Over the last seven years of multiple reforms, the status of women is improving in the sense that women have assumed various higher leadership positions. Now women constitute half of the Council of Ministers occupying key places like the Ministers of Defense, Labor and Social Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Tourism and Ministry of Health and other higher leadership positions.
Likewise, women constitute 30% of the members of the HPR. Although this may not be enough, it is a good beginning to empower women so that they can contribute to the development of their country.
The Ethiopian government has implemented various institutional and policy measures to promote gender equality and empower women. These efforts include the 1993 Ethiopian Constitution (18), the Ethiopian National Policy on Women (19), and ensuring that the various national plans of the country including Homegrown National Economic Plan. According to Ethiopian Strategy Center In Ethiopian public universities, women constitute 35% of undergraduate students, 22% of master’s students, and 13% of PhD students.
Today women excel in every aspect of their activities and have continued to show that they can handle any challenge they face in holding public offices, business ventures, and professional activities including medicine, defense industries, aviation, financial management and more.
Over the last seven years of the reformist government, Ethiopia made significant strides in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment across various fronts. World Economic forum Global Gender Gap Report, Ethiopia’s gender gap improved from 0.65 in 2028 to 0.71 in 2020 ranking the country 82nd out of 165 countries and placing it among the top 5 most improved countries in 2019.
Immediately after the reformist government came to power, Ethiopia appointed her first female President and Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Ethiopia. Furthermore, in line with the legal reforms introduced in 2019, A Revised CSO Law was promulgated allowing the CSOs to work on rights based activities which also included conducting practical programs of gender empowerment and advocacy on rights based issues.
Earlier amendment to the family law has also recognized the rights of women to get registered with their husbands on the Land Registration Law. Female headed families have also the right to land registration and certification. Moreover, Ethiopian female pilots serving in the Ethiopian Airlines Group are now the pride of the country.
Ethiopian Airlines has over 40 female pilots, including Captain Amsale Gualu, the first female captain in Ethiopian history, and Captain Kalkidan Girma, the first Ethiopian woman to pilot an Airbus A350.
While an exact number of female doctors in Ethiopia are difficult to pinpoint, studies suggest that female doctors constitute a significant portion of the nursing workforce (67%) but a smaller proportion of the overall physician population (around 19.5%).
Despite gradual progress, In Ethiopia, women are extremely underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Government data for 2013 showed that women constitute less than 10% of the engineering and technology research workforce. Recognizing that scientific and technological advancement requires more women in STEM, the Ministry of Education established several policies to increase female enrollment in STEM programs, increase the number of women in academic leadership roles, enhance scientific publishing by women researchers, and hire more women faculty. However, little is known about the effectiveness of such policies.
Ethiopia has promoted five female officers to the rank of (Military) General and they are now serving in various positions in the army. Empowering women in Ethiopia requires a comprehensive approach that addresses various socio-economic, cultural, and political barriers.
It is important to provide scholarships and financial support for girls, especially in rural areas, to encourage their enrollment and retention in schools. Building safe, gender-sensitive schools with special accessories for girl students that provide access to hygiene facilities and ensure safety from violence is equally important. Increasing vocational and technical training opportunities for young women to equip them with skills for the labor market and to generate their own income will help to empower them. Providing access to microfinance, loans, and business training is very useful not only to empower women but also to help keep their children in school.
The government needs to strengthen laws against gender-based violence and ensure their enforcement. This is a very critical situation both in rural and urban settings of the country.
It is also important to establish support systems such as shelters, hotlines, and legal services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault besides, promoting awareness campaigns for challenging harmful traditional practices including child abduction, FGM and early marriage.
In addition, expanding reproductive health services particularly in the rural areas and introducing family planning education will help to provide better life for women and their families.
Affirmative actions in the universities targeting women students need to be strengthened so that they can achieve their goals and effectively contribute to the development of their country. Women students need to be supported to achieve higher education in various fields like medicine, engineering, space science and other modern fields of science.
Ethiopian legal associations and universities have been providing free legal services for poor women who cannot afford to take their cases to the courts of law and defend their rights as citizens. Although this has been seen in several bar associations and individuals, the Ministry of Justice needs to play a stronger attention to the issue of women’s rights and provide them with special services at courts of law on counseling and litigation.
The brunt of agony and destitution had already subjected women who were raped in war and conflict zones and regions in Ethiopia. They need to be provided with special psychological rehabilitation and medical care to improve their health.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 9 APRIL 2025
