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See More tasks ... page 2

See From empowerment... page 2

From empowerment to power

BY ELIZABETH MENGISTU

International Women’s Day (March 8), which Ethiopia has been marking for years, has had little impact in narrowing gender parity, according to a media professional and artists The Ethiopian Herald approached seeking their comments.

Ayalew Asres, a journalist, says that although the country has been celebrating the Day over the past four decades, it has not brought about tangible outcomes in the lives of women.

Ayalew said: “If empowerment had evolved in those years, we could have seen more women than now in the parliament and at ministerial and head of state levels; and substantive changes would have been achieved.”

Even these days, women’s participation in the economic, social and political spheres of the country lags far behind that of their

More tasks ahead

BY GENET FEKADE

In what is described as unprecedented and exemplary move towards narrowing gender parity, Ethiopia, few months ago pulled more women to the highest

and yet key government positions with cabinet ration reaching 50 percent. Now the country has first-ever women serving as FDRE

President with other women also presiding over the key Ethiopian National Electoral Board and

Supreme Court. Woman Minister of Defense

has also ascended to power, whichisthefirstinthehistoryofthe

country. Since coming to power, Prime Minister

Dr.Abiy Ahmed has been pushing aggressively towards gender equality picking women to

government compositions. Despite the dramatic achievement, there have been

some public concerns that women may face some challenges in handling such huge responsibility.

Why the fight must continue

BY STAFF REPORTER

A Sudanese delegation, who came to Ethiopia to emulate the best experiences of country’s conflict resolution practice, said that Sinke mothers’ dispute resolution practice has greater national role beyond solving conflicts.

This was revealed following the experience sharing tour of the Sudanese delegation and the feedback they gave to program’s coordinators.

In an exclusive interview with the Ethiopian Press Agency, Vice President of African Exporters’ President Engidaye Eshete, quoted the Sudanese delegation as saying

Sinke mothers’ peace practices crucial to solve conflicts:

Sudanese delegation

See Sinke mothers’ ... page 2

Special Edition

ECA chief says world loses trillions to gender inequality

BY FASICA BERHANE

ADDIS ABABA- “When you have women in positions of leadership, business does better and there’s more innovation, more value creation and more profit,” said VeraSongwe, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA).

Speaking at the launch of the Global Health 50/50 - 2019 Report - titled Equality Works - in Addis Ababa on the eve of the International Women’s Day, she said the world’s economy loses USD 160 trillion in wealth due to gender inequality.The report reveals that gender equality in the workplace is still far from being achieved, especially regarding gender leadership gap, gender policy gap and the gender pay gap in global health, as Economic Commission for Africa Communications Section reported.

Ms. Songwe further said political empowerment is one of the areas in which the least progress in closing gender gaps has been made, adding “And we know that policy and politicsarewheredecisionsthataffectwomenaremade.”

She pointed out that gender gap in health and survival has reduced by 96 percent. Meanwhile, in the areas of economic participation and education, progress in bridging gender gaps stands at 58 percent and 95 percent respectively.

The ECA Chief applauded the Global Health 50/50 Report as an advocacy initiative that advances action and accountability for gender equality in global health.

Citing a World Economic Forum report, Ms. Songwe said it will take Africa 102 years to close the gender gap and that globally, it

will take 217 years.On the occasion President Sahlework

Zewdie of Ethiopia commended the report for being data-rich and reader-friendly. She noted that the report’s findings, especially on paygap, are a clarion call to Sub-Saharan Africa where gender pay gap is 6% higher than the global average.

The President stated, however, that there’s some good news in Africa where “women are increasingly challenging these norms by claimingpositionsofpower.”

See ECA chief ... page 2

THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 8 MARCH 2019 PAGE 2

SPECIAL EDITION

A handful of African countries, she said, have some of the most gender equal parliaments in the world, adding that “besides Rwanda where more than 50 percent of MPs are women, we need to recognize progress in Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal and

Women judges preside over Supreme Court today

Just four months into their powers, scholars weigh on the performance of the strongest women of the country.

Dr. Constantinos Beruhtesfa, Former Senior Policy Advisor of the United Nations in New York says that empowering women has politically been global phenomena and Ethiopia has shown encouraging results.

‘‘When we talk about gender equality, it is not the question of workshop and conference. There must be real progress regarding women empowerment. Not only this, they should be empowered economically. As far as their performance is concerned, it is difficult to evaluate these women since they are four or five month in power. “We have to give them ample time. In addition, there are a policy changes and management styles.”

