1.1 The precursors

2Expression of social concern on women’s condition and roles was seen in the early 20th century. The weekly newspaper Berhanena Salam served as the main forum where the first educated Ethiopians campaigned for social reform. While the most famous intellectuals of the period, such as Gäbrä Heywat Baykadagn, Täklä Hawaryat Täklä Maryam, or Afäwarq Gäbrä Iyyasus, did not show any particular concern for the fate of women, Heruy Walda Sellase at least argued for the right of women to choose their husbands in one of his novels; the prevalent practice was for parents to choose the spouses for their sons and daughters. Even more outspoken was a columnist by the name of Amsala Tebab Walda-Ab, who gave an eloquent response to a writer who had written a critique of Ethiopian women regarding their lack of modernity. She argued that it is their husbands who have to be blamed for their wives’ conservatism, as society would consider them too shameless were they to adopt modern ways. In order for the wives to be liberated, she argued, the husbands themselves need to be liberated from their outmoded views.

1.2 The Ethiopian student movement

3The Ethiopian student movement, which advocated social and political change for nearly a decade and half (from 1961 to 1974), was a powerful student movement. For about a decade, it challenged the imperial regime, campaigning for freedom and social justice. The two most important questions it raised were the land question and the question of nationalities. Thus, in 1965, students came out onto the streets with the slogan of “Land to the Tiller.” In 1969, for the first time they raised the subject of the oppression of nationalities in Ethiopia and argued for the principle of “self-determination up to and including secession.” In conjunction with the question of nationalities, they also raised “the woman question.”

4Ethiopia has generally been a highly patriarchal society. In other words, men were more important than women; husbands were more powerful than wives; sons were more privileged than daughters. A good example of this is how men came to dominate even a women’s organisation such as the Ethiopian Women’s Welfare Association (የኢትዮጵያ ሴቶች በጎ አድራጎት ማኅበር). All the officers elected to lead the organisation in 1956 were men!

2.1 Early challenges

5Even within the student movement, what has now come to be characterised as male chauvinism (የወንድ ትምክህተኝነት) prevailed until the late 1960s. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Debating Society of the University College of Addis Ababa could organise debates on topics such as “Is Emancipation of Women Beneficial to Society?” or “Higher Education for Women is Undesirable.” Throughout the 1960s, what came to be known as “the Battle of the Sexes” raged in student newspapers. Female students were subjected to attacks and ridicule. While they had their male defenders, some of them also fought back with their own responses (see Source 29). A good example is that of a female student who composed a poem ridiculing men.

6Even in the second half of the 1960s, after radical students came to take control of the student movement with the establishment of the University Students’ Union of Addis Ababa (USUAA), female students were harassed and jeered at. USUAA’s publication, Struggle, carried cartoons caricaturing female students. A Miss USUAA contestant fell to her death as she tried to escape a male student trying to molest her. Walelign Makonnen, who symbolised student radicalism more than any other student, wrote an article attacking female students because, under the leadership of their American counsellor, they had organised an event (called “Fashion Tea”) coinciding with the University Day, when students usually expressed their opposition to the regime through poems and theatrical performances. This formed the prelude to the violent protests that students waged against the fashion show that was organised in 1968. The two radical students whom female students remembered as being supportive of their cause were Tilahun Gizaw, who was USUAA president in 1969/70 until he was assassinated by government security agents in December 1969, and Yohannes Berhane, who later joined the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP) and was killed during the Därg’s “search and destroy” operation in early 1970.

7When we look at female representation in student organisations as well, we see that there were few female students. Only one female student managed to be elected to the USUAA Congress. There were hardly any female students in the executive committees of student organisations either at home or abroad. This formed the background to the formation of an organisation particularly concerned with women’s affairs. Such is the genesis of the World Wide Ethiopian Women’s Study Group (WWEWSG).

2.2 Women’s Study Group

8The main argument of the students in forming the study group was that women suffered double oppression (ድርብ ጭቆና in Amharic), the first as members of the working class or the peasantry and the second as women. Indeed, in cases where women belonged to oppressed nationalities, they were even said to suffer triple oppression (ድርብ፣ ድርብርብ ጭቆና). Thus, because of this unique condition of women, it was felt that women should have their own organisations to fight for their cause. Although, there were some debates within the student movement on the necessity of a separate women’s organisation, eventually it came to be accepted by almost all students. The person mainly involved in creating the group was Abebech Bekele, an activist within the Ethiopian Student Union in North America (ESUNA), who became president of WWEWSG. As it turned out, she also became the first woman to assume the high office of President of the World Wide Federation of Ethiopian Students (WWFES) when it was established in April 1973. Abebech got her idea about the need to form a separate organisation for women from her interactions with members of the militant African-American rights group, the Black Panthers. She also got moral support from radical students like Mesfin Habtu, Abdul Mohammed and Benyam Adane.

9WWEWSG had two main branches, one in Europe and another in North America, both which started their activities in 1971. By 1975, it had a total of 95 members. The Group started publishing its own journal in 1972. It was initially called ተነሽ ላብአደሪት (“Arise, Ye Female Proletarian”) but later changed to ተነሽ ኢትዮጵያዊት (“Arise, Ye Female Ethiopian”) to make it more inclusive. Articles that appeared in the journal outlined the historical evolution of female oppression, the role of educated women in Ethiopia and a biographical profile of Marta Mebratu.

10Marta Mebratu had emerged as the symbol of female student activism. She was a medical student at Haile Selassie I University with a bright future career ahead of her. She chose instead to dedicate her life to struggle against the regime. Her tall stature, afro hairdo and general appearance was very much like that of the great African-American civil rights activist, Angela Davis. Marta met her tragic end in 1972 when she tried to hijack an Ethiopian Airlines international passenger airplane with six other accomplices, including Walelign Makonnen. She was one of the six killed in midair by anti-hijackers. The sole survivor was another female student, Tadelech Kidane Maryam.

Figure 12. Marta Mebratu. Photograph. Tanash Ityopyawit, Yakatit 1965 E.C (February 1973)

11Throughout the early 1970s, “the woman question” came to be an important issue in the student movement, particularly in its external wing. Thus, the 11th Congress of the Ethiopian Student Union in Europe (ESUE), which debated the national question and finally passed the famous resolution supporting self-determination up to and including secession, simultaneously passed resolutions on the woman question. These resolutions reaffirmed the double oppression of women and their right to a separate organisation to fight that oppression. Organs of the student movement also carried substantive articles on the woman question. For instance, the November 1973 issue of Challenge, the organ of ESUNA, carried a 46-page article on the subject.