The issue of gender equality and women empowerment has been going on for decades now and the date ‘March 8’ has been symbolically identified with this issue. In Ethiopia there were pledges that women will have to constitute at least thirty percent of the leadership posts in the federal and state government.
Equally there have been provisions included in the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights decreeing that women must be given equal share in government duties. It has now been found out that investing in women pays even more than in men in many respects and society is much worse off whenever it has denied equal rights and duties to women. Studies have shown trillions of dollars of loss due to this fact.
Women have been found out to be better managers and more efficient administrators than men as they are also less prone to corruption. One can say Ethiopia’s current transition to democracy is very much tuned with women empowerment. The new prime minister has made women one of the two very important pillars of his policies along with youths. He has understood well how crucial women’s role could be in positions of responsibility in general and put into practice the full empowerment of women in his cabinet.
He assigned the most critical of ministries to women such as the newly founded Ministry of Peace and the Ministry of Defence. He also saw to it that the president of the republic is a woman as is of the Supreme Court. All these women are qualified and were given the positions not as a charitable gesture but because they deserve it. There was need to break the ceiling and that has happened. Records show that women even in traditional settings have had critical roles in society.
Depending in which cultural context we find ourselves, the influence of women over men has not been negligible. They have been given significant decision making powers while not denying that there are also certain cultural contexts in which the role of women has been kept at low levels. By and large, the world has been patriarchal on countless occasions and only since the marking of the International Women’s Day was initiated that changes were being experienced. Today, no one dares justify gender discrimination or inequality.
There is the recognition that men and women are perfectly equal, despite the natural differences. However, the principle and the reality are two different matters and that is why there is still need to eradicate the mentality that has been lingering on for centuries. There is the assessment that the 50-50 parity will not be achieved before 2030. In many respects, there is still a long way to go before equal status is fully attained even if there is little that can now be presented as a justification to restrict women to inferior positions.
March 8 may be known as the day that we claim the equal rights of women to men, and campaigns of sensitization are carried out during the observation. This year the motto is “think equal, build smart and innovate for change.” Some women may not want to hear about a day specifically dedicated to women’s rights because they believe that one day is not a solution.
They argue rightly that every day we must create the conditions for the realization of the dreams of women and the attribution of women with various duties and powers to fill gaps in society. And the world would be better off if women were given more decisive roles in society. Research undertaken at various occasions show that women’s decisions are better pondered and studied, their administrative capacity is higher and they are less prone to corrupt practices.
Women are more sympathetic in certain situations and their moves take into consideration certain facts that men may not. It may be something that has to do with their nature but women appear better placed in medicine, education and even management. Despite improvements the road to equality is still long. There are discrepancies even in the level of pay for equal work and there are issues of prize money even in competitions. But significant and continuous progress has been recorded.
In our context, the enrolment of girls in schools has skyrocketed even if the same cannot be said at the tertiary level. Female staff in university has seen a sharp rise but there is still not even one president in about fifty universities of the country. This is almost a source of embarrassment and now new decisions have been made to fill such gap. The fact that there are few female presidents or premiers is also another important point to consider.
Africa has 54 countries and only Ethiopia has a female president. In Europe, the situation appears better when we see the German Chancellor as probably the most powerful woman on earth while UK’s Theresa May is also among the most influential ones. There are a few other female prime ministers and the trend is promising. The bias is rejected. In Ethiopia, history will always recall the iron ladies such as Queen Yodit or Empress Taitu besides the women in leadership position such as Empress Zewditu.
The story of Golda Meir as prime minister of a powerful Israel dominating the Arab world and Indira Gandhi the prime minister of populous India were the ones who were mentioned whenever one talked of ‘powerful women’. But today this is not considered as enough at all. Society needs powerful and prominent women to take full advantage of their potential. That was why our prime minister insisted that it was not because of sympathy or charity to the fair sex that he wanted to appoint fifty percent of his cabinet to women but only because they deserve it and the nation needs their service.
After all if more than fifty percent of humanity is composed of women, there is no natural reason why they should not be a part of the leadership in equal measure. Their voice can not be stifled any more and any violence, be it physical or moral cannot be tolerated. As we mark March 8 as the International Women’s Day and try to glorify the role of women and their important achievements, we must also realize that this is not a one day celebration. It should be done three hundred sixty five days a year.
The structure of society has changed along the years and so has done the history and tradition. Some of the old lines of thought or ways of doing things may be hard to die, but their days are in any case numbered. Soon we will not talk any more about premature marriages, female genital mutilations, abductions and the like. Burdening girls in household chores as well will not be tolerated any more because boys as well are equally expected to share household chores, if any.
Girls will not be forced to drop from schools for nonacademic reasons any more. The little awareness about the need to educate girls equally as boys has now been raised and parents know that their girls can aspire to any role given what they see daily. Their success in life need not any more depend on links to a successful man. The belief that many parents used to entertain that the best women’s achievement is in family is now gone for good. The examples of women in leadership positions and in the academic circles, in research and technology etc.
both in the world at large and even here have meant that insisting on girl education pays off and everyone could take maximum advantage of. Historically, the inequality between men and women may be a big issue as it has been one of the characteristics and weaknesses of every society for reasons that are mostly traditional and historical rather than logical and reasonable. In the most modern days, the differences between what men should and can do and what women should and can do have been proved to be minimal and negligible.
The difference could only be a matter of availing equal opportunities and personal efforts rather than that of natural constitution. Technological gadgets having changed life style completely, there is nothing that can be exclusively attributed to this or that gender. Women empowerment is now reaching high levels in every society and such result has become a blessing.
This issue is not exclusively a concern for women because the benefits are positive for everyone. If half of humanity is composed of women, there could be no plausible explanation that women should not be given equal chances. Nowadays, the academic performance of women is so high that in many cases they have even outsmarted men. The most outstanding students and academics are now becoming increasingly women even in developing countries such as ours.
However, the number of leadership positions is still lagging behind significantly and many would say unfairly. The bias evidently is still hard to die down and there is still a lot to do but the paradigm shift has already taken flight. The future can only be rosier and rosier by the day as during the past couple of years the “metoo” movement all around the world has perhaps changed for good the role and significance of women in society.
The Ethiopian Herald, March 10/2019
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
