Even if Ethiopia adopted several global, regional and national initiatives that advocate for women’s property rights, lack of appropriate data has made monitoring the effectiveness of these laws and policies in promoting women’s property rights difficult, according to the Ethiopian Statistics Service.
This was pointed out in the first ever Ethiopian Gender Asset Gap Survey report released today.
The main objective of the survey was to analyze the gender gap in asset ownership and wealth, and intra household dynamics, Ethiopian Statistics Service Director General, Beker Shale, said.
According to the survey, about 84 percent of women and 86 percent of men own dwellings, which is consistent with the fact that Ethiopia is an agrarian economy.
Also, 69 percent of women and 73.1 percent of men own agricultural land, while 75.3 percent of women and 76.2 percent of men own livestock.
The largest men-women gap in asset ownership among the principal assets was observed for financial assets, which was 32 percentage points, followed by other real estate at 8 percent.
However, the share of women financial asset owners of total financial asset owners is as low as 34 percent when compared to 66 percent share of men owners, the survey indicated.
It further indicated that women’s decision-making role in family management, finance, rural and urban land and house ownership and other issues is improving.
The survey conducted last year was initiated and implemented by the Ethiopian Statistics Service with financial and technical support from UN Women, the World Bank and the Government of Ethiopia.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency