BY GIRMACHEW GASHAW
In this era of civilization where a small number of women are holding political power in various sectors and contributing share for the common good of the people at large, talking about women empowerment is an important issue that grabs the attention of all.
Even if women have greater wisdom and capacity within a given society, they were considered as incapable of doing something special and remained dependent on men’s income. The culture and perception of the society towards women is one of the causes for that.
For some experts working in the area, being empowered means being determined, confident, and fearless. To be an empowered woman means not only believing in self, but also believing in those around herself.
Women’s empowerment equips and allows women to make life-determining decisions, solve different problems existed in the society, to have an opportunity and play their roles in peace and democracy building as well as overall development of the country.
Considering the significance of empowering women in decision-making positions at all levels, countries exert utmost effort to empower women and increase their participations. Ranging from devising and applying mechanisms that help to increasing the enrollment rate of female students in the education sector to raising the execution capacity of women through trainings, a number of activities have been made to empower women.
Over the past decades, Ethiopia has also been undertaking various activities to eliminate inequalities and empower women. Through taking number of measures, efforts were put forth to upsurge their participations at all levels and boost up their benefits from nation’s overall development though the success was not at the desired level.
Recently, as part of the women empowerment program, the Women, Children and Social Affairs Office of the Addis Ababa City Administration has prepared a sensitization training and experience sharing forum for women leaders drawn from top to down in the administrative ladder.
Hikma Hayredin, with the Rank of City Deputy Mayor and Public Service and Human Resource Administration Bureau Head said that over the past years, the participation of women at the leadership ladder, in comparison to men, was insignificant following the unjustifiable stereotype attached to them such as denying women’s potential and doubting their competence in executing activities accordingly.
However, since the onset of the reform, women are considered and explained as determined, loyal and capable of discharging a lot of responsibilities. Their involvements, especially in the leadership positions have also increased substantially. These days more women are coming to power and they are assigned to various positions.
As there are some entities who do not want to admit women’s potential and irreplaceable role in terms of advancing nation’s economy, sustaining peace, and women should go forward in an organized manner so as to sustain the peace and development of our country and fight the perceptions inequality.
Citing the study made by her office, Dr. Hanna Yeshineguse, City Administration, Women, Children and Social Affairs Bureau Head said that over the past three years, though there has been an encouraging move in increasing the number of women at the leadership level, their contribution is nothing when seen in core identification.
Despite of the fact that women are eligible for the position, lack of self-promotion from the sides of women themselves as well as the distorted perceptions of some men has continued to be the challenge.
Apart from offering short and long training aimed at building the capacity of women leaders, the Bureau has also been empowering women to be active participants in elections.
The Bureau will continue to work not only to fill the quota for women; but also to create a well-informed, self-reliant and capable women who will not fill the vacancies, but those who can bring about considerable change with their competency, she said.
The Ethiopian Herald March 6/2022
