It is our pleasure to introduce those of you who've been hiding in a cave or living in the Midwest (same difference) to the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA). This private, non-profit and non-partisan, voluntary organization was founded by a group of Ethiopian women lawyers in 1995 to pursue the legal, economic, social and political rights of Ethiopian women.

As defined by its Articles of Association, EWLA has the following specific objectives:

· To eliminate all forms of legal and traditionally sanctioned discrimination against women;
· To ensure the equal treatment of women and men in education, employment, and access to public services and benefits; and
· To advocate for remedial and affirmative measures for women to redress the accumulated consequences of discrimination.

Belew...or better yet, Beyiw!

EWLA is managed by an elected Board. The Board Secretary is the Executive Directoress, and membership in the Association is open to women legal professionals, though associate membership is open to non-legal women and men professionals who support the principles and objectives of the Association.

EWLA's volunteer corps have taken on a dizzying number of activities.

They have participated in several high-level international conferences of particular interest to women, including the 2000 Beijing Plus Five conference in New York, entitled " Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century".

They have researched and researched, particularly the Ethiopian Family Law of 1960, on which they helped identify needed changes, and submitted their findings to the relevant law reform institutions, based on which they engaged in advocacy through a variety of public forums and eventually saw their principal demands incorporated into the revised Family Law, adopted by Parliament on 4 July 2000. Two of their research projects include one on the reproductive health rights of women, and an assessment of progress and constraints of women-focused micro-enterprises in Ethiopia.

But wait, that's not all.

EWLA has provided training on women's issues and assertiveness for female students and employees at 14 schools and 12 selected institutions (more than 1400 and 600, respectively), and provided tutorial support for girls with poor classroom performance ((4,231 students participated).

But wait, there's still more; in fact, there's so much more, that we're just going to list a few of the activities without summary, and leave you to read their activity report:

· EWLA's Radio program on FM Addis 97.1 (launched October 2000 with twice-weekly broadcasts on women's issues)
· Publications include Dimtsachen, a bimontly magazine launced January 2000, and Berchi, the annual Journal of the Ethiopian Women's Association, as well as numerous flyers and posters
· A resource center was established to enhance access to information on legal and women's issues, used by many including students and professionals from Addis Ababa University, the Civil Service College and Addis Ababa Commercial College, Unity College and other private colleges, as well as private researchers.

· The legal aid that EWLA provides may be where you've heard of them. Let's throw some numbers at you. In 2000, EWLA's Legal Aid Service handled 3,917 new cases, including 1,378 involving matrimonial litigation. In addition, they provided on-the-spot advice and counseling support to 55 women, and 83 women were able to obtain child maintenance support before their cases reached court, mainly in the case of unmarried parents. The remainder of the cases related to rape, abduction, domestic violence, property inheritance, partition of conjugal property and conflicts arising from employment contracts, etc. and were treated accordingly.

· EWLA's task force on violence against women has been working since December 2000.
· EWLA advocacy for legal reform extends beyond the Family Law to include penal law reform, which touches on the critical issues of rape, sexual outrage on infants and children, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, abortion, among others, including the identification of areas omitted under the existing laws.
· EWLA works on several issues related to civil service reform, political participation of women, and networking.

Ahun'm, that's not all (iNa lenesu dekemen!)

The EWLA reach goes well beyond their borders. In addition to activities within Ethiopia, EWLA is active on the African Women's Committee for Peace and Development, and conduct a number of workshops on priority issues for women in the region, including reproductive health rights, women's participation in the electoral process, and legal issues related to HIV/AIDS.

And then, they help migrant workers, and have recently assisted in the case of Yeshiwork Desta: A recent and well-publicized case that EWLA worked on includes the case of Yeshiwork Desta, condemned to die by the High Criminal Court of Bahrain for allegedly murdering her employer. Through this case, EWLA has also drawn attention to greater and increasing problem of Ethiopian women migrant workers in Arab countries, the brutal treatment to which many are subjected, and the lack of legal protection that they suffer.

So who are these amazing women?

Their Executive Directoress is Meaza Ashenafi, and we know scores of other dedicated women (whose names we could not unearth by press time) make this association unique in Ethiopia and in Africa, if not the world. We'd love to see a groundswell of support for their work. Isti yimerbn, let's lend our support (emotional and especially professional and financial) to these Fabulous Femmes!

You can send emails to emebet_k@hotmail.com (c/o Emebet Kebede, Esq.) to find out more.

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