Towards a Gender-Just Society

A social democratic and gender justice approach to transformation needs to consider the different dimensions of justice. These include questions related to a socially just economic distribution of resources as well as questions related to a just recognition of barriers to political participation based on gender, sexual orientation, or social location. Only when considering intersectionality and jointly addressing the various dimensions of justice can the conditions for a ‘parity of participation’ be established. Parity of participation is achieved when the social arrangements permit all members of society to interact and democratically deliberate with one another as peers are established, which is a necessary condition for the emergence of social and gender justice.

By this, our work on gender justice aims at removing the limitations women face in the political, social, and economic systems. FES strives towards equal and active participation of women not only in our activities, but also in our work with partners on alliance and partnership building.

Equal participation, gender justice, and transformation go hand in hand with Ethiopia’s national development strategy plan. FES closely works with feminist CSOs, government institutions, think tanks, academia, and trade unions to support this transformation of political, social, and economic structures as well as the creation of conditions for transformative change. In this regard, FES has supported efforts for an inclusive National Dialogue, gender-sensitive political debates, policy dialogues on feminism and gender justice as well as projects to reform Ethiopia in line with women’s demands and a gender-sensitive view. FES engages also engages with relevant stakeholders to create tripartite dialogue discussions between employers, employees, and the government institution to combat gender inequality, supports its partners in building knowledge around matters related to gender-justice and engages in supporting organizations in their struggle for women’s rights.

In doing so, FES Ethiopia is working with various partners in different projects by utilizing a social-democratic and gender-just approach to transformation to address challenges based on gender.