1 Introduction and background.

Optimism over Ethiopia's economic future is widespread. The government's economic recovery and reconstruction program, implemented after the end of the civil war, is gradually paying dividends. With an annual gross domestic product (gdp) growing at 8 percent (fiscal 1993-96), and inflation under control at 2.3 percent (fiscal 1994-97), Ethiopia is expected to experience rapid expansion and increasing economic opportunities during the next few years. To maximize the returns to these investments and ensure sustained economic growth, it is essential that human resources be deployed and used effectively. Therefore, the government is vigorously pursuing a policy of investment in human capital to ensure that both men and women have opportunities to participate in, and gain access to, the expanded development opportunities. This is not an easy task. With a per capita income of $110 in 1996, literacy rates of 35 percent for men and 25 percent for women, and, in 1995, a gross enrollment rate of 33 percent for boys and 24 percent for girls, the challenge is daunting (Central Statistical Authority 1994).

The challenge also has a significant gender aspect that cannot be ignored if growth is to be sustainable and equitable in the long term. Women disproportionately bear the burden of poverty in Ethiopia. This is mainly a result of the gender-based division of labor, which is not only prescribed by tradition and culture but reiterated in law. (1) Women are responsible for all household chores, in addition to their support for agriculture and livestock. The state of the environment and the lack of appropriate technology increase the burden of these chores. (2) Only 19 percent of the population have access to clean water, and fuelwood or cow dung remain the main source of domestic energy for 95 percent of the Ethiopian population. Women, therefore, spend a large part of their day searching for fuelwood and collecting water. The lack of appropriate technology results in the daily pounding and grinding of grain, a laborious task that consumes a large part of a woman's day. Together with the other activities they perform, rural women work 15-18 hours a day (Women's Affairs Office 1992; UMCEF 1991). Women have little or no time to access training or skill-enhancement opportunities and are unable to increase their subsistence-level lives by earning better income. To assist them in their arduous activities, women keep their children, in particular girls, from school, perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty for women.

In a socioeconomic context where the burden of poverty is disproportionately borne by women (see table 1.1), experience indicates that gender-neutral development interventions affect men and women differently. Being more disadvantaged in skills, availability of time, and access to economic resources and subject to greater cultural taboos and restrictions than men, women are unable to access or receive equal benefits from an expanding economy. This further exacerbates gender differentials, increasing; the burden of poverty on women. A classic case is the introduction of agricultural technology, which affects the competitiveness of activities that women continue to perform manually. Thus, to sustain continued and rapid development, constraints relating to women should be addressed, and this can only be achieved through development interventions that are planned and implemented with a full understanding of gender issues and with attention to the priorities and needs of women themselves.

To its credit, the government has recognized this dilemma and manifested its commitment to the equitable socioeconomic development of women by announcing the National Policy on Women in 1993 (the women's policy) and the promulgation, in 1994, of a new constitution (enacted on December 8, 1994, the constitution became effective on August 21,1995). The women's policy aims to encourage the equitable participation of women in the political, social, and economic life of the country and outlines the government's strategy for addressing existing economic and social constraints. It aims to institutionalize the political, economic, and social rights of women by creating appropriate structures in government offices and institutions so that public policies and interventions are gender-sensitive and can ensure equitable development for all Ethiopians. Article 25 of the constitution guarantees all persons equality before the law. It prohibits, inter alia, any discrimination on grounds of gender. In addition, article 35 reiterates the principle of gender equality of access to economic opportunities, including the right to equality in employment, promotion, pay, and transfer of pension entitlements.

Improving women's human capital assets and strengthening their participation in economic and social opportunities is also a commitment of the World Bank and an objective of its proposed portfolio (internal Bank document, August 1997). Implementation of the women's policy is, therefore, a goal that the Bank would strongly support through its proposed country assistance strategy.

Objectives

Although the impressive central-level pronouncements generated expectations, implementation of the women's policy has been slow. Partly, this can be attributed to the regionalization process. Since the early 1990s, Ethiopia has witnessed far-reaching and dramatic changes in intergovernmental arrangements. In the past few years, Ethiopia launched an ambitious political, administrative, and fiscal regionalization program that devolved power and responsibility from the federal government to the regional and subregional governments (see annex C). Although regionalization was a welcome move toward a more participatory form of governance, it changed the nature of the challenge facing development planners wishing to implement the women's policy. The legislative and organizational dispersion of powers, duties, and responsibilities slowed implementation of the women's policy in the regions, which were in an atmosphere of flux and change. The overall framework, the roles and responsibilities of the regional units, and their potential for planning and implementing gender-sensitive development interventions were evolving and needed further investigation. Also, the legal and customary framework varied significantly from region to region and development projects designed without an understanding of these region-specific constraints were not reaching women effectively. This report recognizes that the issues confronting Ethiopian women cannot be solved at the national level. The solutions lie with the communities in different regions, and these communities need to be involved in finding appropriate solutions to their problems (see box 1.1).

Admittedly, regulatory and institutional constraints are only two facets of the challenge facing gender-sensitive development planners. Other constraints--social, economic, political and environmental--are perhaps more critical. However, given the findings of reports prepared by the World Bank and the government of Ethiopia, it was felt that further study was necessary on the institutional and regulatory constraints that are much less understood and have a direct and poorly recognized impact on the planning and delivery of development interventions (UNICEF 1991).

The goals of this report are, therefore, limited and clear:

* Assist regional governments in their effort to improve the institutional and regulatory framework for implementing the women's policy

* Provide the basis for the Bank's support to the government of Ethiopia for implementing the women's policy and the Bank's policy dialogue with Ethiopia.

