Measures to Promote and Protect the Rights of Women 228 The 1993 Ethiopian National Policy on Women - the guiding principle for the advancement of women, gender equality, incorporating directives for those involved in women’s issues to translate instruments of equal rights into reality notes that Ethiopian women are actively involved in all aspects of their society’s life. Women are both producers and procreators and they are also active participants in the social, political, and cultural activities of their communities. However, their varied and important roles have not always been recognised. Discriminatory political, economic, and social rules and regulations prevailing in Ethiopia have barred women from enjoying the fruits of their labour. Without equal opportunities, they have lagged behind men in all fields of self-advancement. 229 Proportionally, women make up a larger group of the labour force in various economic sectors. Economic development is unthinkable without women’s participation. However, because their participation in the economy has not been calculated and valued, Ethiopian women have not received their fair share of the nation’s wealth. 230 Therefore, the main National Policy objectives are: • To facilitate conditions conducive to speeding up equality between men and women so that women can participate in the political, social, and economic life of their country on equal terms with men, ensuring that their right to own property as well as their other human rights are respected. They should not be excluded from enjoying the fruits of their labour or from performing public functions and being decision makers; • To facilitate necessary conditions whereby rural women can have access to basic social services, and to ways and means of lightening their workload; and, • To gradually eliminate prejudices as well as customary and other practices based on the idea of male supremacy, and to enable women to hold public office and participate in decision making processes at all levels. 231 Apart from the National Policy on Women, the CRM was told that government developed two women’s initiatives - the Development Initiative Project and the Ethiopian Women’s Development Fund - to address Ethiopian women’s economic poverty, vulnerability and dependency. The Development Initiative is a grass-roots project with the main objective of addressing the gender dimension of poverty and providing women with sustainable economic ability and marketable skills. The Women’s Development Fund is a joint government and non-governmental - 108 -