Among the population above the age of 15, 69 percent of men are employed but only 16 percent of women are. And if 39 percent of men have never received any education, that figure is 52 percent for women, according to a 2002 study by the Eritrea Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS).
"Many women in the rural areas are illiterate and have health problems," Rosa Kiflemariam, a project officer at the National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW), said.
The Union, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, has more than 200,000 members, she added.
In all, Eritrean women compose a shade more than half of the country's 4 million inhabitants, according to the government.
The fertility rate, which is often used as a development indicator, is 4.8 children per woman, according to the EDHS.
In 1995, it was 6.1, which represents a decrease of 21 percent.
"We are also fighting female circumcision," stressed Kiflemariam.
"But it is difficult to obtain great progress in a short time. Circumcision is a traditional and religious custom. Muslims and Christians do it, especially in the rural areas."
According to the 2002 EDHS, 89 percent of women in Eritrea have undergone genital mutilation, a fall of 6 percent compared to the figure for 1995.
In the political arena the Eritrean government has nearly 20 ministers, and only three, those of justice, labor and tourism, are women.
"We cannot claim the NUEW has achieved all its set objectives," recognized the organization's president, Luul Gebreab, on the website of the only political party in Eritrea, the People's Front for Democracy and Justice.
In Eritrea men often say they respect women because they represented one-third, according to Asmara, of those who fought in the country's 30-year (1961-91) war of independence with Ethiopia.
Photographs of women soldiers killed during the struggle take up an important part of the exhibition in Asmara celebrating the 25 years of the NUEW.
© 2004 Agence France-Presse
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