Political Participation Of Women In Ethiopia Law And Reality

In the past, women were not allowed to participate in their country's politics. Women's equal participation and representation in politics is a fundamental human right recognized under international human rights instruments and domestic legislation. These laws prohibited unreasonable restrictions on the enjoyment of the right to political participation. As a result, in addition to the numerous benefits, it provides to women, political parties, and society in general, equal participation of women in the politics of the country is justifiable from a human rights standpoint. Although women constitute half the population of the country and the existing laws that provide for their equal participation in politics and affirmative actions, women’s participation in formal politics remained low. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the legal regime-governing women’s political participation in Ethiopia against the reality on the ground. To this end, the research has employed a combination of doctrinal and non-doctrinal legal research methodology. Further, the study has used both qualitative and quantitative data. Accordingly, the finding of the study shows that despite laws on equal participation and affirmative measure aimed at compensating women for past injustice and discrimination, the participation of women remained underrepresented in political institutions covered under this study. The theoretical and empirical experiences of other countries within the ambit of the paper show that the adoption of electoral systems that promote women’s representation and the introduction of legislated quotas as part of the implementation of constitutionally mandated affirmative measures are the best mechanism to ensure the women’s representation in leadership and decision-making. Therefore, it is recommendable for Ethiopia to ensure the full implementation of the existing laws on equal participation and adopt electoral systems that promotes women’s representation and legislated quotas as part of the implementation of constitutionally mandated affirmative measures.rnKey

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