Gender Inequality

Having lived in Ethiopia for roughly 9 months now, I have never been more aware of the gender inequalities that women in developing countries face. This has also made me much more aware of the gender inequalities that continue to exist in America. Even though I face challenges to being a woman in Ethiopia, I am better off than most of the women here. I am a foreigner and that has its benefits. At the end of my service I get to leave Ethiopia. The rest of these women are here for life.

If there’s a day that I don’t receive any harassment, I still witness what life is like for Ethiopian women on a daily basis. Ethiopian women that I go to when I have questions or I need help with something in my house, women that I find to be so strong, I feel them change when they are around men. Around men, women are usually very quiet. They are there to serve them meals and make them coffee. I saw a teenage boy preparing tea once after a meal to help his mom. The man that was at the table told me that he was a female because he was making tea. “That’s a woman’s job,” he said. I see it also in my English club. The girls are always very quiet and shy. Rarely do they speak up. I have to tell them several times to speak loudly so I can hear them. I have one student who lives across the street from me who asks me all the time when the next English club is. I tell her the day and time but she never shows up. Whenever I see her I always ask her why she wasn’t present. She tells me that since her mom gets everything prepared for the market the following day, she has to stay home and do all the work around the house. I can’t get mad at her for that. Each time she apologizes and I just tell her to come to the next club. This week she finally came. She was thirty minutes late, but that’s okay. I was so happy to see her. Since she was late and the students had already started the activity, I sat down with her and worked one-on-one with her. Each time I praised her work she had the biggest smile on her face. I’m hoping that will be motivation enough to come next week. None of the girls are ever early for English club, only the boys. The girls either come on time or they are late. I suppose it is because they have to do most of the house work.

As I wrote in my last post, during AVC some of us female PCVs got together during one of the sessions to discuss the daily harassment we have to face. The volunteer leading the session put together some facts about women in Ethiopia to prove that there is a reason why the level of harassment in this country is much higher than what other PC countries report. Here are some gender facts I thought would be important to share with people back home so they have a better idea of the gender inequalities in this country. The government has signed pretty much every policy/law out there to end gender inequality however implementing these policies on the ground is a much more difficult task.

These facts come from the World Economic Forum 2013, DHS 2005, Oxfam Ethiopia Country Profile 2013, and UNICEF 2012.

·         Ethiopia ranked 118^th out of 136 countries on the 2013 Global Gender Gap Index.

·         Only 18% of Ethiopian women are literate, compared to 42% of men.

·         In Ethiopia, 71% of women have suffered from physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.

·         81% of women agree that wife beating is acceptable for at least one reason.

·         17% of Ethiopian women report that their first instance of sexual intercourse was forced.

·         Only 14% of women are employed outside their family.

·         Women hold only 18.7% of land.

·         The 2011 EDHS found that 12% of women aged 15 – 19 are pregnant or mothers.

·         Fertility rate is 4.8.

·         The maternal mortality rate is 470 (out of 100,000 births).

·         Only 24% of students enrolled in university are female.

·         Ethiopia currently ranks 174^th out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index. Average incomes are less than half the average for sub-Saharan Africa.

·         8% of women were abducted and forced into marriage.

·         Ethiopia is ranked 76 out of 79 countries on IFPRI’s Global Hunger Index.

·         Only 3.2% of the Ethiopian population is over the age of 65.

·         Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) prevalence by Region

¨      Amhara – 68%

¨      Oromyia – 87%

¨      Tigray – 29%

¨      SNNPR – 71%

  

This year, PC Ethiopia has added a fourth goal to our program which involves promoting gender equality. Some of the programs volunteers have started include working with gender clubs at their schools, having female conversation hours, programs involving HIV/AIDS awareness, and working with teachers and administrators to promote student-friendly schools.