policy and strategy implications for achieving millennium development goals in Ethiopia’, International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 5(9), pp. 358–372.
Women empowerment and transformative approach to that effect is explained by the author in the introduction part. Accordingly, women empowerment is defined as ‘a bottom-up process of transforming gender power relations, through individuals or groups developing awareness of women’s subordination and building their capacity to challenge it’. According to the author women empowerment shall not be construed as shifting power control that has been exercised by men, rather transformation of power relations between them. In Ethiopia, women have been subjected to discriminatory social norms that restrict them to domestic chores such as cooking, caring for their family, and household in general. This in turn affected their economic, social and political advantage and restrained them from enjoying equal rights, access to resources/opportunities, decision making role and economic empowerment. Efforts made by the Ethiopian government towards structural change for women empowerment since 1993 is appreciated.
The author stated that due to the holistic and multidisciplinary nature of gender, ecological approach is used as a research method. Ecological approach is defined as the study of dynamic interrelationship between human population and the physical, cultural, and social characteristics of the environment and biosphere. As a source of data, a thorough literature review and analysis was made to gather theoretical insights.
According to the findings, various reforms have been undertaken to ensure gender equality and women empowerment in Ethiopia. Among this, the formulation of national women policy in 1993 that aimed at addressing women’s strategic gender needs by institutionalising the political, economic and social rights of women is the primary one. Moreover, establishment of the rural women’s affairs department in the relevant ministries and the prime minister’s office brought many structural changes with it. The 1995 FDRE constitution also ensured fundamental rights of women and their interest in access and control over resources. This ensured women’s right to remedial and affirmative actions which entitled them to equal participation and benefit in all spheres of life such as political, economic and social life. Following the constitution, various policies and programs have been formulated with gender mainstreaming.
Regardless of all these efforts, still women are discriminated against when it comes to access to resources and opportunities. According to the finding, women contribute 60—80 % for agricultural activities, however, despite their contribution, the agricultural development efforts have been made gender neutral and fail short in accommodating women’s special interest. Basically, women are denied access to productive assets including ownership to land and underserved in agricultural extension, credit service, labour and other farming inputs. Coming to the labour market, the study indicated that women employment in the formal sector is lower than men. This is due to low level of education and training, lack of exposure to the business world, and limited access to financial services. Generally, the author indicated that gender equality and women’s empowerment activity in Ethiopia lacks in the following major aspects; limitation in the coverage of national women’s policy, inadequate assessment of women’s roles and responsibilities, limited assessment of women decision making role, continuation of harmful customs and practice to the detriment of women’s right…etc. Accordingly, the author recommended reconsideration of the scope of women’s policy, mainstreaming gender equality in all of the institutional frameworks and putting gender concern at the micro and macro-economic plan.
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