Enhancing Ethiopian Women's Access to and Control over Land

DAY 3: JULY 19, 2001

• Analysing the Ethiopian advocacy and media packages
• Constraints to Ethiopian women's access to and control over land and strategies to overcome them
• Women and land reform in Ethiopia
• BACK TO WORKSHOP TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. What did you like about the package?
   • The cover and the layout include the African map;
   • The study was been conducted by an Ethiopian national, giving a deeper insight;
   • The inclusion of Ethiopia’s commitments to international conventions;
   • The package discusses the women's land rights at the international, regional and national levels.
2. Language
   1. Is the language simple enough for a broad and popular audience that is not necessarily trained in the fields of law, policy making or media?
   • English is not our first language, so it is difficult to comment;
   • The language used is not clear;
   • The language used is not simple and is difficult to understand;
   • The language is simple.
   2. Is the language gender sensitive? If not how is it insensitive?
   • It did not answer or deal with gender issues;
   • The language is gender-sensitive although some members of the group felt it was not.
   3. Is the language inclusive? If not what groups does it exclude (for example, people with disabilities, particular ethnic nationalities, etc) and how?
   • It did not include all ethnicities or nationalities and people with disabilities.
   4. Should the idea of translation of the packages into indigenous languages be considered and, if so, into which ones?
   • It should be translated into the major languages;
   • It should be translated into Amharinya, Orominya and Tigrinya.
3. Content
   1. Did the package contain too much or too little material?
   • The content is not adequate;
   • It was short and precise.
   2. If there is too much material what would you throw out?
   • The statistics on the world's population are not necessary;
   • The content is too long and it should be short and precise.
   3. If too little material what would you include?
   • Pictures;
   • Comments;
   • Case studies;
   • Solutions to the problems raised;
   • Government efforts on land;
   • Ethiopia’s family law, using CEDAW as a point of reference.
4. Accuracy: Is the information in the package accurate and correct if not please list the inaccuracies that you have noted?
   • Ethiopia’s map not current as it includes Eritrea;
   • The statistics are not accurate, specific and updated;
   • Outdated laws (family law and the law establishing the federal court) were referred to;
   • Social improvement is mentioned more than is the case so more indicators should be used.
5. Would you or the organisation you work for be able to use this package? If so why? If not why not?
   • We will use the package for our gender work.
6. Other comments?
   • The package should have been given to the participants earlier;
   • The picture on the cover does not relate to the issues raise in the package (the woman on the cover is laughing but she should look serious to portray the gravity of the issues);
   • The research should be done by professionals and be more extensive;
   • The research deals with a specific issue and should have been broader;
   • The sample area is limited and does not fully represent Ethiopia.

• Poverty;
• Shortage of land, especially grazing land for pastoralists, due to population pressure and land degradation;
• Land redistribution has not occurred, except in the Amhara and Tigray regions;
• There is no land use policy at either the federal or the regional levels;
• With the exception of the Amhara and Tigray regions, the regions have not formulated policies on land use, management and ownership;
• Lack of detailed directives to ensure implementation of existing policies and laws;
• Harmful traditional practices and customary or traditional law's prevalence over statutory law;
• Men are considered the heads of families;
• Women's lack of control over land, production and its benefits;
• Women's workload;
• The practice of polygamy;
• In some regions, a woman is obligated to marry her deceased husband’s brother so that family land stays under men's control;
• In the Gambela region, daughters does not inherit land;
• Women do not plough due to gender-based divisions of labour under customary law and backward ploughing technologies.

• Developing case studies;
• Lobbying and advocacy for women’s land rights;
• Formulating land management and ownership policies in all regions, ensuring fair land distribution to women and that women can inherit land.
• Developing policies on land use in all regions;
• Training on the dangers of harmful traditional practices;
• Training on family planning;
• Consciousness raising by people abiding by and practising existing policies and laws; Empowering women enjoy their land rights and the benefits from land;
• Introducing appropriate technology to decrease women's workload and so that women can plough (the traditional plough is too difficult and requires too much physical strength).

• Directives and mechanisms for the implementation of international conventions be created;
• Women's legal rights under the Constitution be implemented;
• Women’s equal rights to land and equal benefits from agricultural production be ensured;
• Women's rights with respect to land use, management and ownership be clearly stated;
• Severe punishment for crimes against women be instituted;
• All gender-biased policies be eliminated;
• Women's participation in research be increased;
• Gender-responsible development programmes and projects be formulated;
• Land titles be registered;
• Banking regulations and rules be improved to ensure that women benefit from credit and loan facilities;
• Women be included in agricultural and environmental training;
• Women's equal participation in farmers' associations be assured (and women supported if they want to organise separately);
• Women be trained in economically viable skills.

• Women's right to land ownership was granted;
• Women have the security of land ownership;
• Those who were previous engaged as daily labourers now get sustained incomes from their land;
• Single women who had difficulties getting married due to being landless now have improved chances (?);
• Such women, as landowners in their own right, once married, cannot be sent out of their homes by their husbands.

• Women are not included in training activities as well as the provision of improved seeds and fertilisers (only 4.2 per cent received extension support);
• Women landowners still do not plough due to the lack of oxen and ploughing tools, the fact that traditional ploughing techniques require physical strength and the fact that it is not culturally accepted;
• Women therefore depend on men to do so and have to give up to three-quarter of their land or produce in payment, decreasing their gains and perpetuating their dependence on men;
• In addition, they may suffer from decreased production because men plough women’s land after ploughing their own, sometimes leading to delays in planting;
• Because of the meagre incomes therefore received, some women are inclined to rent their land, thus losing the sense of land ownership and the prestige that goes with it;
• Due to their lack of formal education and information, they cannot read written rental agreements entered into and people invariably deny oral agreements;

• Women do not inherit land;
• Women are required to give sexual services to her brothers-in-law, friends and male guests;
• During divorce, women do not get their share. They are not allowed to continue to live in the area and usually go back to their parents. However, some women have been able to get their share by going to the Civil Court;
• When a man dies, his brother inherits his wife on the premise that he will love and protect his brother’s sons and the property will stay within the family;
• When a women dies, her sister marries her husband on the same premise that applies with the death of a husband.