“But what we have to keep in mind is that these women are equally capable with the men they replaced. Even they are more qualified. The Premier’s selection was good in identifying a minister who fits the position,’’ he insisted.

The other thing, one has to take into consideration, is getting ministerial posts alone cannot transform the administration, Dr. Constantinos points out. Adding: ‘‘They need to support their job effectively. The state ministers,

the department heads, section heads, advisers, expertise and other stakeholders should support them to succeed. It needs team spirit.

The other important issue he raised is the policy environment where these ministers are working. ‘‘You can see that many of existing policies are changing. We know the Prime Minister has announced several improvements to legal frameworks, particularly in terms of globalizing the economy, making public service transparent and accountable.”

Kahisay Gebrehiwot, a Political Science and International Relation Lecturer at Axum University for his part states that the political system should give more room to women.

Gender equality is not an option it is a must. No matter what change comes or not, cabinet members should be gender balanced. The country’s political system is under reform. But it should not be connected with gender, he believes.

“We have to evaluate a person with his or her tangible contribution, integrity or commitment for his/her organization, society or country, but should not be evaluated based on gender.

Gender inequality is an international problem and Ethiopia is one of the countries, which have not ensured gender parity, he adds.

According to Firehiwot Tesema CEO of Aquarius Aviation, the negative attitude held by some people towards female ministers is not fair. It is wrong to think that women are incapable and would fail in handling senior public duties.

“We have seen that the Minister of Transport, Dagmawit Moges, and Minister of Revenue Adanech Abebe doing miracles in their sectors, just to mention but a few.”

Most, if not all, cabinet ministers are working beyond the call of duty.

The Women Children and Youth Minister led by Yalem Tsegay is also contributing its share in empowering women who want to engage in business, Firehiwot added.

Firehiwot says she expects same commitment and performance form other women officials serving at different positions.

“I believe women are very responsible and their tendency to corruption and brutality is very low. Their personality is the main driver for their success. Second, having clear time line for what they want to achieve in particular is also what makes their job successful,”

It is necessary to ensure gender parity in public positions, but what matters most is the capability of the women assigned on key posts in executing their tasks properly.

From empowerment...that Ethiopians experience conflicts, but the disputes has never sustained for long. The reason behind this, as to the delegation, is related to the deep-rooted conflict resolution culture of the community. “You are practicing your culture and harnessing it effectively as a means to sustain your peace.”

Most often conflicts arise in many places. However, it does not settle down or resolved easily. Thus Ethiopia’s practice in this regard, is a good lesson for Sudanese. “Not only that we want to learn it effectively, but we also will practice it,” said the President.

Specially, as the President indicated, the cultural practice of Sinke’s mothers has impressed the team members. “The culture can be adopted and used as a means to resolve African’s problem,” as they reflected their view.

Quoting Sudanese’ crew leader Prof. Mekey Hashbel, Engidaye further said that Ethiopia has its own good practices for resolving disputes culturally. The team, hence, would customize nation’s practice and will employ it at home to resolve disputes.

Woinshet Hailemariam, Women, Youth and Children Director with Ministry of Culture and Tourism, for her part, said that the crew,

Sinke mothers’ ...

ECA chief ...

ADDIS ABAB -Women judges preside over Federal Supreme Court to pass final verdict on cases relating to child as part of the marking of March 8, disclosed the Federal Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Public Relations Director Solomon Ejigu told Addis Zemen that nobody could be more close to children than women could. Thus, the court has picked five long-serving and experienced women judges to pass judgment on cases.

According to Solomon over 80 higher and first instance court judges and 80 students of law drawn from higher learning institutions will be attending the special proceeding.

Higher officials and other women participants will also attend. This will be a lesson for young women and serve as a model for women empowerment.

Solomon noted that the decision to select women to preside over the matter came in an effort to encourage women participation in every sector. “There is nothing new with the case but the message is clear which is to embolden participation.”

Women Peace Ambassadors promotes

peace across states

comprised of 25 women and two men, are satisfied with their stay here.

According to the Director, Sinke cultural conflict resolution mechanism has deep-rooted foundation. It averts disputes and promotes peace. This, in turn, would encourage development. Thus, it is vital to promote it.

