Interview with Gifti Abasiya, state minister for women's affairs

Gifti Abasiya is the State Minister for Women’s Affairs – one of the smallest ministries in Ethiopia. Here she tells IRIN that discrimination is a result of undemocratic systems, and that widespread and deeply entrenched poverty is the key factor in fuelling arcane attitudes towards women. QUESTION: Why the need for a ministry of women’s affairs in Ethiopia? ANSWER: The ministry of women’s affairs is the overall coordinating body on issues about gender, it is fighting for gender equality. Our constitution promotes gender equality and there is a legal framework to implement it, so we should. But there must be someone who is accountable for this – this is the ministry of women’s affairs that is in the prime minister's office. There are also branches at the regional level and at the woreda level [local district] to follow gender issues at all levels, to mainstream gender issues in all programmes and projects. Q: What specifically is the ministry doing? A: We are the coordinating body. Our projects are gender specific. This is being carried out through the Ethiopian Women’s Development Fund (EWDF) which empowers women economically, they get credit through a revolving fund. It generates projects for women in rural areas and we are involved in advocacy work where we advise the local communities on gender issues. We are working on HIV/AIDS and trying to change the community’s behaviour. We are also working on capacity building of our staff and manpower. Q: Is Ethiopia a good place to be a woman? A: Naturally to be a woman is good. But here in Ethiopia, as in other places around the world, there is a lot of discrimination, which I feel is mainly as a result of the system we live in. Personally I like being a woman because to be a woman here is a big challenge and this challenge makes you strong. Q: What are some of the causes of discrimination in Ethiopia? A: It is not only in Ethiopia, this is something that happens all over the world, in Africa. In Ethiopia there is discrimination because of the place and role women have in society. This is mainly the result of the discriminatory system, the undemocratic system, and because of that undemocratic system there is discrimination of women. The discrimination of women is not as a result of men; it is the result of the system. Q: Is it difficult to change that system? A: The system is not that difficult to change. The difficulty lies in changing the behaviour of the communities because of their backwardness and roots, so it takes a long time and great effort to change the situation. This is our struggle. But the women must be upfront about this to help abolish this situation where they are not seen as equal. Q: What do you see as key in changing this perception? A: The way to change this is through advocacy and lobbying. The other way is through the law. In the legal system you have no problems with regard to women in Ethiopia. Our constitution and other legal frameworks are supported. This provides a good opportunity for us. These laws support the equality of women and men. But the major difficulty is to change the behaviour of the community – not just the behaviour of the man but also the attitude of women which we have on ourselves and the attitudes the communities have with regard to women. It needs continual work to address these issues. Q: What do you see as the biggest threat currently to women? A: The biggest threat facing women today is poverty. Poverty is also helping the spread of HIV/AIDS. We see discrimination and a lack of political and economic empowerment, and also the cultural norms that are leading to the discrimination of women, preventing them enjoying their rights - these are the key problems. Q: How are you going about economic empowerment of women? A: We work in grassroot areas. There are many non-governmental organisations working in credit schemes, also the Ethiopian government established the EWDF, based on credit from the World Bank and grants from the Italian government. We provide seed money which goes to the grassroots, poor women, as a credit. They receive training and we assess their needs on what areas they want to work in. There has been some improvement in some areas but not in all areas. Q: In areas like empowerment do you think having female ministers is helping? A: Of course. At this time the women ministers are working together. We are few but we are working together to help each other, empower each other and to work with grassroots women. All of us are working on these gender issues, HIV and poverty areas. It is a good starting point. Q: What more needs to be done, what are the hurdles? A: Currently we have established the national coalition against HIV/AIDS – this group will work on gender, poverty and HIV/AIDS. These are the problems for women. I hope we will get results from this in the future. I am currently in charge of this but we are holding democratic elections for the leader of this coalition. Q: Does the international community need to do more to support women in Ethiopia? A: The international community is supporting us on gender issues, we have some good support in capacity building and training. We could always do with more help because the difficulty we face is getting to the remote areas of the country. There are many areas to focus on in gender issues.