The Impact of Rural womens Employment on Their empowerment as Household Level The case of Sebeta Hawas Woreda Central oromia Ethiopia

Abstract

Women’s participation in economic activities is considered as a vital factor for
ensuring sustainable development. Accordingly, the Ethiopian government has
enacted different policy measures which give due emphasis to enhancing
women’s employment opportunities in its effort to alleviate poverty. Such
policy measures are also believed to redress gender inequality within
households and the society at large. This paper attempts to analyse the impacts
of wage employment and selfemployment on wives’ household decision
making power in their marital life based on the data generated from a rural
community in Central Oromia, Ethiopia. The study employed mixed research
methods. A survey was conducted to collect quantitative information from 555
currently married women residing in five sample  in the study area.
Propensity score matching method was used to estimate the effect of women’s
wage employment and selfemployment on their decisionmaking power. The
quantitative results were substantiated using the qualitative data collected
using indepth interviews, focus group discussions, and key informant
interviews, which were analysed using constant thematic analysis. As argued
in the theory of resources in cultural context, the results reveal that,
irrespective of employment category, employment fails to positively affect the
wives’ household decisionmaking power. The paper, in general, argues that it
is crucial to give due attention to the role of a web of power structures (socio
cultural, economic, and political) in order to effectively ensure women’s
empowerment and address gender inequality in the country.