Unit Four

4. Marginalized, Minorities, and Vulnerable Groups

4.1 Definition of concepts
What is marginalization? Is defined as:-

 A treatment of a person or social group as minor, insignificant or

peripheral /outer/.
 Marginalization involves exclusion of certain groups from social
interactions, marriage relations, sharing food and drinks, and working and
living together.

Who are mostly marginalized?

There are marginalized social groups in every society and culture; like
 Women,
 Children,
 Older people and
 People with disabilities are among marginalized groups across the world
 Religious, ethnic, and racial minorities are also among social groups
marginalized in different societies and cultures.
However, the nature and level of marginalization varies from society to society as
a result of cultural diversity.
E g . Crafts workers such as tanners, potters, and ironsmiths are marginalized in
many parts of Ethiopia.
What is vulnerability?

 Vulnerability refers to the state of being exposed to physical or

emotional injuries.
  Vulnerable groups are people exposed to possibilities of attack, harms or
mistreatment.
 As a result, vulnerable persons/groups need special attention, protection and
support.

For example, children and people with disabilities need special support and
protection as they are exposed to risks and neglect because of their age and
disabilities.

Minority groups

The phrase ‘minority group’ refers to a small group of people within a

community, region, or country. In most cases, minority groups are different
from the majority population in terms of race, religion, ethnicity, and language.

For example,

Black Americans are minorities in the United States of America

Christians could be minorities in a Muslim majority country
Muslims can be minorities in a predominantly Hindu society

Hence, minority groups can be ethnic minorities, religious minorities, or racial

minorities in a given community, region of country. There are different forms of
marginalization. The minority groups are most of the time marginalized and they
are vulnerable.

4.2 Gender-based marginalization

Gender-based marginalization is a global problem. It involves exclusion of girls
and women from a wide range of opportunities and social services.
Gender inequality:
 Involves discrimination on a group of people based on their gender
 Gender inequality mainly arises from socio-cultural norms
 The manifestations of gender inequality vary from culture to culture
 Girls and women face negative discrimination in societies across the world
 Women are exposed to social and economic inequalities involving unfair
distribution of wealth, income and job opportunities
Example: A gender disparity in education
Girls in developing countries, especially those who live in remote and rural areas,
are excluded from formal education.
 The enrollment of girls in higher education is much lower than that of boys.
 Because of this, Women do not enjoy equal employment opportunities
 They do not have equal rights in terms of property ownership and inheritance
Women and girls are also vulnerable to gender-based violence, l i k e
 Rape,
 Early/child marriage,
 Abduction/forced marriage,
 Domestic violence and
 Female genital cutting/mutilation
There are some customary practices that affect the health and wellbeing of
girls and women. This is called harmful traditional practices (HTPs) :-
(Female genital cutting/mutilation (highly practiced in Ethiopia) and Early/child
marriage,
Female genital cutting
Female genital cutting (FGC) is practiced in 28 countries in western, northern and
eastern Africa.
The prevalence of FGC is very high in:

 Somali (98%)
 Djibouti (93%)
 Egypt (87%)
 Sudan (87%)
 Eritrea (83%)
Ethiopia is one of the high prevalence countries in Africa. According to recent
reports, 65% of girls and women in 15 to 49 years age category are circumcised
(UNFPA & UNICEF, 2017).
According to Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey report, the
prevalence of FGC in Ethiopia varied from region to region.
 Somali (99%)
 Afar (91%)
 Harari (84%) are the three regions with very high prevalence of the
practice.
 Oromia (76%),
 Benishangul-Gumuz (63%),
 Amhara (62%)
 Southern, Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) regional states (62%)
The prevalence of the practice is also high in big cities such as Addis Ababa
(54%) and Dire Dawa (79%).
 The two regions with relatively low FGC prevalence are Tigray (24%) and
Gambella (33%).
Health impacts of female genital cutting
There are four major types of FGC. They are
o Type I (clitoridectomy),
 o Type II (excision)
o Type III (infibulation), and
o Type IV (all the rest)
Short term and long term implications for the health of girls and women
including:-
Severe bleeding,
Infections,
Pain during sexual intercourse,
Delivery complications and fistula.
The impacts also include psychological trauma.
Factors that encourage female genital cutting

The prevalence of FGC has been declining in Ethiopia. However, it is still practiced
in most of the regions in the country. The practice is sustained for some reasons:

1) People consider it as an integral part of their culture; and

2) People believe that the practice has some benefits.
The following are some of the beliefs related to the practice:
1. FGC is considered as a process of purifying girls. In some cultures
uncircumcised girls/women are considered as impure /contaminated/.
 According to local beliefs, marriage to uncircumcised girls would bring
misfortunes such as illness, infertility, and conflict.
 Hence, girls must be circumcised to be clean and ready for marriage
2. Uncircumcised girls would be disobedient, powerful and ill-mannered.
 In some parts of Ethiopia, people believe that uncircumcised girls
tend to destroy household utensils.
3. There is a widely held belief that uncircumcised girls are promiscuous
because they have high sexual drive.
 Some people believe that marriage to uncircumcised girls/women would
not be stable and long-lasting.
4. FGC is also considered as a means of preserving girls’ virginity,
 Which is considered as a precondition for marriage in some cultures

Female genital cutting is sustained is enforced by social expectations and norms.

