Marital Rape as a Human Rights Violation of Women in Ethiopia: A Case Study of Alumni Association of the Faculty of Law of Addis Ababa University and Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA)

Abstract

Initially, the concept of marital rape was a legal nullity analogous to the inability to steal what one already owns. Many defended for the exemption of marital rape from being recognized as a crime. The defense came under the assertion that a husband and a wife acted in consent and the wife had no separate rights apart from her husband; the husband was legally responsible for his wife’s conduct, which made it unlikely for a man to stand in court alleging that he had raped her. A reflection of power and position in the household fully supported with the legal exemption and societal approval of family privacy, marital rape remained a taboo for women to talk about despite their sufferings. This paper undergoes an assessment of the challenges women go through in the veil of family privacy and explores the possible mechanisms that can be set to avail protection in the area. In a nutshell, the findings of the research demonstrate that 60% of respondents were victims of marital rape. This piece thus puts forward concrete recommendations that call for the attention of the legal system in terms of resolving the issue from a legal point of view, academic institutions in engaging in scholarly research and organizing high legal dialogues, and awareness raising work by civil society organizations working at the grass root level.