Problems of Feminist Leadership among Educated Women in Ethiopia

Abstract

Feminist leadership is a matter of grave concern in Ethiopia where educated women appear to be obliged to fight individual battles to sustain their own agendas on the emancipation of women. Being manipulated by the government-led ‘woman question’ rhetoric, many fail to come to terms with charting such an independent discourse. What is holding them back? Could it be their ideological make-up that is influenced by state and religious indoctrination? Or perhaps their own shortcomings where many fail to comprehend what feminist leadership is all about? Educated women need to have a renewed vision on women's emancipation and to take meaningful decisions on what form of leadership would best advance such concerns. In this twenty-first century it is indeed high time to shed the apolitical and deradicalized stance on the emancipation of women; they should take an independent lead and call for comprehensive and transformative forms of gender equality.