BY FITSUM GETACHEW
Historically women’s role in politics has been very marginal. In fact, women’s right to vote was internationally recognized barely a century ago. Hence, we cannot expect them to assume important posts in politics owing to this historical background that has put them at a grave disadvantage.
But many would say that there has been some positive trend lately in what was then called ‘bridging the gender divide’ or ‘the gender gap’. The distance between what actually women deserve as being half of the population of the world and what they tangibly do have is still remarkable; and honestly unacceptable in a world when human rights have become a fundamental issue of society at every level.
By almost every parameter, the rights of women as compared to men still lag behind a good deal and for a woman to succeed in a man’s world, it is often observed that she is forced to perform much more brilliantly than her male counterparts.
Even payments wise, women’s remuneration is often significantly lower than men for the same kind of performance. The kind of treatment women are made to settle with in a male dominated socio-economic world is to say the least ‘embarrassing’.
Be that as it may, it cannot be denied that lately there has been significant progress recorded in practically every facet of human life. Women rights advocates have been relentlessly stepping up their campaign and with the upcoming celebration of March 8 the ‘international women’s day’, progress has been ramped up significantly dedicating the month of March to focus on doing away with the last hurdles to the realization of equality between the two genders.
In Ethiopia, the participation of women in politics is not at all new or unheard of. We have had records of women at the helm of governments and reigns. We have had our empresses and queens; and we have had the wives of powerful rulers exerting all sorts of influence. For instance, Yodit was a famous queen of centuries past in our history.
We have had Empress Taitu, the famous spouse of Emperor Menelik and even the Europeans who were at the court of the emperor acknowledged about her influence on not only political matters, but also strategic decisions regarding the Battle of Adwa! She had reported her own army of faithful and played her strong role in the confrontation the country had to go through at Adwa.
We have had our Empress Zewditu who in the early 1920s was the ruler of the country even though seconded by the regent Ras Tafari Mekonnen later to be Emperor Haile Selassie and was among those who led the foundation for Ethiopia as we know it today.
What is more, records show that women in Ethiopia have not been considered totally irrelevant in social affairs. We have come to experience many women especially in the northern highland areas, many communities gave them ample rights even though the influence of men or the society, in general, has been discriminatory in many respects.
For instance, young girls were forced into unwanted or not totally consensual marriages; or were subjected to marriages before they reached puberty. However, once married, women or wives did have some rights by the side of their husbands and depending on the personality of individual women they often succeeded in many respects in asserting their rights as legitimate spouses.
They were not made to submit totally to their husband’s whims and caprices even though the society did have its general bias when it came to women’s rights as a whole.
Spiritual books also played their part in presenting women as practically something that were to be a ‘part of men’ and hence did not deserve separate personality with their own rights. This did often have negative impact on the lives of women as they were to be totally at the mercy of their husbands. Mainly, the issue has always been one of economic autonomy.
Women’s income largely depended on the generosity or consideration or even good judgment of their husbands. This was at the foundation of their real disparity from men. This situation has survived the years and in many ways it is still the main stumbling block to the total ‘emancipation’ of women from the pressure or subjugation by men.
One interesting exception that could be noted here mainly in urban areas has been that women uncharacteristically were not hampered of being ‘owners of their own businesses’.
A certain independence could be noted in this respect although many of the activities were limited to petty trading or even worse still to peddling home made alcoholic drinks including side by side even engaging in commercial sex.
Particularly in Addis we have come to observe a plethora of such small businesses where women ‘exercised their rights’ quite freely, a situation that is not always observed even in certain advanced societies where men tend to control the business in a sort of criminal organisation!
The ‘commercials sex business’ is so lucrative in many countries that it is not allowed for women to control it. Exploitation here is the rule whereas in Ethiopia so is not the case. As questionable as this could be from a moral point of view, the fact remains that the so called the figure of the ‘protector’ is not known or practiced in our context.
Whatever these women managed to earn is theirs, and they do not have to report to a male boss! We have even seen here that it is women who opened hotels and bars where commercial sex may be availed for clients but the managers or owners are often older women! Here paradoxically, one could say the exploitation of women is carried out by other women.
What has been alarming is however is the fact that the number or percentage of women taking part in politics remains extremely low. Certain progress may have been made in some other fields but when it comes to politics, the representation is too low. The unfair proportion of girl students enrolled in higher education establishments may be the origin of such poor participation, but not only that.
Many women say they may be interested to take active part in politics but even their husbands or partners would not encourage them to do it owing to a certain negative social pressure. This is evidently hard to die soon. The society does not seem to be very enthusiastic with women becoming prominent in political offices.
