Gubaala Boku

Influential women in Ethiopian history

Women have been very influential in Ethiopia but, they are not always recognized for their contributions during their life time. Ethiopian has a long way to go in achieving gender equality. But many women have made significant contributions to their fields. These women from the past and the present hold influential places in history and have made a difference for this generation and generations to come.

Empress Menen

Empress Menen Asfaw (25 March 1889 Gregorian calendar – 15 February 1962) was the Empress consort of the Ethiopian Empire. She was the wife of Emperor Haile Selassie. Empress Menen was active in promoting women's issues in Ethiopia, was Patroness of the Ethiopian Red Cross, and the Ethiopian Women's Charitable Organization. She was also patroness of the Jerusalem Society that arranged for pilgrimages to the Holy Land. She founded the Empress Menen School for Girls in Addis Ababa, the first all-girls school which had both boarding and day students. Girls from all over the Empire were brought to the school to receive a modern education, encouraged by the Empress who visited it often and presided over its graduation ceremonies. The Empress gave generously, as well as sponsored programs for the poor, ill and disabled. She was also a devoutly religious woman who did much to support the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. She built, renovated and endowed numerous churches in Ethiopia and in the Holy Land. Prominent among these are the St. Raguel Church in Addis Ababa's Merkato district, the Kidane Mehret (Our Lady Covenant of Mercy) Church on Mount Entoto, and the Holy Trinity Monastery on the banks of the River Jordan in the Holy Land. She gave generously from her personal funds towards the building of the new Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion at Axum, but did not live to see it completed and dedicated. Empress Menen performed perfectly in the role of Empress-consort. In her public role she combined religious piety, concern for social causes, and support for development schemes with the majesty of her Imperial status. Outwardly she was the dutiful wife, visiting schools, churches, exhibitions and model farms, attending public and state events at her husband's side or by herself. She took no public stand on political or policy issues. Behind the scenes however, she was the Emperor's most trusted advisor, quietly offering advice on a whole range of issues.

Foreign honours

• Member of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (Kingdom of Sweden, 19 December 1959).

Birtukan Mideksa

Birtukan Mideksa (Born 1974) is an Ethiopian politician and former judge who is the founder and leader of the opposition party, the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party from 2008 – 2010. While she was working for the federal judiciary, Birtukan was appointed to be a judge at the 3rd district court of the federal first instant court. During that time, she presided over a high-profile case of the former defense minister and top ranking official of TPLF, Siye Abraha who was accused of corruption. She set the defendant free on bail, and was surprised minutes later when government authorities arrested Siye while he was walking out of the court accompanied by his family and friends. Mideksa decided to join a political party to help bring about change, including recognition of the rule of law, and full respect for the implementation of the constitution. She joined the Rainbow Ethiopia: Movement for Democracy and Social Justice Party, and later, Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD). In the election of 2005, her party won over a third of the seats. Party members believed they would have won even more seats if not for voting and counting irregularities. After the election, the governing party started to round up opposition party leaders, Mideksa, who was convicted of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order and was sentenced to life in prison. She was pardoned in 2007 after lengthy negotiations and after she, along with other leaders of the opposition, spent 18 months in prison. Mideksa later founded UDJ (Unity for Democracy and Justice) with the same principles that guided CUD. The need for having the new party name came from the fact that the ruling party's election commission awarded to a splinter group from CUD (aka Kinijit). Birtukan was elected to be a chairperson of the UDJ, which has the goal of bringing about change in Ethiopia by peaceful means. On December 28, 2008, Mideksa was re-arrested. Her 2007 pardon was revoked and she was sentenced to life in prison. Human Rights Watch called the arrest politically motivated. The Ethiopian government claimed that her pardon had been conditional on "an apology for her crimes," and that it had ordered her re-arrest after hearing reports that she had publicly denied having apologized for her actions or asking for a pardon. Elizabeth Blunt of the BBC said that since her arrest, Mideksa, whom she described as “one of the younger and more charismatic leaders of the coalition which did so astonishingly well against the ruling party in the 2005 elections,” had become “even more of a heroine, attracting widespread sympathy as a single mother separated from her baby daughter.” In December 2009, Amnesty International categorized Birtukan's imprisonment as "unjust and politically motivated" The organization also launched an international campaign demanding her release, challenging the Ethiopian government's claim that her incarceration was a legal matter. On October 6, 2010, Mideksa was released from prison. According to government spokesman Shimeles Kemal, Mideksa submitted a pardon plea in October 2010, while the justice ministry quoted a statement in which she expressed regret for denying her 2007 pardon. The United Kingdom's Minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham, welcomed her release, stating "This is an important step forward. We have always taken the view that her re-imprisonment was not in Ethiopia's interest and a solution should be found ... for her to be released."

