GTD Colloquium with Lovise Aalen, on 13 March

Globalization, Transnationalism & Development Colloquium: ‘Women in the developmental state: Factory employment and political participation in Ethiopia’

Speaker: Lovise Aalen, Chr. Michelsen Institute

When: Wednesday 13 March, 15.30 – 17.00
Where: Spiegelzaal, GG 80-82 (Soiron building)

Abstract
Since 2000, Ethiopia has had the third highest annual economic growth rate globally (IMF 2017). The government, led by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) since 1991, aims for structural change of the largely agricultural economy. The plan is to make industry to be the leading sector by 2020, making Ethiopia a middle-income level economy by 2025. To this end, the government sees the potential of entry of women in the formal economy, stating that ‘unleashing the power of girls and women will have profound effect on the speed, equity and sustainability of Ethiopian growth and development’ (FDRE 2010).

In this presentation, the relationship between employment and political participation and interest in present-day Ethiopia will be discussed. Are employed Ethiopian women more active in the political domain as compared to those not employed? Research showing that there is strong correlation between increased female labour force participation and women’s political participation is essentially based on empirical data from Western, democratic and developed contexts. In this presentation, we discuss whether these conclusions hold for non-Western, non-democratic and developing settings too. Through a study of Ethiopian women’s factory employment and political agency, we find that employment is actually not significantly related to the level of women’s participation in local political meetings, and is negatively related to their interest in politics.

Dr. Lovise Aalen is Research Director at the Chr. Michelsen Institute. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Oslo. Throughout her academic career she has focused on African politics and has conducted research on inter alia ethnic conflict, federalism, elections and developmental state policies in Ethiopia as well as human rights, citizenships and identity in divided societies in general. She has led several long-term research projects on Ethiopia. Dr. Aalen has been the author and the co-author of an extensive list of publications, mostly focused on the Ethiopian democratization process, ethnic federalism, decentralisation, elections and power sharing in Sudan.

Upcoming GTD colloquia:

  • Wednesday 10 April: Isabella Geuskens (Women Peacemaker Program)
  • Wednesday 12 June: tba
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