This gender assessment considers (1) the general context of women and gender issues in Eritrea, including how gender issues are enshrined in law and legal codes and thereby impact political participation and education; (2) the health situation and constraints for women and girls in terms of reproductive health and HIV/AIDS; (3) gender issues relating to economic growth and income generation in terms of rural and urban enterprise development; (4) studies of female demobilized soldiers; and (5) how the Mission can take a cross-cutting approach to gender equity and increased participation of women in its funding, management, monitoring, and evaluation.

At USAID/Eritrea's request, the WIDTECH project provided a social scientist with expertise in gender and microenterprise development to review USAID/Eritrea's Investment Objective on human capacity development and develop recommendations for activities that the USAID/Eritrea mission could undertake to enhance women's participation in the workforce, with a focus on the microenterprise sector. The first part of this report describes and analyzes the role of women in Eritrea with regard to both the microenterprise sector and the formal economy and then identifies major issues involved in the economic empowerment of women in Eritrea. The second part of the report proposes a USAID program that could support female microentrepreneurs and workers and contribute to the development of information and awareness on gender issues.