The report should lead to two specific outputs:

* Region-specific data that will assist in the gender-sensitive design and implementation of development projects

* Recommendations for gender-sensitive revision of the institutional and legislative framework affecting women's access to economic resources.

Scope

This report examines and identifies institutional, legal, and regulatory constraints on the expeditious and effective implementation of the women's policy in five regions of Ethiopia: Afar, Amhara, Gambella, Oromiya, and the southern region. Together, these regions contain about 84 percent of the total population.

Afar, in the northeast, is different in that 98 percent of its inhabitants are seminomadic, belonging predominantly to the Cushtic group. Constraints in Afar may resemble those in Somali, which also consists of largely seminomadic populations, more than those in other regions of Ethiopia. Amhara is a predominantly Christian region, reflecting the problems of women in the highland regions and in regions affected by the civil war. Gambella represents remote regions, the other one being Beninshanghul, in the western part of Ethiopia. Oromiya is the largest region, consisting of more than one-third of the total population. The southern region, consisting of zones 7-11 grouped together for administrative purposes, was selected for its different ethnic groups and diversity of culture. Together, it is hoped that the report will be useful to all regional governments.

Box 1.1 Ethiopia: Land of Diversity

Ethiopia, the second largest country in Africa, is a
land of geographical and cultural contrasts. Its high
mountain ranges of more than 4,600 meters stand
in stark contrast to the Afar depression, which is
below sea level. The country has a wide range of
climate: the cold climates of the highlands (where
the majority of the people are settled) and some of
the hottest places in the world, resulting in lush forests
in the west and dry desert conditions in the
lowlands. Added to these geographical contrasts
are its vastly different ethnic groups: Semitic in the
north; Cushtic, mainly in the south, but with pockets
in the north; Omotic in the southwest; and NiloSahran
in the far west, near the Sudan border.
Orthodox Christianity dominates the northern and
central highlands; Islam dominates the lowlands,
with Harar in the south being the fourth most important
holy town for Muslims. Large numbers of
people in the southwest follow their own traditional
faiths. Despite the passage of time and the unification
of Ethiopia, sociocultural differences are clearly
discernible from region to region and, often, within
regions as well. Understanding this diversity is critical
to development planners who constantly need
to remind themselves that there is no one answer
in dealing with developmental issues in Ethiopia and
that each region, and if necessary each community,
must be studied for itself.

Source: Pankhurst 1992.

This report is based on top-down studies of the formal legal framework, prepared by local Ethiopian consultants, and supplemented by participatory rural appraisals conducted in five regions. The participatory rural appraisals helped to verify the impact of legislation on the daily lives of the rural population as well as to understand the customary rules and traditions being practiced in rural households. Similar appraisals are also being conducted in the remaining regions (Beninshanghul, Somali, Addis Ababa, and selected urban areas), and the findings will be published separately. Region 1 (Tigray) is left out, because it reportedly has made significant progress in the area of women's development and has unique organizational arrangements at the grassroots level, a spillover from the civil war days.

Organization

After this brief introduction, Chapter 2 focuses on the economic rights of women and the legal impediments to improving the economic participation of women. Key areas analyzed include the economic rights of women within a household; their access to productive resources, in particular land and other natural resources; gender issues related to labor; rights of organization; and mechanisms for enforcing rights or methods of settling disputes. Other social, political, and civil rights are not examined here. Chapter 3 focuses on the institutional arrangements for gender-sensitive planning at the regional levels. It studies five regions to understand the constraints to the effective planning, implementation, and delivery of services. It looks at the role, mandate, and responsibilities of women's offices; the process for development planning and implementation; and the effectiveness of women's offices in ensuring a gender-sensitive development plan. It examines women's participation in such planning and focuses, briefly, on the role of representative organizations like nongovernmental organizations, village governments, and cooperatives. Against this background, Chapter 4 offers priority recommendations to address key issues. A list of references follows.

The text is followed by annexes providing summarized information. Annex A describes the women's policy. Annex B summarizes regionspecific information on the socioeconomic practices of rural communities, mainly obtained from participatory rural appraisals conducted in the five regions. Annex C briefly describes the institutional arrangements for development planning in the selected regions. Annex D explains the participatory process through which this report was produced. Annex E provides a bibliography, as well as a list of the relevant background papers prepared for this report and available in World Bank project files. A detailed bibliography is available in project files.

Notes

(1.) The civil code of Ethiopia (1960) states that the husband is the head of the household and that the wife is responsible for all household duties where the husband cannot afford domestic help. This article owes its origins to a similar clause in the Feteha-Negest, the laws governing Christians, and is traced back to the scriptures (see Pankhurst 1992, p. 69).

(2.) Forest cover is down to 3 percent of total land area, and the lack of appropriate technology to prepare food, in particular injera (a type of bread and the staple food), the lack of appropriate cooking stoves, and the lack of accessible grinding mills are just some of the problems faced in day-to-day life.

Table 1.1. Select Social Indicators in Ethiopia, by Region and
Gender, 1994
                                                          Gross
                        Life                            enrollment
                     expectancy  Illiteracy              rate (a)
          Number of   at birth      rates    Assisted    (percent)
          women per                           births
Region     100 men   Men  Women  Men  Women  (percent)  Boys  Girls

Afar          75     53    47    91    94       0.5     10.0   6.8
Amhara        97     50    52    77    87       4.2     18.9  16.8
Gambella      95     54    55    61    80      10.5     67.8  38.2
Oromiya       99     49    52    70    84       5.3     27.2  14.9
South        101     48    50    65    84       4.8     39.5  17.4

(a.) Number of pupils in grades 1 to 8 divided by total population
of age 7 to 14.

Source: Central Statistical Authority 1994.