Sinke Oromo women’s cultural conflict resolution mechanism is part and parcel of Oromo’s Geda System. The system has irreplaceable role in sustaining national peace. The reflections of Sudanese crew are the best testimony for this, as the Director stated.

Sinke is one of the cultural practices that women preserve their rights and freedom; and discharge their societal responsibilities accordingly. The system enables them to resolve a number of problems. Unfortunately, it is not well utilized.

Currently, Oromia Culture and Tourism Bureau, along with Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has been research on it so as to harness the values. As the system has vital role to sustain national peace, all concerned bodies should work to preserve and pass it on to generation.

The experience sharing tour was organized by the Ethiopian Women Exporters’ Association and Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

More tasks ...counterparts, he elaborated. Works should be done at grassroots

level in order to augment women’s political and economic participation, and enhance their contributions to national transformation, Ayalew recommended.

Rahel Shibabaw, a documentary filmmaker, for her part said that women comprise fifty percent of the total population, and envisioning development aspirations that ignores or excludes half of the population from participation is unviable.

“Commemorating the Day by itself does not yield the desired outcome.” Ensuring their equal engagement and active participation is of utmost importance, she underscored.

In fact, she said, currently the government has taken some tangible strides regarding women’s political empowerment. While this is encouraging, there are some areas it should seriously look into and take measures to empower them.

“Ethiopian women are industrious with a number of virtues like commitment, courage, kindness among others, even if these potentials are less emphasized. Therefore, let us focus on their

strengths and work to empower them,” Rahel remarked.

Agreeing with Rahel, Alem Getachew, a full time studio artist, also said that the government has made the most notable steps by assuming women at the highest and key leadership positions of the government. The appointment of the first ever Ethiopia’s women President, President Sahelwork Zewde is one of the top manifestations of its political commitment. In addition, this, certainly, would inspire many Ethiopian female students, and brighten their future.

However, this does not mean that females’ participation and engagement has reached at the desired level. Rather, it is much below the par, she said.

As to her, a number of women are still leading ‘the poorest of poor life’. To overcome these challenges, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, civic associations and the community at large should work hand in hand to promote economic development that benefits women, she opined,

Especially, due attention should be given for women with disability as their burden is twofold, Alem added.

South Africa where women hold 40% or more of the seats.”

The 2019 edition focuses on gender in the workplace. It reviews the gender-related policies and practices of about 200 organizations that are either active in global health or seek to influence it.

BY GENET FEKADE

ADDIS ABABA- Peace Ambassador Mothers met senior public officials and university students across all states and urged both to join forces for unity and peace.

Ministry of Peace Women Children and Youth Director told The Ethiopian Herald that their discussions with key government officials in all the states was a profound inspiration to the officials.

The mothers also offered advices to university students to refrain their hands from involving in any action that disrupts the peace and stability of the country. “Students as well vowed to pay their attention to their course works and to distance themselves from wrong doers.”

BY STAFF REPORTER

Mekides Estifanos is member of the Ambassadors. To her, their tour was a success story in that all people and groups they met accepted their words wholeheartedly.

“Our initiative has also been emulated by religious leaders and other community leaders.”

Aynuriya Abidulahi, also member of the Ambassadors, from Harari State said members of the team were worried by lack of peace in many places. However, they contributed their share in preaching the value of peace to various segments of the community, not to mention senior public officials.

The women’s role will further be intensified by increasing the number of participants, Abeba added .

BY STAFF REPORTER

ADDIS ABABA- A new system of recruitment and retention mechanisms will be designed to increase the participation of women in the Defense Forces, Defense Minister Aisha Mohammed hinted in an exclusive interview with Addis Zemen.

She said the Ministry will strengthen ways and means to enable women contribute their share in the defense sector.

“Gender trainings will be offered to help women tackle challenges they face.”

Mentioning that women leadership makes a tangible difference, she pledged to work hard for the modernization of the Forces. “There is plan to provide the Force with knowledge, skills and techniques as well as equipment that the modern time requires. In this case, as Minister I will work hard in looking for financial sources as well as in establishing functional system.”

“Women have to value themselves. At every position that women take, they ought to play an exemplary leadership role. Leadership indeed requires wisdom. Moreover, women’s wisdom is undisputable.”

Stressing the fact that members of the Defense Forces always are ready to sacrifice themselves to the sovereignty of the people and the country, the Minister

First ever women defense Minister vows to pull more women

said priority has been attached to live up to the Forces’ expectations in fulfilling their basic needs in addition to ensuring the well being of their family members at all times.