In fact, even in the advanced societies the trend is still low. Some would add we just experienced a few years ago that America itself was not quite ready for a female president when Hilary Clinton lost the election. The anti-woman bias so to say is still a stumbling block at least at the sub-conscious level. The activism of women has been traditionally low also for this reason.
During the Derg, there was a largely disseminated slogan which said ‘the revolution cannot be successful without the participation of women!’ This was in fact true. It would be a dream to try and succeed in any social endeavour, be it economic, political or otherwise, without embracing half of the population which is what women’s number is all about.
In fact, if we go deeper tallying the exact figures, we might find that the number of women has exceeded that of men. Then the question is logical: How could any activity succeed excluding the leadership or advice or any way some sort of active input from their side?
The Derg’s campaign was the beginning of a long journey to acknowledge the equal rights of women. Even if the military regime was never considered as a true advocate of human rights as a whole, at least for its own political reasons, it tried to warmly pay lip service marking the International Women Day come March 8 every year. Women were ordered to organize in the neighbourhoods and they were made to be involved in several social and political, even artistic circles.
Mobilizing women was evidently one of the methods the regime used to better show control over society. With the international campaign that now has as centerpiece women, extensive activities have been carried out focusing on what progress was needed to be activated while trying to advance women’s rights and how to lift all the remaining obstacles towards the full realization of equality of women with men bridging the gaps.
Today, the problems are better identified and the obstacles better distinguished and attempts are made to lift them through major policy and legal framework decisions.
For instance, there was a regulation which required at least thirty per cent of members of parliament to be women and this has been attempted in many African countries because this was considered as one of the methods of lifting obstacles towards success for women in politics.
The African Human and Peoples Rights Charter actually has a provision to this effect. Political parties however say they have hard time to recruit the required percentage of women taking part in elections which are imminent. Women are more prone to attacks and more sensible to them as well and in general would refrain from joining the often turbulent political landscape. Some feel unsafe and would not risk putting their family in concerns of their safety and would rather abandon any political ambitions. Activists however dismiss such statements because rights are to be earned and not gifted by any one and hence invite women to engage more.
A recent report shows that in Rwanda thirty percent of the parliamentarians are in fact women and there are several female ministers in the government. This has been a trend even in the more advanced societies like for instance in France when President Emmanuel Macron came to power, he had an aggressive policy of recruiting female leaders in his cabinet and the same could be said of the recently elected US president Biden.
Similarly, the reformed government of PM Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D)had half of the portfolios covered by women and for the first time we have the head of state who is a woman, the president of the Supreme Court and half of the cabinet covered by women. This was definitely unheard of in our country and has been hailed and appreciated even internationally.
In announcing the appointment of so many women as ministers the premier said in parliament that these women were chosen not because they were women but because they are capable of carrying out their duties just as men and there was no reason why they were never considered for the post giving exclusive priority always to men. He outlined some of the major qualities of women that not always are easily available to men.
He specifically mentioned the fact that women were less exposed to corrupt practices and that decision making was often more pondered when it came to women due to their prudence.
He said women were more considerate of the negative consequences that their actions may result in given their nature as mothers and that empathy was one of their strong sides. He also admired women’s industriousness in general.
A few years ago, there was what was called the ‘me too movement’ which campaigned for the rights of women especially in circumstances of abuse by men at their workplace and in interactions with their colleagues particularly superiors.
This movement brought about to the public all those stories that were suppressed or not told because of fear of retaliation or other family reasons. But once the chain of stories began to transpire, more and more women had the initiative to denounce their bosses or colleagues or people of influence who took advantage of their being women and young. Several prominent personalities were exposed in these stories and many women were in a way vindicated.
Inappropriate behaviour on the part of men against women was denounced. So many women who were young and exposed to the abuse of their superiors or employers etc were brought to the attention of the media and social media and some were even brought to courts of law.
Highly regarded and revered politicians were also exposed to the public in this movement without any fear and it was thanks to this movement that the real magnitude of the problem was observed.
The movement it appears has continued and more victims are bringing their cases to the public. It may be a long way before the issue is settled but the efforts will continue and as March 8 is being celebrated, it may not be the right time to boast of the successes rather than proceeding with the battle so that the injustice ceases. Society would definitely be better off.
In the developing and traditional societies, the challenges are even more daunting and it needs the active participation of men as well in the fight for equality and justice for women.
The Ethiopian Herald March 9/2021
