The new mayor of Meki visits the educational center of the Community of St. Paul in Meki, Ethiopia
María José Morales tells us, from Ethiopia, about the recent visit of the new mayor of Meki, and the impact of the growing political parity between men and women in the country.
«Yesterday we had a surprise visit at the Kidist Mariam training center. Without any previous notice, two young people arrived; they were very interested in knowing the center and its work, and it turned out that they were the new mayor of Meki and the person in charge of the District. The students told them the courses in which they are trained, and the visitors thanked them for the explanations and encouraged them to persevere in their formation.
You can already imagine how happy our students were to have met the new mayor: "She's very young ... and she's a woman!" They said. The appointment of the mayor of Meki is part of the changes that are taking place at a social and political level in the country since Abiy Ahmed was appointed the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia, at the beginning of last April.
Many women have been appointed to important political positions, and that encourages our young students. In fact, at the end of September the formation of one of the few parity governments in the world was announced, with 50% of ministers being women (occupying, among others, the ministries of defense, trade and peace). The Ethiopian parliament also unanimously elected lawyer Meaza Ashenafi as the first female president of the Federal Supreme Court. At the beginning of October, the diplomatic Sahlework Zewde was elected president of the country, becoming the first woman to occupy the Ethiopian head of State, currently the only one in the whole of Africa.
Finally, at the end of November the opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa was elected president of the National Electoral Board.
And it is in this context that now we have a female mayor in Meki. In the courtyard of the center, when the students left after finishing their classes, the young Tigist approached me and with a big smile she said: "I've changed my mind, I do not want to cook anymore... Now I want to be mayor!"»
«Yesterday we had a surprise visit at the Kidist Mariam training center. Without any previous notice, two young people arrived; they were very interested in knowing the center and its work, and it turned out that they were the new mayor of Meki and the person in charge of the District. The students told them the courses in which they are trained, and the visitors thanked them for the explanations and encouraged them to persevere in their formation.
You can already imagine how happy our students were to have met the new mayor: "She's very young ... and she's a woman!" They said. The appointment of the mayor of Meki is part of the changes that are taking place at a social and political level in the country since Abiy Ahmed was appointed the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia, at the beginning of last April.
Many women have been appointed to important political positions, and that encourages our young students. In fact, at the end of September the formation of one of the few parity governments in the world was announced, with 50% of ministers being women (occupying, among others, the ministries of defense, trade and peace). The Ethiopian parliament also unanimously elected lawyer Meaza Ashenafi as the first female president of the Federal Supreme Court. At the beginning of October, the diplomatic Sahlework Zewde was elected president of the country, becoming the first woman to occupy the Ethiopian head of State, currently the only one in the whole of Africa.
Finally, at the end of November the opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa was elected president of the National Electoral Board.
And it is in this context that now we have a female mayor in Meki. In the courtyard of the center, when the students left after finishing their classes, the young Tigist approached me and with a big smile she said: "I've changed my mind, I do not want to cook anymore... Now I want to be mayor!"»