Defense Minister Aisha Mohammed

Alem Getachew Rahel Shibabaw

PAGE 3 FRIDAY 8 MARCH 2019

The Ethiopian HeraldEstablished in 1943

Published daily except MondaysBy The Ethiopian Press Agency

General Manager Tel. 011-126-42-22 Fax. 251-011-156-98-62

Advertisement and Dist. Department email:epapromotion@press.et

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Editor-in-Chief Kifle Worku email- kifle.worku@press.et Address- Kolfe Keranio Sub-city Woreda - 03 House No- --- Tel- +251 111 26 41 98

Women representation in Ethiopia can have dual narration. At higher level, women’s political participation was not rare. From the legendry Queen Sheba, to Empress Zewditu and Etege Taitu Betul, women took the helm of state offices.

The other daunting aspect is that women at grassroots are far from getting their deserved political and economic benefits.

Nowadays, there is visible improvement in the attitude of the society. Parents send their daughters to school, and there is relatively better environment at schools. Women leadership at schools, colleges and universities is encouraged more than ever. Hence, women participation at higher level has shown a marked increase over the last years.

Due to this, it has become common to see this segment of the community at all government level, in addition to their participation in the private sector.

To add to this, the new administration of Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed ushered women in the new era. His ardent decision in reforming his cabinet with fifty percent women, the taking of women public offices including Heads of State and President of Supreme Court and National Electoral Board are just to mention, but a few.

Women in Ethiopia have also remarkable representation at the legislature taking over 30 percent of the seats of the House of People’s Representatives.

Today, women have profound representation at the legislature, executive and judiciary, therefore. This is worth appreciable.

However, that does not mean the work is accomplished. We, women

Enhancing women’s participationhave a lot to work hard ahead of us. Particularly, when it comes to attitudinal issues, tough job is awaiting the women of Ethiopia.

Despite the improvement, most public positions are still in the men’s club. This is so not because of shortage of educated women in the job market. It rather is because of the existing of the daunting attitude towards women’s capability of engaging in all productive areas, in one hand.

In the other, the job environment is more of unfriendly to women. It is clear that women have double and triple responsibilities both at home and in the work place. Thus, the environment should take these responsibilities to consideration. Nowadays, just to cite, some public institutions are establishing daycare services. The work environment must see more innovative interventions like the daycare.

At some point legal and policy, provisions can help women to increase their participation. However, this is not always true. We women must organize ourselves and should work to turn adversities into opportunities.

Strong women organizations help our voices heard loud. There are in fact many women organizations but the thing is that these entities must support the women’s cause. They should fight attitudinal problems; they should shed light on the path women could travel. Otherwise, the organizations could only benefit few of their members and their impacts would be just futile.

The gains so far are worth appreciation. In addition, the tasks on the table equally need due attention from women themselves, government, private sector and the like. We need to build on the good practices while work to counter the daunting ones.

Africa’s women are rising to challenge gender discrimination

BY PRESIDENT SAHLEWORK ZEWDE

Across the continent, women are claiming positions of power and influence in our

public arenas.Change is sweeping Africa.

Systemic barriers to gender equity are falling and a growing number of women leaders are reshaping the continent.

Across the continent, women are increasingly challenging traditional norms by claiming positions of power and influence in our public arenas. Rwanda, Seychelles and my own country of Ethiopia now have cabinets split evenly along gender lines, with some of the most powerful posts occupied by women.

A new generation of African leaders is investing in social and human capital, universal health coverage, education and gender equality. This is a story that’s particularly important to tell as we approach International Women’s Day.

Globally the proportion of seats held in parliament by women has slowly risen from just 12 percent in 1997 to 24 percent in 2018. Amid this, a handful of African countries stand out. In Rwanda, over 60 percent of members of parliament are women, and in Namibia, South Africa, Senegal and Mozambique, at least 40 percent of parliamentarians are women.

This represents a dramatic shift

in representation, inclusion and democratization of opportunity. For young women particularly, seeing other women in leadership positions and non-stereotypical professions helps to expand their horizons. For institutions and governments, tapping the full potential of their talent pools brings diversity of perspectives and experience when hard decisions must be made.

