What a man can do a woman can do even better, well Ethiopians are leading by example .since it will be ruled by a female president.
Ethiopian members of parliament have elected the nation’s first female president after the government was reorganized to give women half of the cabinet post.
In a historic move, the Ethiopian lawmakers elected Ambassador Sahle-Work Zewde as the next president.
Her election to the ceremonial position comes a week after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed a cabinet with half the posts taken up by women.
The Ethiopia prime minister’s chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, has confirm her appointment, he tweeted that the “in a historic move, the two houses has elected Ambassador Shalework Zewde as the next President”.
In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalises women as decision-makers in public life. #Ethiopia (2) pic.twitter.com/3Z8UNd15E0
— Fitsum Arega (@fitsumaregaa) October 25, 2018
She has received congratulatory messages across the world here are some of the tweets;
Congratulations to @SahleWorkZewde who has become #Ethiopia’s 🇪🇹 first female president following a distinguished diplomatic career serving her country & @UN. @Ethiopia_UN @nzinethiopia @Mark_R_Ramsden @mfaethiopia https://t.co/w1lKC8FRoW
— Helen Clark (@HelenClarkNZ) October 25, 2018
There she is! My President!
Why am I struggling with my tears right now?
Imagine what this means for that little girl in school!
Im more than happy right now! #Ethiopia pic.twitter.com/6CAq8dvVkl— Siyane Aniley 🌻 (@EthioPhenomenal) October 25, 2018
Ms Sahle-Work Zewde is the Africa’s only female head of state
President Sahle-Work has served as an ambassador for Ethiopia in Senegal and Djibouti. She has also held a number of UN positions, including head of peace-building in the Central African Republic.
Immediately before becoming president, Ms Sahle-Work was the UN representative at the African Union.
In the Ethiopian constitution, the post of president is ceremonial with the prime minister holding the political power.
The position of president is ceremonial in Ethiopia, with executive power vested in the office of the prime minister, but the appointment is deeply symbolic and follows up on last week’s cabinet reshuffle in which made half the ministers are now women in Africa’s second-most populous country.
“In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalizes women as decision-makers in public life,” tweeted Fitsum Arega, the prime minister’s chief of staff and de facto government spokesman.
Parliament accepted the resignation of Mulatu Teshome, who had served as president since 2013.
According to Article 70 of the Ethiopian constitution, “The House of Peoples’ Representatives shall nominate the candidate for President. And the nominee shall be elected President if a joint session of the House of Peoples’ Representatives and the House of the Federation approves his candidacy by a two-thirds majority vote.”
However, the constitution also says “a member of either House shall vacate his seat if elected President,” which implies a given premises of the head of state, largely a ceremonial role, being a member of either house. Ambassador Sahlework is not a member of both houses.
She was voted in after the unexpected resignation of her predecessor, Mulatu Teshome.