By Ethiopia Lemma
Public policy is an essential element of governance and politics, as it serves to establish the rules and values of society through a collaborative effort between governments, institutions, and citizens. It is important to consider the significance of public policy, even for those who are not politically active. Public policy benefits the general public by aligning with the passed laws and determining funding allocation. However, public policy is not just about keeping promises made during elections. Policymaking is a complex process that involves negotiations between parties with differing interests. Sometimes, parties outside of the government are also involved in the process.
Public policy has a profound impact on one’s life. This blog emphasises the importance of public policy in promoting women’s economic empowerment and reducing women’s unpaid care load in Ethiopia. It emphasises how challenging it can be to influence policy development.
Introduction
Public policy comprises several fundamental characteristics. First, policy is formulated in response to an issue or problem that requires attention. Second, the policy represents the actions or inactions of the government concerning a specific issue or problem. It may be legislation, regulations, or a collection of laws and regulations governing a particular concern. Third, policy is implemented on behalf of the “public.” Fourth, policies aim to achieve a goal or desired state, such as solving a problem. Lastly, while policy ideas may originate from external sources or public interaction, ultimately, policymaking is the responsibility of governments. The policymaking process is ongoing and continually reassessed, revisited, and revised to determine who will benefit from policies and bear the resulting burdens.
Unpaid care and women’s economic empowerment
Public policy is critical in reducing and redistributing unpaid care work, which is currently distributed unfairly based on gender. The result is that working women are often forced to perform “double duty,” leaving them with little to no free time and experiencing time poverty. Policymakers can address these issues and improve the lack of adequate social protection and child care, gender-based violence, and increased time poverty brought on by unpaid care work by implementing new policies that take these factors into account.
Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, prevailing gender norms offer little motivation for investing in paid child care or tools or services that save time and labour. Women in Ethiopia face more challenging conditions in the labour market due to patriarchal views around household responsibilities. Women spend 9.03 hours daily on unpaid care, while men spend only 0.72 hours daily. In addition, maternity leave and childcare access are significant constraints for women entering the workforce, with limited options available in both the private sector and public enterprises. To address these issues, the Ethiopian government is actively revising labour laws to improve working conditions for women in the private sector.
In Ethiopia, female-led households account for 26.1% of all households, which means that over a quarter of households in the country rely on a woman’s ability to earn a living wage. Despite this, many women are shut out of jobs and opportunities under the false belief that men need jobs more than women. For this reason, women’s economic empowerment (WEE) must be included in policy.
The Federal Civil Service Proclamation 1064/2017 stipulates that government organisations must provide daycare services to their staff. Currently, female employees in the civil service are entitled to 120 days of paid maternity leave, while male employees receive only 10 days. However, in the private sector, men are entitled to only three days of paid leave. Therefore, it is imperative for the government to intensify its efforts to ensure more favourable working conditions for both men and women across all sectors.
Interventions in the care economy must focus on identifying the time-use disparities between men and women. This will help change how people think about what “women’s work” is and how to redistribute care to promote more equitable caregiving. Public policy can address these discrepancies.
Are there any policies that address WEE and unpaid care in Ethiopia?
The National Women’s Policy of 1993 aimed to establish fair and gender-sensitive public policies by establishing appropriate institutional frameworks within government agencies and institutions. This policy was reaffirmed by the Ethiopian government under the 1995 constitution. To decentralise governance, the government established new regional boundaries and transferred administrative authority to regional governments, who were then responsible for carrying out all development policies. This change from centralised policy and project management presented challenges in implementing the national women’s policy and resulted in stalled progress on women’s empowerment. However, a new gender policy has been drafted and is eagerly awaited.
What has been done in Ethiopia to change public policies?
