Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Although she sent her son to school, Zenebu kept her eldest daughter at home to help with her housework, and planned to circumcise all of her daughters, as she was circumcised as a child. (Female circumcision is not only more painful than male circumcision; it can cause life-threatening health complications throughout the circumcised woman's life).
Family planning is not talked about socially in traditional Ethiopian culture, except at local health clinics, and even there the emphasis is on the relatively ineffective rhythm method. Catholic health organizations will not discuss family planning or other means of birth control, and many men still consider a large brood of children both to be a sign of masculinity as well as a necessary source of income and labor. Yet prohibitively large families often become an economic burden upon women and men, and quite often it is the daughters of large families who suffer the most, including being deprived of food and water when these precious items become scarce.
The obstacles to female empowerment in Ethiopia are many. Female oppression is rooted in culture and custom as well as the formal structures of society. Discrimination in the workforce and in the educational system is rampant, and the rural life of most women limits their exposure to new ideas and their ability...
Even Zenebu knew the risks of infection from female circumcision, and wished to her daughters to be circumcised, to be like all of the other girls in the village (Weld 2009). The availability of female education did not change her mind about gender inequalities and the need to make sure her daughters knew how to keep house, rather than to read. Old habits die hard, and are reinforced by a lack of exposure to other ways of living. Customs such as having many children and not wishing to seem different than one's neighbors are reinforced by the extreme poverty that cements most communities together in a network of need.
Works Cited
Implementing the Ethiopian Policy for Women: Institutional and Regulatory Issues, 1998. the
Women's Affairs Office, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the World Bank.
October 14, 2009. http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/fact%20file/a-z/women-1.htm
Ofcansky, Thomas P. & LaVerle Berry, editors. Ethiopia: A Country Study. Washington: GPO
for the Library of Congress, 1991. October 14, 2009. http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/59.htm
Walt, Vivienne. "Zenebu." Ethiopian women. Mt. Holyoke. October 14, 2009.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/epaus/econ213/ethiopia/tulu.htm
Works Cited
Implementing the Ethiopian Policy for Women: Institutional and Regulatory Issues, 1998. the
Women's Affairs Office, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the World Bank.
October 14, 2009. http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/fact%20file/a-z/women-1.htm
Ofcansky, Thomas P. & LaVerle Berry, editors. Ethiopia: A Country Study. Washington: GPO
for the Library of Congress, 1991. October 14, 2009. http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/59.htm
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/epaus/econ213/ethiopia/tulu.htm
World-Bank-assisted Women-in-Development project for Ethiopia proposes to socially and economically help vulnerable women participate and benefit from its increasingly expanding economy and opportunities in the private sector. It hopes to raise the standard of living of these women and contribute to alleviating poverty. On the whole, addressing all the constraints to the effective and realistic implementation of the National Policy on Women and forming grassroots women's organization would work towards
women's entrepreneurs: Evidence from an East African Economy (Ethiopia) It is an established fact that the Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE) sectors can help large parts of the populace in underdeveloped economies like Ethiopia as the means for livelihood. African women are beleaguered with societal and cultural challenges and overall entrepreneurial attributes, and that is reflected in the lack of their entrepreneurship development. This study hence takes up the issues
Ngos & Human Rights in Africa Non-governmental organizations have had an unprecedented effect on international human rights in the African system. NGOs have been recognized for their forward thinking ability in improving international human rights in Africa. NGOs participation in the African Human Rights system has been in two ways. The first is through international and government commissions like the OAU, with some having rights to participate in public meetings. This presents
Female Genital Mutilation in Ethiopia: A Human Rights Issue Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a common phenomenon in Ethiopia, which has the highest rate of FGM among African countries, despite international and national efforts to eliminate the phenomenon. Why FGM persists despite these efforts to end the practice is an issue that puzzles scholars and activists, particularly because efforts to end FGM have seen some success outside of Ethiopia. Does the
Violence against pregnant women is a commonplace phenomenon and this research paper will explain the background of violence against pregnant women. Women undergo different forms of violence for instance, beating, threats, raping and unwilling prostitution. Some years back, it wasn't a big issue as approach towards women was a tad bit different back then. Men were treated as the dominant sex due to their physical strength. So is the case
Cultural relativism contends that no one culture possesses a more correct value system than any other. "There is no one standard set of morals," Sullivan (2006) argues, which one can use as a base to: "objectively judge all cultures, so comparing morality between cultures -- which retain independent and distinct histories and influences -- is basically futile" (¶ 9). As the movement is rooted in the world community's response to