Sahle-Work Zewde becomes Ethiopia's 1st female president

(Image credit: Eduardo Soteras/AFP/Getty Images)

After years as a diplomat, Sahle-Work Zewde is now the first female president of Ethiopia.

She was elected by parliament, and is Africa's only female head of state. As president, she will be able to appoint ambassadors, receive foreign envoys, and grant pardons, with the prime minister holding executive power. Fitsum Arega, chief of staff to the prime minister's office, said Sahle-Work "brings the right competence and experience to the office. In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalizes women as decision-makers in public life."

Previously, Sahle-Work was special representative to the African Union, head of the U.N. Office to the African Union, director-general of the U.N. Office in Nairobi, and Ethiopia's ambassador to France and Djibouti. After she was sworn in, Sahle-Work promised to work for gender equality, telling parliament, "I urge you all to uphold our peace, in the name of a mother, who is the first to suffer from the absence of power."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.