Awards

In 2011, Mideksa was awarded the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship of the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy, giving her five months in Washington, D.C. to "study the principles of democracy."

Liya Kebede

Liya Kebede (Born 1 March 1978) is an Ethiopian-born model, maternal health advocate, clothing designer, and actress. Forbes identified her as the eleventh-highest-paid top model in the world in 2007, and she has appeared three times on the cover of U.S. Vogue. In 2005,she was appointed as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. She then founded the Liya Kebede Foundation, whose mission is to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality in Ethiopia and around the world. The organization funds advocacy and awareness-raising projects as well as providing direct support for low-cost technologies, community-based education, and training and medical programs. In one health center that the foundation works with, hospital deliveries rose by over 50% in 12 months. She has traveled to Ethiopia to support maternal health projects on multiple occasions. In 2009, she worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of their Living Proof Project. She served as a High-Level adviser for the Center for Global Development's 2009 report "Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health". Liya Kebede writes for The Huffington Post about maternal and child health, and has been featured in Vogue and on The Daily Beast. She is also part of the Champions for an HIV-Free Generation, an organization of African leaders led by former President of Botswana Festus Mogae.

Awards

In 2013, Liya Kebede was named one of Glamour's Women of the Year for her philanthropic work through her Liya Kebede Foundation.

Queen Yodit

Yodit meaning beautiful in Geez was an Ethiopian Queen of 10th century AD (about 970). Yodit some call her Judith is known for her destruction of the Axumite Empire bringing to an end the domination for over 700 years by Alexandrian Alliance on the affairs of Ethiopians. She was also known with a negative name Gudit meaning nothing having figurative connotation and since she burned most of the monasteries of the 9 Saints that came from Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire in Ethiopia. She was also was recognized as Esato meaning fire. In Arabic writing of the time she was known as Hwyia meaning fire too. Her family originated from the Christianity resisting in the Nile provinces of Damot. Some give her being Agew and she was the first Queen of Zagwe. Yodit young beautiful non-Christianized Hebrew girl of Axum belonging to stigmatized family that resistance to Christian conversion by Axumite evangelists. She was loved by a young deacon serving the Church of Zion where the Ark of God resides. She demanded her young lover to bring her from the church a piece of cover of the Tabot (sarcophagi) where the Ark resides as a gift for his love. Her lover did not wait to bring her the piece of the holy cloth with which she made a Shoe and a sharp. Yodit exposed herself in public with her new holy gift, thus blaspheming the Sacred Church and the Holy artifact. She was caught and her two breasts were cut and sold as a slave to via Yemen to Damascus by the Church authorities. There she was sold to a general who fall in love with her. Her new husband was a prince known as Zenobis, son of the King of Šam. (Syria In Arabic)

Yodit came back to Ethiopia with her husband and waged a war against Axum with her Syric husband. In her first steps she hid herself in the monastery of Debre Bizen in Eritrea. To this day in the monastery female are not allowed to visit. She set out with her husband at the head of an army and attacked Aksum in vengeance for harsh treatment that she had received in the past. She established Hebrewism the religion of Sheba as a state ideology.

Yodit successfully destroyed the Kingdom of Axum and reigned over Ethiopia for 4 decades. In the seventh year of the reign of the Axumite Del-Nä’ad, She established a new dynasty that continued for 3 centuries. She expanded the border of Ethiopia west and South including the provinces of Gojjam , Begemder and up unto the Sidama provinces where she is known as Ga’Ewa where the Axum never reached.