Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

In Ethiopia

The current global developmental agenda – the Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG) – came into force in 2016 and Ethiopia responded positively to the challenges of meeting the SDG targets by 2030. Achieving the targets for women’s empowerment over time has not been easy, partly due to the complexity involved in defining, measuring and addressing this dimension of wellbeing in the country. There is a need for a better understanding of women-related outcomes in Ethiopia to achieve the SDG 5 targets of empowering all women and girls.

This research brief presents the results of a trend analysis of women’s empowerment in Ethiopia over an 11-year period and analyses the relationships between women’s empowerment and child wellbeing in the domains of nutrition, health, health-related knowledge, education, and female genital mutilation (FGM). This is also the first time that an official indexed measurement of women’s empowerment has been constructed within Ethiopia’s country context.

The Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) provides contextualized findings to measure progress in women’s empowerment in the country and to design and implement policies through actions to achieve further progress towards the SDG 5 targets by 2030.

The conceptualization of women’s empowerment in Ethiopia followed a three-step process. First, the international conventions on women’s rights8 were reviewed to define and select parameters and indicators for the measure. Second, the indicators and parameters were contextualized using the legislation and policy documents and strategies of Ethiopia. Finally, a consultation process was carried out with national stakeholders and development partners to discuss and approve selected indicators and parameters.

Download the full report from UNICEF.

Download the research brief from UNICEF.