A project in Ethiopia’s leather industry is showing how genuine action on gender equality can bring real change for women and youth. The Leather Initiative for Sustainable Employment Creation (LISEC), supported by UNIDO, recently received the highest possible evaluation score for gender mainstreaming.
Eyerusalem Damtie, Women and Children Affairs Executive at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Industry, explained why this mattered.
“We want to be involved from the beginning. We do not support tick-in-the-box approaches to gender mainstreaming. We need to see that the project will have a meaningful impact on women’s lives in order to get involved.”
Eyerusalem Damtie, Women and Children Affairs Executive, Ministry of Industry
The program was launched in Modjo city, one of Ethiopia’s major leather hubs, and within 100 km around it. The aim was to fight high unemployment rates among women and youth while preventing them from leaving their communities to find work elsewhere.
The project followed a twin-track approach that combined targeted actions for women’s empowerment with integrating gender concerns across all activities.
A detailed gender analysis carried out with 192 employees, including 134 women, uncovered the main barriers.
These included cultural beliefs that limit job opportunities, lack of women in leadership roles, poor access to training and finance, heavy domestic responsibilities, weak reporting systems for workplace safety and gender-based violence, and limited access to sexual and reproductive health information.
From this study came six major recommendations, such as boosting women’s promotion and retention, creating family-friendly workplaces, and preventing gender-based violence. These points formed the foundation of the Gender Action Plan.
The project then rolled out targeted measures like awareness campaigns, childcare support, maternity and paternity leave, and training in local languages.
At the same time, gender-sensitive policies were built into company operations, HR manuals, and industry regulations.
One example was Addis Ababa Abattoir Enterprise, which promoted women to 60% of department leadership roles, launched daycare services, and offered coaching programs.
With childcare and flexible breastfeeding breaks, women’s sick days almost disappeared. Opportunities for education and employment grew, and more women advanced to leadership positions.
Seventy women completed leadership and assertiveness training, while company gender offices and male gender champions created long-lasting support structures.
Support for small and medium-sized businesses was another success. Around 70% of targeted MSMEs were run by women.
Gender parity was also reached within the Ethiopian Leather Industry Association’s board, something that had never been achieved before.
The Ministry of Industry has now added the Gender Action Plan into its official annual strategy.
