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Ethiopian legislators have appointed the country's first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde. The position is ceremonial in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's spokesman described the move as "historic" and said it showed that women would play a key role in Ethiopian politics.
The appointment of Sahle-Work on Thursday follows Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's reorganization of the cabinet, which has allowed women to hold 50 percent of the government's highest cabinet positions.
And women now hold 37 percent of the seats in parliament in Ethiopia, nearly twice as many women as the US Congress.
Never before have Ethiopian women held so many positions of responsibility in the government.
But sharp gender disparities persist in the country and it is unclear how improved representation within the federal government will affect the status of more than 50 million women and girls in Ethiopia.
After being sworn in on Thursday, Sahle-Work said women needed to play a vital role in addressing the biggest challenges facing society in Ethiopia and beyond. "If the reforms we have undertaken are carried out equally by men and women, the country will soon forget about poverty and backwardness and move towards prosperity," she said.
New Minister of Defense: not only symbolic gestures
The women of the new Ethiopian Cabinet combine decades of government experience in their posts. Many had previously held lower-level ministerial positions, and most had advanced degrees in areas such as accounting, organizational leadership, law, and gender studies.
Ethiopia's new Minister of Defense, Aisha Mohammed, is the first woman to hold the position.
Born in Berhale, northern Ethiopia, in northern Ethiopia, Aisha studied civil engineering and held leadership positions for several years before becoming Minister of Construction alongside the Minister of Culture. and Tourism. She has also earned a graduate degree in Transformational Leadership and Change.
Aisha rejected the idea that new appointments are merely symbolic or replace only deeper reforms. "All women appointed to the post of minister have both training and experience," she told VOA's Amharic Service. "We are weighed in the same way as men," she added.
Gender fracture
Despite recent political progress, Ethiopian women face systemic inequalities. In 2017, Ethiopia ranked 121 out of 160 countries on the basis of a gender equality index that took into account various social, health and political factors.
Divergences begin early and persist in the lives of many Ethiopian women. Rates of female genital mutilation remain high: 74% of girls and women aged 15 to 49 are victims of FGM, according to UNICEF. Child marriage is widespread: 58% of women marry before the age of 18.
Nearly twice as many men as women over 25 have completed high school. And 88% of men over the age of 15 are in the labor force, compared to 77% of women.
Overall, gender inequalities appear to be narrowing, according to national surveys, but significant gaps remain.
"Half of humanity"
Sahle-Work began her career as a diplomat as ambassador of Ethiopia to Senegal, Djibouti and France.
She recently worked for the United Nations, where she became Special Representative to the African Union and Head of the US Office to the African Union in June, making her the first woman to hold office. this post.
On International Women's Day in March, Sahle-Work touched on the role of women in carrying out the US mission to eliminate poverty, hunger and other major issues that could be addressed to solve in his new role.
"We can not achieve the 17 goals of sustainable development without the full participation of half of humanity," said Sahle-Work. "So today, gender equality and women's empowerment are at the heart of our business and should be at the heart of it."
