Writing our Rights – a feminist journal

As a feminist movement and a leading organization working on gender equality in Ethiopia, Setaweet believes that one of its main contributions towards gender equality is to create a cache of narratives on gender in Ethiopia along its principle aim of articulating Ethiopian feminisms. The Women’s Scholars Programme that Setaweet implemented in 2018-2019 with the support of GRNPP’s Deepening Democracy programme at SOAS Universit of London offered academic support to a selected group of Ethiopian women academics from five universities, many of whom shared their research findings at the first Ethiopian all-women academic conference held in November 2019. Building on the interest created by the conference and the demand for strategic support by Ethiopian women academicians towards publishing their research products, Setaweet has worked to create an Ethiopian feminist journal.

In an effort to advance gender equality and enhance research methodologies of all Ethiopian women, Setaweet has published the inaugural issue of Feminist Ethiopia journal in collaboration with GRNPP’s Parliament 4 People grants programme. The inaugural issue is a women-only issue. The journal offers a great opportunity to address existing gaps in research publishing in academia. As the Ethiopian academia is dominated by men, most of the research that is produced focuses on issues that only men deem to be important. Academic research about gender is almost nonexistent because gender, as a category of difference is not sufficiently politicized. As a result, gender inequality and its impact on social justice as well as gaps in economic and social development are rarely investigated. The scarcity in academic research and publishing has created gaps in Ethiopian women’s learning and critical engagement towards gender.

Writing Our Rights consists of 10 academic articles that cover a wide array of contemporary gender issues that affect Ethiopian women such as culture of representation, history of exclusion and instability, Imagining deeper democracy through media and arts, and the relationship between Politics and Ethiopian Society. 9 of the articles are in English and the remaining one is in Amharic. This inaugural issue is a women-only issue, which means only women participated from the conception to the execution of the journal.