Ethiopia’s parliament swore in the country’s first female supreme court president. Meaza Ashenafi is the first lady to be in that position. Under Ethiopia’s constitution, the court system operates independently of government.
A prominent human rights campaigner, Meaza recently served as an adviser on women’s rights at the Addis Ababa-based United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed had declared that his government will take the necessary steps to ensure gender parity in government. Last week the Horn of Africa country named Sahle-Work Zewde as president, also the first woman to hold that post.
The appointment of Meaza Ashenafi comes two weeks after Abiy named ten female ministers to make Ethiopia the third country in Africa – after Rwanda and Seychelles – to have its cabinet split equally between men and women. Parliament unanimously approved Abiy’s choice
Since his appointment in April, Abiy has presided over a series of reforms that have included the pardoning of dissidents long outlawed by the government and diplomatic overtures to long-term enemy Eritrea.
But they have so far failed to curtail unrest with over two million people displaced this year due to clashes – many pitting different ethnic groups against each other – in several parts of the country.
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