But to enable more women to serve as leaders, we need to redistribute power and ensure equal pay at work. The International Labour Organization estimates that the gender pay gap is higher in sub-Saharan Africa than any other region in the world.

Gender equality and respect for women’s rights starts at home, where power and wealth are still in the hands of men. Yet women tend to spend more out of household budgets on providing for their families than men do.

A report launched at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, reveals that gender equality in the workplace is still a far cry. The Global Health 50/50 report: Equality Works, which looks at the policies and practices of nearly 200 organizations active in global health, shows that seven out of 10 of such organizations are headed by men.

In four out of 10 organizations, women occupy less than one-third of senior management positions. It’s hardly a surprise, then, to discover

that the women employed by these organizations receive 15 percent less pay than men.

On gender-related workplace policies, the report showed that the vast majority of organizations do not offer fully remunerated, adequate and equitable parental leave. Neither do the majority support mothers returning to work by offering flexible working arrangements. Only 22 countries meet

or exceed the International Labour Organization standard of 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. This has a clear impact on equal opportunity and limits career progression for women.

Given that these organisations champion health for all many with a particular focus on the wellbeing of mothers and girls their credibility rests on setting a good example and upholding their principles through how

they treat their own staff.At the last African Union heads

of states summit in Addis Ababa, Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, a former prime minister of Chad, launched the group’s new strategy for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

This progressive new agenda is unflinching in its analysis of the current situation, noting that “patriarchal norms result in economic, legal, political, and social discrimination against women and girls, reflected at individual, household, community and organizational levels; and in the public arena”.

Africa’s leaders are already taking concrete steps to challenge these patriarchal norms.

A recent World Bank report highlights that Africa is seeing more reforms promoting gender equality than anywhere else in the world. In Ethiopia, in addition to Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed naming a gender-equal cabinet, he has also selected women for powerful posts, including the president of the Supreme Court.

As economic growth continues to expand in Ethiopia and across our continent, there is growing recognition that investing in gender equality is both the right and smart approach. Africa’s women are rising and it’s time the world took note.

(Source: Financial Times)

Elisabeth Mengistu (Tel. 011-1-26-42-01)

Genet Fekade

Bethlehem Asfaw

Fasica Berhane

Esseye Mengiste

Friday’s Team

FDRE President Sahlework Zewde

PAGE 5 THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 8 MARCH 2019

BY BETHLEHEM ASFAW

We have often heard about famous inventors such as Thomas Jefferson (Monticello’s Great Clock), Alexander Graham Bell (the telephone), and Benjamin Franklin (bifocal glasses).

However, what about woman like Dr. Shirley Jackson, prominent in telecom industry; Grace Hopper in Computer Programming; Ann Tsukamoto in stem cell isolation, Maria Telkes in inventing the first 100 percent solar powered house?

Similarly, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu and Bruktawit Tigabu are among the inspiring Ethiopian women for coming up with new businesses that positively impact the lives of many fellow Ethiopians.

Recently, the World Economic Forum awarded Bruktawit Tigabu, co-founder and CEO of Whiz Kids Workshop as well as the Creative Director at Whiz Kids Workshop, as an outstanding social entrepreneur of the year.

She started this workshop fourteen years ago. “No one was interested in our job by then.” However, the TV show her company produces has helped many kids to generate learning out of it. Parents too have shown profound interest in the episodes. “UNESCO was the first to render supports to our project. Now our capital has grown to 6.5 million Birr. In terms of job creation, we have thirty full-time employees, not to mention people that work with us on

The talent in women

contractual basis.” She says women have enormous

potential, a potential that can transform the society but it is not easy for them to translate their potential to reality. “That does not mean that the challenges intimidate us from trying our best.”

One way to tackle the problems

is that women have to come together. In addition, all pertinent bodies have to do their level best to help women unleash their potentials. Public institutions with ministerial portfolio and other entities ought to mobilize resources to help more women to come to the fore in social, economic and political aspects of life.

Bethlihem Tilahun for her part does not see any reason that impedes women form realizing their dream. “I worked hard to make SoleRebels an international brand and I succeeded in making it true. In addition, the new brands Garden of Coffee that specialize in hand-roasted coffee have become international brand. “If

we women work hard, it is likely to realize our dreams.”

Elizabeth G/Selasie, Woman Children and Youth Affairs Ministry Innovation and Technology Director says that the Ministry has researched into the major challenges facing women in all the states and the two city administrations.

