The Dire Dawa Girl


This picture was taken in Dire Dawa market in 2015. The young girl you see in the picture is posing elegantly to the camera with a shy but confident smile. The boys around her are acting curious or clowning as boys always do. The boys lack the elegance or the sophistication that the young girl has even though the boys are much older than her.  The girl is wearing a simple dress with a headscarf as adults do while the boy behind her is wearing a replica of an English premier league team jersey. I am sure the jersey is much more expensive than the girl's dress but the girl is more neatly dressed than the boy behind her.
Throughout the world, boys are given the privilege to be just boys but young girls like the girl in the picture are denied of their childhood since society expects them to work by the time they start to walk. I am sure this girl was not in the market to just play and be with her friends. She is their selling things or accompanied her mother to buy items for the household.  While the boys fool around the young girl is bestowed by responsibility. This is true for most young girls in the world. Ironically it is not just men who make girls be in that position, women are also responsible in denying their daughters the right of childhood. Due to poverty or ignorance or both, women are not empowering girls as they should.
Recently the Ethiopian Prime minister appointed women to make up 50% of his new cabinet. Not only that he appointed women to head two powerful ministries, the ministry of defense and the ministry of peace which oversees the security apparatus of the state. Following this, the parliament appointed a seasoned woman diplomat as President of the country and renowned women activest as president of the Ethiopian Supreme court. This unprecedented move will encourage the upcoming generation which this young girl is a part of, to be confident about the bright future of women in the country. Yes, a lot has to be done but now young girls can see successful role models who are now given the immense responsibility of running the country. 

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