“Courageous Life”: Senedu Gebru’s 100 years journey

On October 25th, 2015 at a Gala dinner at Sheraton, Senedu Gebru’s enormous contribution to Ethiopia, in particular to women will be recognized by honoring her as a “Woman of Excellence” posthumously.
“Courageous Life” will be depicted through photo exhibition and documentary film on a 100 year journey of this extraordinary woman who paved the way for Ethiopian women as the first woman parliamentarian, a freedom fighter, a faithful educator, the first female playwright, a community activist, a doting mother and an equal partner to her matrimonies.
Had she lived, Senedu Gebru would have been 100 years this year. A vanguard in the fight for women’s rights, her contributions to this nation were many and varied. Senedu Gebru’s election to Parliament can rightly be considered one of her more extraordinary accomplishments. No woman had been there before and just the fact that she was running for Parliament caused resentment throughout the male dominated establishment and the wider society as well. ~ Erin Bolt on Ethiogrio
Once in Parliament, W/ Senedu was involved in debates on matters such as foreign policy and security. But her work on woman’s rights is what gave rise to some of her memorable moments in Parliament including the well-known quote: “You reject my ideas as a lone woman here today, but time will come when we will be too many making it impossible to defeat”.
Her concrete policy aims were basically centered at instituting in the Civil Code, complete parity between men and women. She was afterwards elected vice-president of the parliament. After parliament, Sendu Gebru continued to involve in various endeavors and she became member of the board of the Ethiopian Red Cross and later chair of the committee.
Senedu Gebru died on April 20, 2009 at the age of 94.
A full profile of this magnificent woman will be posted on October AWiB Focus.