“Our next move will be to bring stakeholders together and make them devise ways and means to come up with far-sighted solutions.”

Among encouragements to promote women, innovation will be holding annual awards to outstanding women innovation and invention. “We have already selected around 200 women for their outstanding works.”

Two years ago, the Ministry has also established a 20-percent financial grant to women researchers. They will also compete with men to the remaining 80-percent research grant, she indicates.

So far, nine women researchers that work on food processing and hair treatment benefit from the financial grant scheme.

Women have contributed a lot of inventions and innovations within the society. Yet, the attitudinal problems among the wider society sets obstacle along their path. The case in point of Bruktawit and Bethlihem teach us that we can clear the obstacles with strong and sustained collaboration of all stakeholders. However, more than anything else, we women ourselves should fight the fight.

All-round supports to ensure women’s economic benefit

BY ESSEYE MENGISTE

The Ethiopian government has been working aggressively to enhance

women’s contribution to the socio-economic transformation of the country through mainstreaming women’s issues within governmental and private organizations.

In line with this, the Ministry of Women, Children and Youths, Women Entrepreneurs Project and other organizations have been working cooperatively to ensure the participation of women in the economic aspects.

According to Assefa Ferede, Communication Director at Federal Employment Offices and Food Security Agency, the Ministry, with the aim to boost up women’s economic benefit during the past six years, a number of activities have been undertaken in various areas including in micro and small scale enterprises—construction, urban agriculture, service and trade. In turn, out of the total 539,922 jobs created for citizens, women taken 38 percent of the jobs.

As the Ministry’s report indicates, in the first six months of 2018/19 fiscal year, the Ministry in its women-centered activities, executed various activities to enhance women’s economic benefits, in collaboration with stakeholders.

In order to increase women’s

participation in the economic sector, a plan has been set to address two million women, offer trainings in various income generating activities and develop the culture of saving, trade profitability among others.

Consequently, over two million women have received awareness creation trainings at different levels to enable them improve the lives of themselves and their families.

These types of trainings are crucial

to enhance their participation and benefit them in the economic fronts, as Ministry’s report elaborates.

In turn, it has been able to boost up their economic engagements of women in various areas through enhancing their culture of savings and borrowing, build their capacity in terms of utilizing new technologies. And nearly 340 thousand women have been enabled to grasp the advantages of time and energy saving technology,

Women have contributed a lot of inventions and innovations within the society

according to the report.As the report stated, a plan has

also been there to establish four daycare centers to enable women take care of their children while they are at workplaces. However, it was enabled to set up 27 daycares- 16 at states and 11 at federal levels- surpassing the set targets, as the report stated.

Ethiopian Women Entrepreneurship Development Project Coordinator Yohannes Solomon, for his part, said that ‘Women’s Breakthrough Project’, designed to benefit unemployed females offered trainings in various areas thereby increasing their share in the economic development of their country, it was offered to 3,000 womens so as to commence their own businesses.

Mentioning that a 6.4-million Euro grant was obtained from EU, he said the capital would be distributed to six cities in four states—in Oromia State, Ambo and Jimma, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ states, Dilla and Sodo, Benishangul Gumuz state, Assosa and Gambella Town and in Gambella state), as startup capital for 3,000 graduating females presenting their business plans. “Each will receive a total of 20,000 Birr to commence their businesses, after they completed trainings offered by technical and vocational institutions of their respective areas.

“Women engaged in the activities related to trade, service delivering and other similar streams are benefitting.

This is encouraging as the main objective of the project is to address the challenges faced by women in the transition from small to medium scale enterprises, he noted.

Yohannes said, so far 16 thousand women have been trained and about 2.6 billion Birr offered in the form of loan is returned back from over 10, 300 women. Currently, the level of loan provided to women has shown to 250,000 Birr.

According to the Bank’s performance assessment, the project has been successful in terms of benefitting women and enhancing their economic benefit. Women’s loan repayment has reached to 98 percent, he said.

In addition, the capacity of women engaged in various areas has increased in relation to creating employment opportunities for other parties. And the government is exerting utmost efforts to build the skills and knowledge of women entrepreneurs.

Sing the same tune, organizations, including the World Bank; have expressed their willingness to support the project in accordance to project’s performance. For instance, while the Italian Government has allocated 15 million USD, the Japanese Government has offered a 50-million USD loan, the coordinator said. Currently, the Ethiopian government and the European Union Investment Commission have signed a 30-million loan agreements for this same purpose, he added.

