A Challenge on Women Empowerment : The case of private house rent problem for women in Kirkos and Ledeta sub-cities, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

In Ethiopia, Empowering women could generally be said as enabling women to develop in every aspect they could be advanced in a way to advance their own life and the society. Attitudinal and cultural barriers are affecting women not to be competent enough with men. This research addresses the influence of this attitudinal barrier which is extended to be hurdle to have free access to house for women in the research area. Thinking that women are more in to household chores by cooking and washing to their family,most house lessors in the selected sub cities deny letting their house to rent for women and young girls. Their main reason is the sharing of spaces, resources such as water, electric power and materials by the women lessee’s activity in the compound. This problem is gauged by findings from private lessors, women lessees, local brokers and government officers in the respective woredas in Addis Abeba. The samples were selected based on purposive data collection method. The analyzed data showed that a significant amount of private lessors would prefer to hire their house for men than women. The finding also shows the attitudinal set up from lessors is highly affecting women’s access to house rent in the selected woredas. When a Women faces problem of renting a house, her determination to develop herself through self-choice will be highly challenged and this impedes empowerment. This research also comes up with recommendations to limit the founded gap by awareness campaigns to the lessors by government side on the woreda level. Also empowering the woreda administration to have a data base and an overseeing mechanism for private lessors in their domain to follow up the circumstances is recommended as a means to avoid such discrimination against women.