Challenges and Opportunities of Women Empowerment in Leadership Position in Ethiopia

Today businesses are proving quite challenging, yet ever evolving, with the advancement of technology, innovative opportunities and complex global interactions. These challenges require diverse approaches in terms of perspectives and experiences; this entails recognizing the importance of including more women in leadership positions and roles. It is universally accepted truth that women are the base and fuel for the overall development of a country but their involvement in leadership position is low. Hence, the purpose of this review paper was to examine the challenges and opportunities for Women Empowerment in Leadership Position in Ethiopia. By its methodological approach, this review is considered to be a narrative review since the reviewer summarized the findings of empirical research which were conducted in different parts of Ethiopia, and a total of 13 research findings were reviewed. The findings from these studies revealed that, lack of academic qualification, gender stereotyping, over burden of domestic responsibility, lack of confidence, lack of support at home and work place, religious practice, lack of experience are the main factors that hindered women’s empowerment in leadership position in Ethiopia. Moreover, the results from the review also identified the affirmative action, better institutional policy, the development of women’s affairs at different level, gender policy strategies, training and developing different software are major prospects of women empowerment in leadership position in Ethiopia. Keywords: challenges, opportunities, women empowerment in leadership, Ethiopia. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-13-04 Publication date:May 31st 2019