Assessment of Women’s Empowerment in Selected Ministries of Ethiopia

Abstract

Women play a critical role in Ethiopia; they are in all segments of society and undertake the majority of household related tasks. Over the last decades the contribution of women make to society and economic growth in Ethiopia has increasingly been recognized and appreciated. However, some challenges in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment remain and a lot of works still needs to be done. It is well recognized that, the Federal Republic of Ethiopia has made tremendous efforts towards gender equality and the empowerment of women. The Constitution of Ethiopia, adopted in 1995, assures women of equal rights with men in every sphere and emphasizes affirmative action to remedy the past inequalities suffered by women, to address this disparity the Federal Civil Servants Proclamation 515/2007 calls for the preference to be given to female candidates in the process of recruitment , promotion and deployment, and the proclamation also entitles women to maternity leave of 90 days and protects their right to work and free from sexual violence and other forms of gender discrimination. The directive on selection and recruitment also calls for the inclusion of female civil servant in the recruitment committees and to advocate for further recruitment of women, among others. However, it is evident that women’s are still facing vast challenges in their working environment, they are still underrepresented in managerial positions; therefore the aim of this research is to analyze existing policy frame works, gender mainstreaming guide lines, implementation and limitation of women’s empowerment policies and strategies. The researcher will also try to analyze women’s participation in the decision making process, their capability, commitment and favourable situation in leadership roles and their involvement in key organizational activities and their access to information regarding issues concerning them such as gender related and women’s empowerment issues.