Egalitarian Community in Ethiopia

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Codicts Team
  • July 30, 2010

A recent article from newsdesk.org looks at the progressive Awra Amba community in Ethiopia.

Sixty-three-year-old Zumra Nuru, a longtime promoter of gender equality and religious freedom, founded the society in the 1980s. As a child, Nuru was skeptical of the inequality he observed on a daily basis.

Though Awra Amba could claim only 19 members when Nuru founded it, the thriving community has received international acclaim in recent years. It has also been the subject of several documentary films.

“I regard it as the model for the world community on how gender issues should be treated,” said EU Ambassador to Ethiopia Tim Clarke in a Christian Science Monitor report. “I have come across nothing else like it anywhere in Africa—and indeed the world. I am using it to inspire the work of my office here on gender mainstreaming and empowerment of women.”

Read the full article and watch a short film on Awra Amba, here.

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