To achieve Sustainable Development Goal 5 for gender equality by 2030, it is crucial for health and development professionals and governmental officials to understand how legal systems empower or oppress populations on the basis of gender worldwide, including opportunities and challenges of statutory provisions created by legal pluralism. Using Ethiopia as a case study, this paper examines how local laws applied in Sharia and Customary Dispute Resolution courts impact gender equality and the health of women and girls inspite of the inculcation of human rights statutes into national legislation, including the Constitution. We identify several key issues with the substantive law and its enforcement. First, laws which have been instituted at the national level to improve gender equally have been poorly enforced at the local level. Second, there is a sustained enforcement of laws that oppress women and that protect male perpetrators of gender-based violations. Third, local courts limit female representation and uphold patriarchy. To improve the health of women and girls, stakeholders must take into consideration the ways in which legal systems uphold harmful gender norms and obstruct and/or advance progress towards equal representation, opportunities, and constitutionally-mandated protections for all.
Keywords: Gender equality; child marriage; female genital cutting; female genital mutilation; humad rights.