Family Law Reform, Employment, and Women’s Political Participation in Ethiopia

Link to article:

[DOI] [PDF]

Authors:

Aalen, Lovise, Andreas Kotsadam, Espen Villanger

Year:

2019

Reference:

Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society

Vol 26(2), 299-323

Summary

Research showing that there is strong correlation between increased female labor force participation and women’s political participation is essentially based on empirical data from Western, democratic, and developed contexts. In this article, we discuss whether these conclusions hold for non-Western, nondemocratic, and developing settings too. Through a study of Ethiopian women’s employment and political agency, we find that employment is actually not significantly related to the level of women’s participation in local political meetings and is negatively related to their interest in politics.