BackgroundIn spite of increasing international commitment to young people’s sexual and reproductive health, unintended pregnancies remain a major problem for young women worldwide. This article explores the issue of unintended pregnancies among Ethiopian university students and investigates narratives of students who carried their pregnancy to term. Ethiopia’s relatively permissive abortion law forms part of the backdrop for the exploration. We also consider how socio-cultural and religious norms surrounding female premarital sex/pregnancy, and gendered and urban-rural inequities, play a role in how students handle the challenge.MethodsThe article is based on research conducted among students at Addis Ababa, Jimma and Mekelle Universities in Ethiopia between September 2016 and June 2017. Drawing on an interpretative, phenomenological approach to science and employing a qualitative methodology, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with 53 students and 24 selected staff at the three universities, and held two focus group discussions with students at Addis Ababa University.ResultsThe study findings show three possible scenarios for how students can deal with an unwanted pregnancy. The first is to have the pregnancy terminated secretly, and thereby avoid the stigma linked to premarital pregnancy. The second is to make a deliberate decision to keep the pregnancy and face the consequences to come. The third scenario is found in cases where the student seems paralyzed by feelings of shame, and where she ends up keeping the pregnancy due to her inability to act.Students who end up carrying their pregnancy to term face many problems. Few support structures at the university are in place to cater for their needs. Moreover, family support is endangered by pregnancy, as it puts the student at risk of being ostracized from her family due to the shame she has imposed on them. Shame and silence are thus important social forces in these students’ lives, underpinned by gendered inequities and patriarchal norms.ConclusionsAlong with rural-urban and gendered inequities, the article demonstrates how a shame-silence nexus forcefully operates in the lives of female students struggling with reproductive challenges, and the serious consequences a pregnancy may have for those who carry it to term.
BackgroundThere are various Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Ethiopia among which the ‘Idir’ is a social and financial institution widespread both in urban and rural areas of the country. So the objectives of this study is to investigate how women members perceive the contribution of iddirs toward improving their lives and to determine whether and to what extent participation in iddirs has social impacts on their lives.MethodsA cross-sectional qualitative study using Key Informant In-Depth Interviews (KII) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) was conducted in Addis Ababa, Addis Ketema Sub-city. Ethiopia. Data was collected using a semi-structured interview questionnaire and FGD guideline. Analysis of the data was made manually using thematic framework analysis method.ResultThough their iddir doesn’t provide financial assistance, all the participants revealed the importance of installing credit mechanisms in their iddirs. However, they mentioned the inability of their respective iddirs in assisting members with their financial needs. One major difficulty mentioned was lack of capital. The participants demonstrated that the contribution of iddir in their well-being was more indispensable than the contributions of other voluntary associations they are acquainted with, such as iqub and mahiber. Especially iddir was regarded as crucial and unique in meeting emotional needs. As well, iddirs’ meetings are ideal places where women share experience; discuss issues of pressing concern and their worries. Other benefit of iddir include opportunities for social interaction, risk sharing and development of friendships, dispute resolution, Sharing and using timely information more effectively, Lower level of funeral services anxiety, Improvement of self confidence and leadership role, reciprocity and coexistence and trust.ConclusionWomen’s iddirs are the viable basis in the creation of social network which plays crucial roles in providing solutions to social and economic challenges women are facing. There was a general consensus by the participants that their iddirs were unable to offer financial assistances. Enabling women’s iddirs to be independent of borrowing from banks is also indispensable and trainings on effective use of credits and the positive role of social capital formed in women’s iddirs is relevant.
Through [an actor-oriented] approach, we can better understand how our interlocutors emerge as knowledgeable about, and with ease relate to and comply with, the formal textual order of global policies while engaging in vocal reflection on the challenges that face them in their everyday practices.This article examines the ways that gender experts in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, relate to global gender policies and to current approaches to problems of gender in their country. Drawing upon critical, feminist, and actor-oriented approaches in development studies, we reflect on the high level of convergence between the global policy aims and interlocutors' opinions about appropriate target areas and approaches to gender in development. We discuss the noteworthy reflexive and critical shift emerging when moving the discussion from policy to practice, in particular when gender experts are problematizing the scope, relevance, and outcomes of multiple gender initiatives. Throughout the article, we moreover seek to reflect upon our own roles in the construction of knowledge during the research encounters.
This article explores the religious association mahbär, also called tsïwwa, in Ethiopia. Data from lay practitioners as well as priests show that religious mahbär has many religious as well as social functions. It is a ritual with long traditions in the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church. The authors show that what characterizes mahbär as a ritual is its unusual richness, complexity, multifunctionality and flexibility. By placing it within the Ethiopian religious context and the present development, the authors discuss why religious mahbär is in decline despite its multiple functions, flexibility, and support from the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahïdo Church. In difficult economic times one would expect traditional rituals such as mahbär to become more important to people, and hence to be strengthened, but this does not seem to be the case here. In the authors' view, three factors are pushing this decline: economic challenges, time constraints, and member recruitment. everyday lives. Furthermore, we situate it in the web of connections of which the ritual is a part. After locating mahbär within the religious context of Ethiopia and within the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahïdo Church, we then describe the elements and dynamics of the ritual, and analyze the different factors that make mahbär important to Orthodox Christians as well as the factors pushing people away from it. We problematize and discuss how to understand the declining popularity of this particular indigenous association. As we see it, three factors are pushing this decline: economic challenges, time constraints, and member recruitment.
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