Impact of Gender Roles on Women Involvement in Functional Adult Literacy in Ethiopia: a Review

Currently in Ethiopia the incumbent government is working towards boosting the involvement of women in various development programs. In this regard, in its effort to enhance their involvement, the government and its stakeholders are confronting with deep rooted and unhealthy stereotypes towards women that have been there with the community for centuries. The purpose of this work is then intended to provide a review on the impact of gender roles on women involvement in Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) in Ethiopia by bringing national and international studies as background information. Specifically, the purposes of the paper are to enhance understanding on the status of women involvement in FAL, point out the major factors that hinder their participation and suggest possible intervention mechanism in Ethiopia. This paper attempted to critically review contemporary views on issues that entangled women’s participation and argues that there are lots of assignments that all concerned bodies are supposed to accomplish. This paper contended women who grew up having the same gender role expectations and behaviours as men are confident and develop positive self-concept about themselves than those who grew up having roles and behaviours different from that of men. It was also argued that the gender roles of women have implication for their participation in education in general and in functional adult literacy in particular. As many educators underlined the gender role of women and how they were socialized towards these make them think that they are appropriate only at home and hence reluctant to be enrolled in the school, less expectant of success and choose those subjects which either provide them the opportunity to fulfil or are consistent with their self-image. From the arguments among educators, it can be concluded that governmental and non-governmental, national and international groups, should rethink on these socio-cultural factors which result in limited role of women and boost their efforts on how to eliminate the negative perceptions held among people. Hence, to lift the government’s attempts and accomplish remaining tasks, organized and painstaking efforts are needed to promote women’s all rounded participation in social,