Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association - Gender Issues Advocacy

Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association

Child marriage robs girls of their ability to reach their full potential, deprives them of education and meaningful work, and threatens them with illness, disease and even death. The negative consequences of child marriage are numerous yet its prevalence is staggering. In South Asia, Africa and parts of Latin America, 51 million girls under 18 are married, typically to older men. In another decade, 100 million girls will be married. This occurs even in countries that have made child marriage illegal.

It may seem that this problem is timeless and unchangeable – but it is not.

Mahdere Paulos, Executive Director of the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, has led an effort to enact a new law raising the legal age of marriage for girls in Ethiopia from 15 to 18 years old. A former judge of the High Court, she works to educate families, communities, government officials and students about the new law, as well as raise awareness about the adverse consequences of early marriage.

http://www.etwla.org/activities.html

Activities

Research and Law Reform Advocacy
Research is one of the core programs of EWLA, serving as the baseline for law reform advocacy, lobbying and other inter-related programs of the organization. EWLA’s advocacy program is based on its research findings to seek the repeal or change of discriminatory and unconstitutional laws. Research is regularly conducted into various issues which affect women, in order to bring about much needed legal changes. Furthermore, the research findings are used to sensitize the community on various issues, which affect women.

The research findings of this department are used by various organizations and professionals. Most research findings are published in EWLA’s annual journal, Berchi, which mainly targets legal and other professionals. The final copies of various researches are also filed in EWLA’s documentation center and can be accessed by those who attend the center. Furthermore, EWLA’s Public Education department uses the research findings in order to educate the public.

Below is a list of EWLA sponsored research papers. Please click on the links to download pdfs. Also, click here for a copy of the latest Interim Activity Report..

Public Education
The main objective of this department is raising awareness among the public on women’s rights and educating women on their rights and on how to assert their rights. The department also facilitates policy debate on women’s issues and their impacts on poverty and development at the household, and community and national levels In order to secure the legal, economic, social and political rights of women, the public education department plans and carries out training and advocacy workshops. These workshops are designed to enhance awareness on women’s legal and social status, reproductive health rights, political rights and human rights.

Radio Program
EWLA has a 10 minutes educational radio program broadcast once a week on the national Radio Service On Saturday morning from 8:40 A.M. to 8:50 A.M.

Documentation Center
EWLA’s documentation center has been providing reading materials, on women’s issues and other related matters, to students and individual researchers. The documentation center extends its services to an average of 20 people a day.