ETHIOPIA: Domestic violence rampant, says UNFPA

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ADDIS ABABA, 12 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Domestic violence is so rampant in Ethiopia that nine out of ten women think their husbands are justified in beating them, a UN report released on Wednesday said.

The report, compiled by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), said the women believed it was in order to be punished, especially when a wife went out without telling her spouse, neglected the children or prepared food badly.

"Violence against women has long been shrouded in a culture of silence," Monique Rakotomalala, the UNFPA representative in Ethiopia, said at the launch of a report titled: "State of the World's Population, the Promise of Equality".

The report focuses on the plight of women across the globe. It found that in Egypt, 94 percent of women thought it was acceptable to be beaten, as did 91 percent in Zambia.

According to the report, women in Ethiopia face terrible hardship, with more than 25,000 women dying during childbirth each year and 50,000 facing disabilities during birth.

Only six percent of women have any kind of skilled help during their birth. Women also suffer higher levels of HIV infection than men and are less likely to enrol in schools - just 16 percent make it into secondary education.

"Regrettably, a lot of women die during pregnancy. A large number of girls are subjected to harmful traditional practices on the pretext of culture and girls are married too early, without their consent and often to people they do not know," Hannah Abate, a senior gender expert with the government's women's affairs office, said.

Women, she added, bore the brunt of poverty, disease and inequality in Ethiopia, yet they made up 30 percent of the workforce, often carrying out backbreaking tasks for up to 15 hours a day.

"We need to put women and girls at the heart of our development efforts," Rakotomalala stressed. "Every investment made in women and girls helps ensure gender equality."

The new health minister, Tewodros Adhanom, said in a statement that overcoming reproductive health problems were inextricably linked to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

"The lives of women and girls are critical if we are to achieve the MDGs," he said.

Saying it needed US $200 billion a year to tackle gender inequality and improve reproductive health across the world - which would in turn help reduce poverty - UNFPA noted that reproductive health problems were the leading cause of illness among women aged 15 to 44.

The report was released as the UN in Ethiopia began a 12-day celebration of its 60th anniversary. The event is expected to highlight the importance of meeting the MDGs.

[ENDS]