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Human Rights in Ethiopia: An Assessment on the Law and Practice of Women’s Rights

Received: 12 February 2015    Accepted: 25 February 2015    Published: 02 March 2015
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Abstract

Historically, women had been subjected to serious marginalization in the male dominated patriarchal society. Discriminatory and stereotyped cultural practices accompanied by weak legal frameworks had a significant place in the women’s suffer. The current regime of Ethiopia has been aggressively working in the revision and enactment of several laws and policies so as to ensure the protection of the rights of women. Nevertheless, the change brought has not been satisfactory. The deeply rooted stereotype perception and bad cultural practices remained to pose challenges in the protection and promotion of women’s rights. Besides, lack of uniformity among family laws of the country continues to contribute for the domination of women. Moreover, lack of capacity of women’s institutional machineries has also contributed to the prevailing problems. Thus, though the laws of the country are informed by the principle of gender equality women are still subject to serious violations of their rights. The study, therefore, calls for strong commitment of the government in the practical implementation of women’s rights, to modify such bad culture to be friendly with women’s rights and to build the capacity of women’s institutional machineries.

DOI 10.11648/j.hss.20150302.13
Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 2, March 2015)
Page(s) 83-87
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Men, Women, Women’s Rights, Human Rights, Domination, Legal Frameworks

References
[1] Dejene N. DEBSU (2009) Gender and Culture in Southern Ethiopia: An Ethnographic Analysis of Guji Oromo Women’s Customary Rights, African Study Monographs, 30(1): 15-36
[2] Ife, Jim (2008) Human Rights and Social Work: Towards Right-Based Practices. Revised Edition. UK: Cambridge University Press
[3] Megersa Dugasa Fite (2014) The Ethiopia’s Legal Framework on Domestic Violence against Women: a Critical Perspective. International Journal of Gender and Women’s Studies, 2(1): 49-60
[4] Nowak, Manfred (2005), Human Rights: A Handbook for Parliamentarians, Geneva: OHCHR.
[5] Ogato, G. S. (2013) The Quest for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Least Developed Countries: Policy and Strategy Implications for Achieving Millennium Development Goals in Ethiopia. Int. J. Sociol. Anthropol., 5(9): 358-372
[6] Permanent Commission (2013) Statement made by Minister of Women, Children and Youth Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, at the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, New York, USA
[7] Rems, Eva (2007) Ethiopia before the United Nations Treaty Monitoring Bodies, Afrika Focus, 20(1-2): 49-74.
[8] Renteln, Alison Dundes (1988) The Concept of Human Rights, Anthropos, pp. 343-364
[9] Tamrat Haile (2013) Women’s right to resource access in Northern and Central Ethiopia: A historical survey of land tenure system from the 13th to 20th century, Afr. J. Hist. Cult., Vol. 5(7): 143-1 50
[10] The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (N.D) National Report on the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcome of the 23rd Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly (2000)
[11] Tsegaye Regassa (2009) Making Legal Sense of Human Rights: The Judicial Role in Protecting Human Rights in Ethiopia, Mizan Law Review, vol. 3(2).
[12] UN (N.D) Human Rights: A Basic Handbook for UN Staff
[13] UN (2011) Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Forty-ninth session, 11-29 July 2011
[14] Yemane Berhane. (2004). Ending Domestic Violence against Women in Ethiopia. Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, 18(3): 131-132.
[15] The Criminal Code of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Proclamation No.414/2004
[16] The Civil Code of the Empire of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 165/1960
[17] The Constitution of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 1/1995
[18] The Penal Code of the Empire of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 158/1957
[19] The Revised Family Code of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 213/2000
[20] The Labour Proclamation of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, proclamation no 377/2003
Author Information
  • Department of Civics and Ethical Studies, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ambo University, Ambo, Ethiopia

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  • APA Style

    Endalcachew Bayeh. (2015). Human Rights in Ethiopia: An Assessment on the Law and Practice of Women’s Rights. Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(2), 83-87. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20150302.13

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    ACS Style

    Endalcachew Bayeh. Human Rights in Ethiopia: An Assessment on the Law and Practice of Women’s Rights. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2015, 3(2), 83-87. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20150302.13

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    AMA Style

    Endalcachew Bayeh. Human Rights in Ethiopia: An Assessment on the Law and Practice of Women’s Rights. Humanit Soc Sci. 2015;3(2):83-87. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20150302.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hss.20150302.13,
      author = {Endalcachew Bayeh},
      title = {Human Rights in Ethiopia: An Assessment on the Law and Practice of Women’s Rights},
      journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
      volume = {3},
      number = {2},
      pages = {83-87},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20150302.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20150302.13},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20150302.13},
      abstract = {Historically, women had been subjected to serious marginalization in the male dominated patriarchal society. Discriminatory and stereotyped cultural practices accompanied by weak legal frameworks had a significant place in the women’s suffer. The current regime of Ethiopia has been aggressively working in the revision and enactment of several laws and policies so as to ensure the protection of the rights of women. Nevertheless, the change brought has not been satisfactory. The deeply rooted stereotype perception and bad cultural practices remained to pose challenges in the protection and promotion of women’s rights. Besides, lack of uniformity among family laws of the country continues to contribute for the domination of women. Moreover, lack of capacity of women’s institutional machineries has also contributed to the prevailing problems. Thus, though the laws of the country are informed by the principle of gender equality women are still subject to serious violations of their rights. The study, therefore, calls for strong commitment of the government in the practical implementation of women’s rights, to modify such bad culture to be friendly with women’s rights and to build the capacity of women’s institutional machineries.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    AU  - Endalcachew Bayeh
    Y1  - 2015/03/02
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    AB  - Historically, women had been subjected to serious marginalization in the male dominated patriarchal society. Discriminatory and stereotyped cultural practices accompanied by weak legal frameworks had a significant place in the women’s suffer. The current regime of Ethiopia has been aggressively working in the revision and enactment of several laws and policies so as to ensure the protection of the rights of women. Nevertheless, the change brought has not been satisfactory. The deeply rooted stereotype perception and bad cultural practices remained to pose challenges in the protection and promotion of women’s rights. Besides, lack of uniformity among family laws of the country continues to contribute for the domination of women. Moreover, lack of capacity of women’s institutional machineries has also contributed to the prevailing problems. Thus, though the laws of the country are informed by the principle of gender equality women are still subject to serious violations of their rights. The study, therefore, calls for strong commitment of the government in the practical implementation of women’s rights, to modify such bad culture to be friendly with women’s rights and to build the capacity of women’s institutional machineries.
    VL  - 3
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