Girls and parents who decide to abandon the practice would be subject to social
sanctions.

The following are examples:

 Social exclusion and marginalization: Community members would exclude

uncut girls and women from a wide range of social relations and interactions.
 Gossip and insult (sidib): community members, including peer groups, boys,
women and men, put pressure on uncircumcised girls and their parents
through gossiping and insulting.
 In some parts of Ethiopia, men do not marry uncircumcised girls. As a
result, uncircumcised girls are excluded from marriage opportunities
and love relationships.
 In some parts of the country, people do not eat food cooked by
uncircumcised girls. Uncircumcised girls/women are not also allowed to
join other people for prayer. This is because uncut girls are labeled as impure.

4.3 Marginalized occupational groups

According to anthropological findings, there are occupationally marginalized
groups in many parts of Ethiopia. Marginalized occupational groups in our
country:
 Tanners:- A craftsman who tans skins and hides
 Potters:- A craftsman who shapes pottery on a potter's wheel and bakes them
in a kiln
 Weavers: - A c r a f t s m a n w h o w e a v e s c l o t h
 Ironsmiths:-
These craft-workers have different names in different parts of the country.
Craft-workers such as potters and tanners are considered as impure and excluded
from social interactions, ownership of economic resources (e.g., land), and
participation in associations and celebrations.

 Marginalized occupation groups are people engaged in craftworks such as

pottery, tannery, and iron works.
 Craft-workers in Ethiopia produce several articles such as traditional hand-
woven clothes, household utensils (tools) (e.g., knives and axes) and
farm tools.

They have important contributions to their communities; however, they are

marginalized by the dominant and majority groups.

For examples:

Weavers produce cultural clothes highly demanded by thousands and millions of

people. Many people use cultural clothes during:

 annual celebrations,
 religious holidays,
 weddings,
 culture days,
 mourning

Ironsmiths are among occupational groups marginalized in many cultural setting in

Ethiopia. Ironsmiths make and repair iron articles without using machines. They
contribute a lot especially in rural areas. L i k e : -
 Farming tools such as plough shares, sickles, and hoes.
Tanners make leather products and also Potters produce pottery articles essential
for food processing and serving and fetching water.

 Despite their contributions, these craft-workers are considered inferior and

marginalized from wide areas of social interactions.

Dena Freeman and Alula Pankhurst (2001), well-known anthropologists,

identified different forms of marginalization targeting minority occupational
groups. Some of them are summarized in the following table.
Types and manifestations of marginalization of craft-workers
Type of Manifestations of marginalization
marginalization
Spatial -workers settle/live on the outskirts of villages, near to forests, on
Marginalization poor land, around steep slopes.
market places (they sell their goods at the
outskirts of markets).
they are expected to give way for
others and walk on the lower side of the road.
Economic -workers are excluded from certain economic activities including
Marginalization production and exchanges. In some cultures they are not allowed
to cultivate crops.
have a limited access to land and land ownership.
Social -workers are excluded from intermarriage, they do not share
Marginalization burial places with others; they are excluded from membership of
Associations such as iddirs.
participate in social events,
they must sit on the floor separately-sometimes outside the house or
near the door.
Cultural Cultural marginalization is manifested in negative stereotyping such as the
Marginalization following:
Occupational minorities are labeled as impure and polluting; they
Are accused of eating animals that have died without being slaughtered;
Occupational minorities are also considered unreliable, lacking morality,
respect and shame.

Source: Alula Pankhurst and Getachew Assefa (2008)

4.4 Age-based vulnerability
Age-based vulnerability is susceptibility /weakness/ of people, especially
children and older people, to different forms of attack, physical injuries and
emotional harms.
For example,
 Children and older people (people aged 60 and above) are exposed to
possibilities of attack, harm and mistreatment because of their age.
 So that, vulnerable persons/groups need special attention, protection and
support.
4.4.1 Children: Discrimination/vulnerability
Children are among vulnerable groups exposed to harm because of their age.
Both boys and girls are exposed to some harm and abuse in the hands of
older people.
However, girls are exposed to double marginalization and discrimination
because of the gender.
Child girls are exposed to various kinds of harm before they reach at the
age of maturity.
Example of child girls vulnerability /discrimination/

Early/child marriage: Early marriage refers to marriage which involves girls

below the age of 18.

The prevalence of early marriage is declining in Ethiopia and other African

countries. However, it is still widely practiced in different regions of
Ethiopia.
Early marriage has the following major harmful consequences:

 Young girls enter into marital relation when they are too young to give their
consent to get married.
 Early marriage inhibits girls' personal development; it hinders girls’ chance
to education and future professional development.
 Early marriage exposes young girls to sexual abuse by their older husbands.
 Early marriage leads to early pregnancies, which increases risks of diseases and
complications during delivery, fistula, and death of the mother or child.

