Gender Mainstreaming Aspects In The Womens Affairs And Economic And Business Affairs General Directorates Of Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Addis Ababa

The study is designed to explore the status of gender mainstreaming aspects in two general directorates ofrnMinistry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA): Women’s Affairs General Directorates (WAGD) and Economic BusinessrnAffairs General Directorates (EBAGD). Particularly, the study targeted on three departments of WAGD andrntwo departments of EBAGD: The departments of WAGD are Resource Mobilization, Plan Research andrnCapacity Building Department (RMRPCBD), Policy and Affirmative Action Affairs Department (PAAAD),rnand Women’s and Children’s Trafficking Department. The departments of EBAGD are Foreign Trade,rnInvestments and Tourism Development (FTITDD) and Mobilization of Resources for Development andrnTechnical Cooperation Research and plan Department (MRDTCRPD). The study used qualitative approachrnwhere it applied in-depth interview, focus group discussion, and personal observation of the researcher torncollect the needed information. Furthermore, document analysis was used as part of the study, to find outrngender dimensions and gaps in MOFA. Based on the data analysis, the study findings revealed thernfollowing results.rnWith regard to policy and affirmative action, the results indicated that at present there is no gender policy,rnstrategy, or guideline that guides to mainstream gender in MOFA. However, at the moment, WAGD ofrnMOFA is responsible to formulate and it is on the process of developing gender policy or guideline. In thernforeign policy and strategy document, gender aspects are not integrated. Hence, it is not gender sensitive.rnOn the other hand, MOFA’s commitment is reflected in that it has developed gender affirmativernimplementation guide line concerned with women employees but not for women external customers. In spiternof the formulation of affirmative guideline, the findings showed that little was done to increase the numberrnof women employees in MOFA. The result also indicated MOFA allocates budgets to WAGD for genderrnmainstreaming purposes at the organizational level. With regard to protecting women from trafficking, thernresult showed the management of MOFA has established a department called “Women’s and Children’srnTrafficking Department“ with specific duties and responsibilities. Based on this, the department has startedrnperforming related activities. With respect to gender roles, the result reflected that higher managerialrnpositions are held by men. As the data shows, the first four higher position in the head office and thernembassies are occupied by women. Whereas the lower position such as secretary and cleaner arernoccupied by women. So in general, gender roles are stereotyped.rnAlthough there are some measures taken to translate the affirmative action given in the Ethiopianrnconstitution and gender mainstreaming conventions to promote women in foreign trade investment andrntourism, the affirmative action opportunities are not fully translated into action, according to the study.rnFurthermore, in the foreign resource mobilization (foreign loans, aids or technical support), no percentage isrnassigned for women’s work at the sectoral (national) level.rnTherefore, the conclusion is that on one side there are considered commitments of gender concerns by the management of MOFA which is mainly expressed by the establishment of WAGD. On the other side, there are gender gaps noticed in gender mainstreaming aspects of MOFA. Hence, in the items were gender gap is observed, it is recommended that the gender gap be filled by undertaking gender mainstreaming process in MOFA as a whole

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