Ethiopia

Despite being one of the oldest nations on earth, Ethiopia is one of the world’s poorest countries with a recent history of political instability and civil conflict.

With one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world and among the worst rates of school enrolment for girls in Africa, it is Ethiopia’s women who suffer disproportionately. Poverty, illiteracy and lack of access to basic health care combine with strongly patriarchal social attitudes which maintain women’s low social status and perpetuate Traditional Harmful Practices such as Female Genital Mutilation and early marriage.

According to the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, 85% of women believe their husbands have the right to beat them if they burn food, refuse sex, or go somewhere without their husband's consent.

Over 70% of the country’s children between the ages of 8-15 are working. Of these, the majority are young girls who are significantly discriminated against in their access to even basic levels of education. The result for Ethiopia’s women is a literacy rate of 35% compared to over 50% for men. Lack of education condemns many Ethiopian women to a lifetime of poverty and exclusion. While recent Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction programmes demand a greater economic contribution from Ethiopia’s women, World Bank statistics show that only 40% of women work in the formal-employment sector. Of these, almost none are in positions of responsibility or decision-making.

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In addition to the wide disparities in education and employment opportunities for Ethiopian women, they also face serious and substantial risks to their sexual and reproductive health. Ethiopia has a high rate of HIV and AIDS, with 10% of the urban population HIV-positive), and the country’s Health Sector Development Programme has – so far – had very little impact on women’s lives. Access to even basic health care is limited, while support and resources for maternal and child health remain inadequate.
A meeting of 'uncut girls' [who haven't undergone female genital mutilation], Durame, 2007.
An inadequacy poignantly reflected in the country’s shockingly high maternal mortality rates. And despite the Government’s 2004 ban on the practice of any form of female circumcision, female genital mutliation (FGM) remains widespread throughout the country. Mainly performed by traditional birth attendants, over 85% of Ethiopian women have undergone Female Genital Mutilation. For the practitioners, it means payment and social status. For the women who are subjected to the practice, it means a lifetime of painful menstruation, incontinence, and complications with pregnancy and childbirth. A legacy of damage to women’s physical, mental, emotional and psycho-sexual health and wellbeing.

Ethiopia’s women face further violence and discrimination in the form of early and forced marriage or marriage by abduction. Some 72% of the country’s women are married by abduction – a practice which often involves rape by the abductor – while the figures are 92% in the country’s Southern Nations region.

According to the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, 85% of women believe their husbands have the right to beat them if they burn food, refuse sex, or go somewhere without their husband's consent.