Equal participation of women in politics plays a pivotal role in the general advancement of all women. However, experiences from different countries indicate that women are restricted by factors such as cultural traditional and religious constraints, violence, workloads and lack of opportunities from taking part in politics in comparison with their men counterparts.
Women take up a marginalized position in Ethiopian society. This is not only expressed in their curtailed opportunities to participate in electoral processes, but in wider societal affairs, which in return contributes to their political, economic and social limitations.
Although women are granted constitutional rights to take part in any affairs affecting their life, they do not exercise equal rights of participating in politics due to number of factors. To the worst of the situation, there is still an age long societal expectation that women are meant to be led but not expected to lead where they are considered subordinate to men both in the family and societal contexts.
Various sources also showcases that the marginalized place women in Ethiopian society and the high rate of violence perpetrated against them in society generally, coupled with a history of violence and human rights abuses in recent elections in Ethiopia may discourage women from participation in electoral processes as it does in other countries.
According to a paper presented on women’s political empowerment in Ethiopia at the international conference of Ethiopian women in the Diaspora in Washington, DC in 2012, absence of strong women’s network and movement, social, economic and cultural burdens, limited interest to be involved in politics, political discourse which does not allow sufficient sphere to the issues of women and insufficient attention to political empowerment of women were mentioned amongst the major constraints that hinder this segment of the society from fully engaging in political participations.
In a bird view of the previous national election experience of the nation, not only did it lack the active participation of women, but having enough competing political parties were among the major issues. Fortunately, the participation of women as well as the number of political parties seem to be resolved in the soon to be hold general election.
Over the past years, the political participation of women was an unusual phenomenon as the politics was highly dominated by men. Those women who were actively participating in politics used to be taken as out of the ordinary. Numbers of reasons have been heard of women responding for not involving in politics and election, and why they were isolating themselves from participating referring to what has happened in the previous elections.
The past experiences of the nation in elections was not encouraging and compelling for women. Moreover, due to societal believes that restraint women from participating in the political sphere have put its negative impact in embracing more women in the politics.
According to UNDP (2007), equal participation of women in decision making is a demand of democracy and a precondition to incorporating their interest in the decisions made.
Following the approaching of the 6th General National Election, competing political parties have introduced their nominees in their respective election sites. Unlike the previous years, this time, the political parties have comparatively presented large number of women nominees.
According to Zenebech Getaneh, Former President of Women Disability Association, there is growing recognition of the women’s untapped potential in leadership positions. As to her, the representation of women in the national parliament globally has shown a significant increase over the years.
Women’s political participation has profound positive and democratic impacts on communities, legislatures, political parties, and citizens’ lives, and helps democracy deliver, she underlined. Thus, presenting equal playing field for women in political life is essential to building and sustaining strong, vibrant democracies.
It is an agreed fact that women suffer excessively during armed conflict but often advocate most strongly for stabilization, reconstruction and the prevention of further conflict, said Zenebech.
Evidence from different countries shows that when women are empowered as political leaders, the countries significantly experiences higher standards of living, positive developments can be seen in education, infrastructure and health, and concrete steps are taken to help make democracy deliver.
Taking their capacity in peace building and post-conflict reconstruction in to consideration, it is crucial to empower them as it helps increase their role for the development of inclusive, responsive and transparent democracies.
Thus, supporting and strengthening civil society organizations especially independent women organizations in Ethiopia as well as programs and initiatives aimed at empowering women in Ethiopia is essential to increase women involvement.
Moreover, establishing and strengthening initiatives among women such as promoting democratic culture and tolerance, working on conflict prevention and resolution as well as advocating and international networking must be attained as they are crucial to enable women to take part in politics.
As the saying goes women are young at politics but old at suffering but soon they will learn through politics that they can change some sufferings. But, it is only achievable if they are granted equal opportunity.
Various research shows that women’s leadership and conflict resolution styles embodies democratic ideals and they tend to work in a less hierarchical, more participatory and more collaborative way than male colleagues.
The world has witnesses that women politicians are often perceived as more honest and more responsive than their male counterparts, thus, through understanding the positive impact of women’s engagement in politics, it is important to act accordingly.
In order to meet worldwide development goals and build strong, sustainable democracies, women must be encouraged, empowered and supported in becoming strong political and community leaders.
BY BETELHEM BEDLU
The Ethiopian Herald May 19/2021
