World Bank chief condemns treatment of women in Ethiopia

By ANTHONY MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Oct 17, 2004 (AP) — Violent treatment of women in Ethiopia and denial of development opportunities for them “is a national disgrace,” World Bank chief James Wolfensohn said Sunday.

Ethiopian women often are victims of female genital mutilation and bear the brunt of poverty, poor health care and lack of education. More than 70 percent of marriages in the country are by abduction, the National Committee on Traditional Practices of Ethiopia says.

“I think the violence against women is a national disgrace and I think opportunities for women need to be enriched considerably,” Wolfensohn told reporters at the end of a four-day visit to the Horn of Africa nation.

Only six percent of women are literate, fewer than six percent can expect to receive skilled help during childbirth and one percent will die while giving birth, said the United Nations Children’s Fund. Seventy percent of women in Ethiopia have also been victims of female circumcision, a cultural practice that is outlawed in the West.

Although women are the majority in Ethiopia, 20 percent more boys than girls attend school.

Wolfensohn said he was appalled by domestic violence targeting women.

“It is crazy to try and develop the country without half the population and when they do all the work beat them up,” Wolfensohn said.

Ethiopia has introduced tough laws to protect women.

“But it is not going to be carried through unless there is a societal change,” Wolfensohn said. “Women will be too scared to take advantage of laws that are on the books particularly if they can be divorced and left with nothing.”