Abstract
This paper critically reviewed the gender equality and women’s empowerment endeavors in least developed countries (LDCs) and proposed policy and strategy measures for achieving millennium development goals (MDGs) in Ethiopia. Ethiopian women are economically, socially, culturally and politically disadvantaged in the enjoyment of equal rights, in accessing opportunities, decision-making processes, and basic resources. In other words, although a number of policies are emerging that support and encourage women’s participation in development, women’s access to and control of productive resources, information, training and education, employment and in decision-making are limited. The general objective of this paper is to assess the quest for gender equality and women’s empowerment in least developed countries to achieve MDGs and identify policy and strategy implications for Ethiopia. This paper adapts a human ecological approach and a comprehensive review and analysis of the existing literature was made in order to obtain both theoretical insights and secondary data on the review themes. The collected secondary data and information were qualitatively analyzed through narration and description and presented under relevant themes. The findings of the study reveal that promising efforts are being made by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to address gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in the process of achieving millennium development goals. Nevertheless, a lot has to be done for more effective gender equality and women’s empowerment thereby the millennium development goals (MDGs) and sustainable development objectives will be achieved in Ethiopia. Adaptation of the good practices of gender equality and women’s empowerment from different successful countries, proper implementation of the ratified international conventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment, and development and implementation of appropriate national gender policy will improve the condition of Ethiopian women in the years to come. Key words: Development, empowerment, equality, ethiopia, gender, women.
Highlights
Women‟s empowerment may be defined as “a bottom-up process of transforming gender power relations, through individuals or groups developing awareness of women‟s subordination and building their capacity to challenge it (Baden and Oxaal 1997; Baden and Reeves, 2000; Dejene, 2003; Ogato, 2013)
This paper proposes to review the gender equality and women‟s empowerment efforts, practices and performances in least developed countries taking Ethiopia as a case study
gender equality and women‟s empowerment (Gender) equality and women‟s empowerment is at the hub of sustainable development efforts in least developed countries
Summary
Women‟s empowerment may be defined as “a bottom-up process of transforming gender power relations, through individuals or groups developing awareness of women‟s subordination and building their capacity to challenge it (Baden and Oxaal 1997; Baden and Reeves, 2000; Dejene, 2003; Ogato, 2013). Women‟s empowerment does not imply women taking over control previously held by men, but rather the need to transform the nature of power relations (Baden and Reeves, 2000). The report of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women is another good example to mention. It called its platform for action on agenda for women‟s empowerment (Baden and Oxaal, 1997)
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