ABSTRACT
The connections between poverty, illiteracy, powerlessness, and gender are aptly illustrated in Ethiopia where over 73% of the country’s women are illiterate and the vast majority earn an annual income of less than $100 (U.S.)(FDRE & UNICEF, 2001). Schools are few and far between, and often lack even the basics of water, toilets, books, chairs, and tables, Girls often are kept out of school by parents who need their income producing labor, or out of fear that their daughters will be assaulted going to and from school or even within the school itself. The inaccessibility of basic education keeps women caught in a poverty trap. Though technical, vocational education, and training (TVET) provides one means for escaping that trap, only 20% of TVET students are female (FDRE & UNICEF, 2001). This chapter analyzes TVET as a means of increasing the health of Ethiopia’s economy and improving the status of women. The first part provides demographic information about Ethiopia. The second discusses the current status of women in the country and is followed by a section on women’s relationship to the government. The fourth part provides a summary of Ethiopian education and its problems. Next is an overview of the development of
TVET in Ethiopia followed by a discussion of problems in achieving accessible, gender-fair, and useful vocational and technical learning opportunities. The conclusion discusses some of the policy issues surrounding gender and TVET that merit further discussion.
