In April 2019, RTÉ’s Jackie Fox reported on Ethiopia’s culture toward women and efforts to shift a patriarchal society in the shadow of global #MeToo talk, after Abiy Ahmed’s cabinet gender parity had drawn international praise.
Half the ministers being women never automatically meant safety in homes, workplaces, or conflict zones. Fox’s framing pushed past brochure feminism into attitudes, law, and everyday risk.
Abiy Ahmed’s regime later faced harder tests on women’s rights amid war and displacement. Early soft-power coverage still matters as a baseline of what outsiders were willing to celebrate.
As society/rights reference, the RTÉ piece is a dated mirror. Gender equality speeches age quickly when violence against women stays structural.
Sources: RTÉ
