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 adjustment of discriminatory and unconstitutional laws. Research is regularly conducted on the various issues that affect women, in order to bring about positive and progressive legal changes. Furthermore, the research findings of our association are used to sensitize the community on significant gender-based matters.

• 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.

    Public Education

• The main objective of this department is to raise the public’s awareness on women’s rights and educate women on the rights that they are entitled to, as well as, how to assert them. The public education department also facilitates policy debate on women’s issues and the impacts they have on poverty and development at the household, community, and national level. In order to secure the legal, economical, social, and political rights of women, the public education department plans and carries out training and advocacy workshops, targeting students, as well as government and Civil Society Organization (CSO) employees. The workshops and training sessions focus on the topics of:
     
  
  
  • Gender, gender mainstreaming, and gender development
  • Assertiveness, stress management, and empowerment
  • Gender-based violence and its legal implications
  • The rights of women as stated in the Revised Family Code and amended Criminal Code
  • Reproductive health rights and STDs, especially, HIV/AIDS
  • Human rights, in general, and women's rights, in particular

  Radio Program
  
  

  •  EWLA has a 20-minute educational radio program broadcast once a week on the nation’s Saturday morning radio program; 10:40 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. {more information on the radio program and what it discusses; official title of the broadcast}

  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.

   

• Political Participation of Women: Challenges and Prospects (2005)
• Legal Status of Ethiopian Women at the Workplace (2004)
• Women's Reproductive Health Rights (2000)
• Discriminatory Norms and Applications (summary)
• The Functions of Family Arbitrators under the Ethiopian Civil Code (1997)