The Ethiopian government has been working aggressively to enhance women’s contribution to

the socio-economic transformation of the country through mainstreaming women’s issues within governmental and private organizations.

PAGE 8THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 8 MARCH 2019

Visit our website and official face book pages to read more published news and articles.

Website - www.press.etface book - Ethiopian Press Agency

BERHANENA SELAM PRINTING ENTERPRISE

Glimpse of some of Ethiopian influential ladiesIn Ethiopia’s history, there are many

influential women who paid scarifies for their country. These women have registered remarkable contribution winning the challenges they encountered because of their gender. Even if we cannot tribute all of them in this piece, let us remember some of them. Taitu Betul

It is clear that while talking about Ethiopian women contribution, it is impossible to simply skip the name Taitu as she is an icon of Ethiopian women. Taytu Betul (1851–1918), wife of Menelik (King of Shoa and later Negus Negast or King of Kings), was a formidable queen and empress of Ethiopia.

She used her exceptional intelligence to strengthen and extend her power through an adroit blend of patronage, political marriages and leadership craft.

Determined to resist imperialist designs on her country, she increasingly opposed any negotiations that would result in the loss of Ethiopian territory. When diplomacy gave way to war, she rode out at the head of her own army, at her husband’s side.

It was she who devised the plan which led to the Ethiopian victory, and her presence was crucial in the Ethiopian Victory at Adwa in 1896, the most significant Victory of any African army during the climax of European colonialism. Patriot Shewareged Gedile

She is called on the front from ladies who paid sacrifices on the five years Italian invasion of Ethiopia. She was born in 1886. She was one of the first bank users, stake buyers and factory builders.

But sources magnify her patriotism acts and point out as she is well known patriots.

Shewareged spent the five invasion years through sending meal for patriots, purchasing guns, sending drugs, building the spirit of patriots and serving as source of information for patriots-(intelligence services).

However, as the Italians learnt that she spied on them and sent off information to patriots, they passed death sentences on her. Fortunately it was ineffective.

Ambassador Konjit Sinegiorgis

As to source of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Ambassador Konjit lived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with her family until she moved to London, UK with her elder sister to join the London University College and get her degree in International Relations in 1954. Fascinated by international issues and the work of the UN, she has always wanted to see how the UN functions and was enthusiastic to work in the organization; but did not know how to join. It was until she got a tip of advice from a friend who used to work at the Ethiopian Embassy in London that she could have a chance to work in the UN if she can work in the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and get assigned to the New York Mission. Without hesitation, she accepted the advice and came to Addis

Ababa to apply for a job in the Ministry.However, the response of the senior

officer at the then Ministry of Education, who was in charge of assigning jobs for returnee Ethiopians from abroad, was not as welcoming as she expected. He gave her an appalling response saying “this is not a job for women”. However she never gave up. She struggled to persuade him regardless of his continuous rejections until finally there was no other option than to offer her the job… and it was at this junction, that her journey begun.

Konit started her career in 1962, a year before the establishment of the Organization of the African Unity (OAU). After joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she has held numerous positions both in Addis Ababa and overseas for 53

years. In the early days of her career,

Ambassador Konjit served as an officer in charge of decolonization Affairs in the Ethiopian Permanent Mission to the UN in New York. She had played a significant role in strengthening the African Union while holding positions in the AU, UN, serving as Ambassador overseas in Austria, Egypt, Israel, Canada, Mexico (non-resident) and serving in different positions starting from third secretary to permanent representative in missions to New York, Vienna and Geneva. Later in 2009, she became Ethiopia’s Permanent Representative to the OAU, and eventually to the AU and UNECA, and contributed her share in the transformation of OAU to the AU.

Ambassador Konjit is an inspiration for many of the courageous and strong female diplomats who come after her as she paved the way for those in the profession today.

In her last speech during a farewell bid to her by the African Union in November 2015, Ambassador Konjit Said “My career has been my life and I sacrificed everything for it… there is no greater honor than serving one’s country to the fullest!”.Mulumebet Emiru, The first pilot

She has got a name called “Lady Bird” from American news paper in 1935. Mulumebet is the first Ethiopian pilot. In

1927, she did her flight by her own.Athlete Derartu Tulu

Dearatu was born in 1969 in the small town of Bokoji, in the Arsi Zone of the Oromia State as a seventh child in a family of 10 children. Even in elementary school, Derartu excelled in horse riding competitions. Derartu’s first significant win came in a 400 meter race in her school where she outran the school’s star male athlete. That, along with a win in 800 meters race in her district, convincingly, put Derartu in a path of a successful career in Athletics. In 1988, Derartu representing her birth place, Arsi, competed in a national 1500 meters race in which she won a bronze medal.

