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{{short description|Ethiopian lawyer and judge (born 1964)}}{{COI|date=October 2019}}{{Patronymic name|Meaza|Ashenafi|her|father}}

factoids

Asosa, Benishangul-Gumuz>Asosa, Gojjam Province, Ethiopian Empire (now Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia)University of Connecticut (Master of Arts>MA) Addis Ababa University (LLB)| spouse = Araya Asfaw

• Women's rights activist
• Lawyer{edih}| children = 2| caption = Meaza in 2018

}}Meaza Ashenafi (born 25 July 1964)WEB,weblink Pioneer African Women in Law, is an Ethiopian lawyer. In November 2018, she was appointed by the Federal Parliamentary Assembly as President of the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia until her resignation on 17 January 2023.Paul Schemm (November 1, 2018), Women’s rights activist named to head Ethiopia’s Supreme Court Washington Post.

Personal life and education

{{BLP unsourced section|date=December 2020}}Meaza was born in Asosa, Ethiopia. She attended both elementary and high school in Asosa and join Addis Ababa University Law department. She received a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from Addis Ababa University and Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in international relations and gender studies from the University of Connecticut. She is married to Dr. Araya Asfaw, Professor of Physics at Addis Ababa University, and they have two daughters together.

Career

Meaza served as a Judge of the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia between 1989 and 1992. In 1993 she was appointed by the Ethiopian Constitution Commission as a legal adviser.BOOK, Vieceli, Alberto, 1000 Peacewomen Across the Globe,weblink 2005, Scalo, 978-3-03939-039-7, 494, In 1995, Meaza founded the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) with Atsedeweine Tekle and Maria Yusuf, she would become its executive director. Through her legal contacts, she has been instrumental in campaigning for women's rights in Ethiopia; her Fighting For Women's Rights In Ethiopia group had approximately 45 graduate lawyers working for it in 2002.BOOK, Baregu, Mwesiga Laurent, Peace-building in the Great Lakes Region,weblink 2002, SAPES Books, 978-1-77905-120-2, 30, Meaza has held a position with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She played a part in the development of the first women's bank in Ethiopia, Enat Bank, which was established in 2011; as of 2016, she was chairing its board of directors.WEB,weblink Exclusive Q&A With Human Rights Lawyer Meaza Ashenafi, 2016, Makers, February 4, 2016, On 1 November 2018, Meaza appointed unanimously by HoPR as the President of the Supreme Court, being the first woman in the cabinet of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.WEB, First woman chief justice sworn in for Ethiopia {{!, African Legal Information Institute |url=https://africanlii.org/article/20181101/first-woman-chief-justice-sworn-ethiopia |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=africanlii.org}} After serving four years, she resigned that position with vice president Solomon Areda on 17 January 2023. The Ethiopian parliament appointed Tewdros Mihret as the president and Abeba Embiale as deputy president of the Supreme Court on behalf of Meaza and Solomon respectively.WEB, AfricaNews, 2023-01-17, Head of Ethiopia's Supreme Court resigns,weblink 2023-01-17, Africanews, en,

Political positions

In a 2009 speech Meaza was outspoken on the stereotypes that women face in Ethiopian society, making mention of Amharic proverbs for the way women are perceived, portraying them mostly as delicate and weak.{{sfn|Woldeyes|2014|p=48}} The communications tradition over time has used these proverbs to advance men and degrade women.{{sfn|Woldeyes|2014|p=48}} Some of the ideas given by these proverbs are that a woman's place is only in domestic duties and that women in general lack common sense and are irresponsible.{{sfn|Woldeyes|2014|pp=48–49}}

Recognition

In 2003, Meaza became a Hunger Project Award laureate,NEWS, ETHIOPIA: Interview with Meaza Ashenafi, head of women lawyers association,weblink 3 February 2016, IRIN, 7 November 2003, winning the Grassroots Ethiopian Women of Substance Africa Prize,BOOK, Tadias: Ethiopian-American Lifestyle and Business Magazine,weblink 2003, Tadias, Incorporated, 5, Two years later, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.NEWS, Meaza Ashenafi Mengistu, Nassir, Mohammed,weblink 3 February 2016, Ethioscoop Review Magazine, 15 August 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160304091154weblink">weblink 4 March 2016, dead, Her most famous case was turned into the 2014 Ethiopian film Difret, which was promoted by Angelina Jolie as executive producer and went on to win the World Cinematic Dramatic Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.

See also

• Women in Ethiopia

References

{{reflist}}

Sources

• BOOK, Woldeyes, Billene Seyoum, Transformative Spaces: Enabling Authentic Female Leadership Through Self Transformation – the Association of Women in Business,weblink 2014, LIT Verlag Münster, 978-3-643-90502-4,

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