Factors encouraging early marriage:

Social norms and economic factors are the two major drivers of the
practice
A) Social norms:

Social norms contribute a lot for the continuation of early marriage in many
parts of the world.

 Chastity of girls is one of the social norms that influence parents and
relatives to protecting girls from pre-marital sex.
 The value attached to virginity is another driver of early marriage.
 Community members influence unmarried teen-age girls to get married as
early as possible. They do this through social pressure including insulting
unmarried young girls. Komoker, an Amharic term, is the widely used
insult to ridicule girls considered to be late to get married.

Economic factors:

In many areas of Ethiopia marriage provides economic security for young girls.
Hence, parents, in some cases girls, support early marriage for economic benefits
such as access to land and other resources. Parents’ desire to get a good husband
for their daughter is also another reason.

4.4.2 Marginalization of older persons

 Age- based marginalization also affects older people.

 The phrase ‘older people’ refers to adults with the age of 60 and above.
 The number of older people is increasing globally.
 According to the estimation of the United Nations (2009), the number of
older people will increase to 2 billion by 2050.
 Eighty percent of the 2 billion older persons would live in low and middle-
income countries.
 This means Africa would have a large number of older adults after 30
years.
 Ethiopia, the second populous country in Africa, would also have millions
of older persons after three decades.

People’s attitude towards older persons is changing over time in Ethiopia and all
over the world.

 Older men and women have been respected across Ethiopian cultures.
 Older persons have been considered as custodians of tradition, culture, and
history.

The role of older persons crucial in:-

 Mentoring younger people,

 Resolving disputes and
 Restoring peace across Ethiopian cultures.
Rural-urban migration, changes in values and life style, education and new
employment opportunities lead to so many changes.

 Care and support for older people tend to decline as younger people
migrate to urban areas and exposed to economic pressure and new life
styles.

Ageism is a widely observed social problem in the world.

Ageism refers to stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination against people based

on their age. Older women and men enjoyed a certain level of support and
respected in the past. This was true in many cultures of Ethiopia in the past
however; Things have been changing in recent times.

Older people are facing various problems as a result of:-

 Modernization,
 Globalization, and
 Urbanization.

Older people are exposed to social exclusion because of their lower social and
economic status. In most cases, older people are excluded from social, cultural,
political and economic interactions in their communities.

 Older persons are marginalized because they are considered as social

burden rather than social assets. Communities do not provide older
persons with opportunities to contribute to their communities.
4.5. Religious and ethnic minorities

Religious and ethnic minorities groups face different forms of marginalization.

There are several examples of marginalization and discrimination targeting
religious and ethnic minorities in the world.

Examples:-

1. Jewish People

The Jewish people suffered from discrimination and persecution in different parts
of the world. They were targets of extermination in Germany and other
Western European countries because of their identity. Ethnic Minority

2. Muslim Rohingyas

Muslim Rohingyas are among the most marginalized and persecuted people in the
world. According to Abdu Hasnat Milton et al (2017):-

 The Rohingya are ‘one of the most ill-treated and persecuted refugee groups
in the world’. In recent years, more than half-a-million Rohingyas fled
from their homes in Nyanmar to neighboring countries such as
Bangladesh.
 As people living in refugee camps, the Rohingyas are vulnerable to
problems such as malnutrition and physical and sexual abuse.

There is marginalization and vulnerability throughout the world but the level of
the problem varies in different contexts, religious and ethnic minorities face
different forms of discrimination in many parts of the world
4.6. Human right approaches and inclusiveness: Anthropological perspectives

 All forms of marginalization and discrimination against vulnerable and

minority groups contradict the principles of human rights.
The major human rights conventions criticize discrimination against women,
children, people with disability, older people and other minority and vulnerable
groups.
 People with disabilities have the right to inclusive services and equal
opportunities.
 The human rights of women and girls include right to be free from harmful
traditional practices such as forced marriage, early marriage, and female
genital cutting.
 Any form of discrimination, exclusion, and gender-based violence also
violate the human rights girls and women.
Anthropological perspectives

 Anthropology appreciates cultural diversity and commonality (Cultural

relativism).
 It is one of the guiding principles in social anthropology.
 It is about the importance of understanding the values, norms, customs
and practices of a particular culture in its own context.
 It also requires avoiding value judgments such as saying ‘this custom is
backward or primitive’.

Anthropologists do not support/appreciate cultural practices that

violate the rights and wellbeing of individuals and groups.

For example, anthropologists do not support the following harmful practices

in the name of cultural relativism:

Female genital cutting (FGC):

 Anthropologists do not support FGC for practical reasons:
 FGC violates the rights of girls to physical integrity.
 It has short and long term consequences for the health of girls and women.
Early/child marriage:
 Anthropologists do not support early marriage for similar reasons:
 Early marriage violates the rights of young girls to make decision about their
future.
 It destroys their chance to education, and personal and professional
development.
 Early marriage negatively affects their physical and psychological
wellbeing.