In general, the right of women in Ethiopia is not yet respected. Women in rural areas take the highest share of the enormous suffering and exploitation. The solution to all these suffering are expansion of education, cultural changes and building the law enforcing capacity of the government. But, I think education is the most important one. Education that brings change is critical.
The Ethiopian government was supposed to claim compensation from Saudi Arabia on behalf of the victims and distribute the sum to the abused women. The government takes the responsibility for its failure in doing so. Nobody knows whether thousands of Ethiopian housemaids receive proper wages, medication and care and as a result, housemaids are the subject of abuse and violence even within Ethiopia. There is no minimum wage set for housemaids and this allows urban employers to exploit their housemaids.
Though Ethiopia is a federal state, there has been no regional state headed by a woman. Men hold almost all key governmental positions. Women are mostly needed to provide support, to cheerlead and back up and not to express and implement their ideas. It seems that Cultural Revolution is indispensible for the protection of women’s right in Ethiopia. The government needs to focus on implementing the existing laws instead of enacting impracticable ones.