While politicians and political parties may change every few years, the public policies they support can be more difficult to alter. In Ethiopia, the public policy-making process has experienced imbalances at two levels: between the executive and the legislature and between policy elites, ordinary citizens, and civil society organisations. These imbalances are due to the power held by the party and the executive. At the same time, ordinary citizens are preoccupied with meeting their basic needs and have limited time to participate in holding government institutions accountable. For example, the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation No. 652/2009, although intended to address security concerns, has faced criticism for its potential negative impact on civil liberties and human rights. To address these imbalances, targeted advocacy work is needed to encourage citizens to hold government institutions accountable, and governmental institutions must establish a system for citizens’ concerns to be heard and addressed, thereby redistributing power back to the people.
What are we doing to influence policy?
The formation of a consortium funded by IDRC, consisting of Includovate, Addis Powerhouse, and WISE, aims to capture evidence on women’s economic empowerment and unpaid care in Ethiopia to encourage policy actors to take practical actions.
Addis Power House has conducted a comprehensive policy analysis of all publicly available policies and proclamations in Ethiopia to assess how much they address women’s economic empowerment and unpaid care work. The results of the analysis have been compiled into a policy brief with actionable recommendations.
Based on the analysis, WISE is training policymakers on WEE and unpaid care work to raise awareness of these issues within the public sector. This training aims to enable policymakers to
- Deepen their understanding of the concept of gender equality concerning WEE and unpaid care work
- Understand ways of addressing unpaid care work
- Craft policy briefings
Includovate has established the Teyaki helpdesk to provide rapid technical assistance and expert analysis to address the demands and needs of policymakers. Policymakers and other stakeholders can ask questions directly through the website and browse various articles on the subject. The helpdesk contains extensive knowledge products, including literature reviews, policy analyses, and blogs relevant to women’s economic empowerment and unpaid care.
Advocacy efforts are also underway to form a coalition of stakeholders to strengthen the collaboration and grow the pool of in-country gender champions through WEE/Care community of practice called Care4Change. More of these types of projects are needed because influencing public policy and changing the behaviour and knowledge of policymakers are big tasks requiring ongoing assistance.
Conclusion
Public policy has a significant role in addressing gender-based disparities in the labour market by incorporating women’s economic empowerment. Despite having a 1993 National Policy on Women and a 1995 constitution reaffirming the government’s commitment to gender-sensitive public policies, progress on the national women’s policy stalled due to a more inclusive and decentralised form of governance. However, the environment is currently ripe for policy reform, as a new gender policy has been drafted.
It is crucial for policymakers to recognise and address the unequal distribution of unpaid care work, which disproportionately affects women and leads to time poverty. The IDRC-funded project led by Includovate aims to assist policymakers in fulfilling their duty-bearing roles to women and addressing these issues in policies. By implementing policies that acknowledge and address the challenges faced by women in the labour market, policymakers can contribute to the economic empowerment of women and create a more equitable society.
Reference
- International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (2020) “Policy mapping: Women’s economic empowerment in Ethiopia” Available at: https://idl-bnc-idrc.dspacedirect.org/bitstream/handle/10625/59668/IDL-59668.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
- Labour Proclamation. (2019, September 5). Proclamation №1156/2019. Federal Negarit Gazetta, Year 25, №89, 11691–11793.
- National Legislative Bodies / National Authorities, Ethiopia: Proclamation No. 652/2009 of 2009, Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, 7 July 2009, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4ba799d32.html [accessed 22 December 2023]
- Wubie, H. (2012). Some points on the Ethiopian anti-terrorism law from human rights perspective. Journal of Ethiopian law, 25(2), 24-67.
- World Bank (1998) Gender issues in Ethiopia : Implementing the National Policy on Women, Open Knowledge Repository. Available at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/07e29651-a68b-5694-81e2-bfd10ea57fb6 (Accessed: 08 August 2023).
Acknowledgement
This blog is a series to reflect on our learnings from a project under the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) – East Africa Initiative. GrOW is jointly funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. In collaboration with our partners – WISE for capacity strengthening of key policy actors and Addis PowerHouse for running advocacy efforts – we will enhance women’s economic empowerment (WEE), reduce, recognise and redistribute unpaid care in Ethiopia and strengthen the in-country coalition of key WEE champions.