Gender Equality in Ethiopia: The Interaction of Secular, Religious and Customary Laws

In recent years, Ethiopia has had major achievements in terms of improvement of gender equality standards. These developments reached an apex in 2018, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed named ten female ministers and thus made his cabinet equally split between men and women; Ms. Meaza Ashenafi was named Chief Justice and became the first female president of the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia and, just a few months later, Ms. Sahle-Work Zewde was elected President of Ethiopia (the first woman to hold that office). Ethiopia thus represents a remarkable case study – in the African and world context alike – to examine gender equality from a (mainly, but not exclusively) legal perspective. From the legal point of view, this chapter will examine the interaction between secular, religious, and customary law, in order to determine the extent to which each of these sources has promoted or hindered gender equality. Special attention will also be devoted to any elements of the historical, social, political, cultural, and economic context that can shed light on the peculiar characteristics of the Ethiopian process of female emancipation.