Ethiopia's New Leader Promotes Women to High Office

By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

Abiy Ahmed, the new prime minister of Ethiopia, has accelerated a radical reform programme that is overturning politics in the vast and strategically significant East African country.

Since coming to power as prime minister in April, the 42-year-old has fired formerly untouchable civil servants, made peace with hostile Eritrea, lifted bans on websites and other media, and released thousands of political prisoners.

He also invited back exiled opposition leaders, ordered the partial privatisation of massive state-owned companies, and ended a state of emergency imposed to quell widespread unrest.

Abiy is chair of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of four parties which has been in power since 1991.

But he is its first leader from the country’s largest ethnic community, the Oromo, who have complained for decades of economic, cultural and political marginalisation.

Abiy was born to a Muslim Oromo father and an Orthodox Christian Amhara mother; the Amhara were Ethiopia’s long-time rulers. He is a devout Pentecostal Christian and has broadened political participation to underprivileged groups.

Analysts say Abiy’s mixed Christian and Muslim background, and fluency in three of the country’s main languages allow the new leader to bridge communal and sectarian divides. 

He has also reached out to women. Last October, he appointed a new cabinet that is half female, in an unprecedented push for gender parity in Africa’s second-most-populous nation.

Women now occupy the top security posts for the first time in Ethiopia’s history. Aisha Mohammed is in charge of defence, and Muferiat Kamil, a former parliamentary speaker, heads the newly formed Ministry of Peace.

She aims to tackle the widespread ethnic unrest that has erupted in the country since the easing of authoritarian control.

Women also head the ministries of trade, transport and labour, as well as culture, science and revenue.

“It is a very important and progressive move on the part of the prime minister and very consistent with the transformative agendas he’s been pursuing,” stated Awol Allo, an expert on Ethi­o­pia at Britain’s Keele University.

Also in October, Ethiopia’s parliament approved the country’s first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde.

Sahle-Work was previously the special representative of the UN secretary general to the African Union. Before that, she headed the UN’s Nairobi office with the rank of undersecretary general.

She has emphasized the importance of respecting women and the need to build a “society that rejects the oppression of women.”

In November, the country’s parliament installed as Supreme Court president a women’s rights activist. 

Meaza Ashenafi was a judge on Ethiopia’s High Court from 1989 to 1992 and then an adviser to a commission writing its new constitution. She also founded the Ethio­pian Women Lawyers Association and helped start the first women’s bank in the country.

Abiy said she would improve the court’s ability to implement reform in the country and the demands of justice and democracy.

“All these developments are exciting, but it is something that’s happening up top,” cautioned Blen Sahilu, a lawyer and women’s rights activist.

“In order for the shift to happen at a grass-roots level, the work is going to take years.” She pointed to factors such as widespread teen marriage and the lack of access to secondary education that hold women back.

“We have very progressive laws for gender equality enshrined in the constitution,” remarked Ellen Alem, a gender and development specialist at UNICEF Ethiopia. “The problem is in translating those to reality.”

Of course there is realpolitik involved in these reforms. Ethiopia’s rulers have been shaken by two years of anti-government unrest. Expanding women’s cabinet representation has been one of Abiy’s first moves. 

He recognizes that women’s political support can help him mobilize voters and help solidify the EPRDF’s  hold on power. And women will supply loyal female politicians to fill parliamentary and cabinet posts.