When she was 17, Derartu was hired by the Ethiopian Police Force. In 1989, she competed her first international race of six kilometer cross-country in Norway though ranked 23rd. In a year’s time, however, she competed in the same race and won the Gold Medal. Derartu won international recognition and success in the 90’s. Her record-setting win in the 10,000 meter race in Bulgaria and her win in the same distance race in Cairo, Egypt are worth mentioning.

Derartu’s win in the 10,000 meter race in the Barcelona Olympics goes down in the History Books as the first gold-medal win ever by an African woman. Derartu is now serving African sport family being the Vice President of East African Athletics Region.

Promising female’s talentBY STAFF REPORTER

Ruth Getachew is a second year architecture student at Addis Ababa University Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC). She as well is a young talent who is growing to make an accomplished painter. Last Saturday, she had exhibited one of her works, Mobility in Africa, in an event organized to commemorate the 123rd victory of Adwa.

She recounts that the background of her paint, a jigsaw puzzle, represents people. When people join their hands, if not their minds, they surely form a bigger picture. However, the puzzle does not necessarily represent the people of Africa. It may show the entire universe. Only one section or a piece would not give meaningful picture. There is mutual interdependence. In that case, the entire universe gets true meaning.

Human being is imperfect. However, when we come together, the flawed side fits into a space that complements it, as is jigsaw puzzle. A physician needs to have an entertainer. The entertainer needs to have a teacher to their children…. By the way, the imperfection is the cause of the creation of man’s secondary world, the social world. The social world is the result of mutual interdependence and

interconnectedness. Why an individual needs someone if s/he is perfect? They could have slammed doors behind themselves.

“From this, we can say that mobility barriers are potent in perpetuating human’s imperfection. My paint depicts two nation-states—one with abundant water and another with land resources. The rubbles from a collapsing wall represent a colonial partition, a territory, and when it collapses, the two nations start to get common farm along the boundary.”

Look at the arrow in the paint that stabs its other end. Nature is like that. However, colonial power disturbs the natural recycle.

When it is explained with another feature on the paint—the pasture, the ox seen in the paint is grazing. It grazes moving forward the arch, when it goes ahead, the grass behind him will get the chance to grow. In addition, when the ox eventually, comes back, it gets fresh pasture, isn’t it?

Alas, the ox stops at a point due to the colonial powers’ intervention. Thus, it is sure to starve to death due to overgrazing.

The story does not end there. There is what we call food chain. Migratory bird, since they can cross the territory, they move forward freely. The boundary cannot directly affect their lives. However, they fly to the other area. Unfortunately, when they come back their previous niche turns barren due to overgrazing. Also since, they are part of the food, chain massive death of any other animal or plant will affect them in

spite of their flying ability.The colonial demarcation or what is

called boundary seems to have disturbed the normal cycling of life, therefore. As pastoral community cannot move freely, the likelihood of drought is there. That is what we call global warming.

Look at the brain deliberately scattered on the paint. Can you see the purple wine pouring down, a metaphor of creativity. The size of the brains are different, depicting that creativity go independently of age. Moreover, mobility helps cross-fertilize ideas, knowledge systems and innovations among all segments of the society. To the opposite, the colonial coordinates make mobility much difficult, limiting humanity’s creativity.

That wine beats the gear as water does to a turbine and sets it in motion. The more the flow of the wine is the faster the gear’s motion and out of that fast motion flickers fire which changes the rope, or resource reserve into pure gold. The gear is also a symbol for development. The rope as a resource but tying Africa as the same time implies that the reason to African slavery is its resources. For example, if a person has something invaluable there are always some other selfish people who would wish to loot the treasure. If the person had nothing, nobody would be attracted.

BY GENET FEKADE

Mobility in Africa, paint by Ruth Getachew

Patriot Shewareged Gedile Taitu Betul Ambassador Konjit Sinegiorgis

Mulumebet Emiru, The first pilot Athlete Derartu Tulu