Ethiopian lawmakers on Thursday unanimously elected the country’s first female president, days after approving one of the world’s few “gender-balanced” Cabinets.<\/strong><\/p>\n As seasoned diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde takes the largely ceremonial post, many celebrated Africa’s only current female head of state. Africa’s first female president, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, left office this year.<\/p>\n “Congratulations, Madam President! Women do make a difference. We are proud of you!” the female president of the United Nations General Assembly, Mar\u00eda Fernanda Espinosa Garces, said in a Twitter post.<\/p>\n “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,” the chief of staff for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Twitter.<\/p>\n Sahle-Work called Ethiopia’s recent transfer of power to the reformist prime minister “exemplary” and said she will focus on bringing together all sides to achieve peace in a country with multiple ethnic-based conflicts in recent months.<\/p>\n Ethiopian lawmakers last week approved a Cabinet with women making up a record 50 percent of ministers, including the country’s first female defense minister. A woman also leads the new Ministry of Peace, will oversees the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service and the Federal Police Commission.<\/p>\n The Horn of Africa power joined a handful of countries, mostly European, where women make up 50 percent or more of ministerial positions, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union and U.N. Women.<\/p>\n Likely inspired, Rwanda two days later announced its own Cabinet with 50 percent women. The country has received international recognition for female representation in government.<\/p>\n The moves in Ethiopia are the latest in sweeping political and economic reforms in Africa’s second most populous country since Abiy took office in April following months of nationwide anti-government protests demanding wider freedoms.<\/p>\n Sahle-Work has worked in various United Nations organs and was the first director-general of the U.N. office in Nairobi. Until recently she was the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative to the African Union.<\/p>\n Ethiopia elects 1st female president; ‘sets the standard’ Ethiopian lawmakers on Thursday unanimously elected the country’s first female president, days after approving one of the world’s few “gender-balanced” Cabinets. As seasoned diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde takes the largely ceremonial post, many celebrated Africa’s only current female head of state. Africa’s first female president, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":136645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-te-public"],"yoast_head":"\n