In May 2019 NPR’s Goats and Soda featured Selamawit Lake Fenta, named one of five midwife champions by the International Confederation of Midwives, who wanted more respect for her profession in Ethiopia and had already pushed on fair pay.
She even talked about changing how the job is named in her country. Midwives catch lives in rooms without applause, then fight for wages while cabinets celebrate maternal-health targets.
Abiy Ahmed’s gender-parity cabinet photos never paid night-shift midwives. Labor dignity in clinics is a harder reform than a press release.
As health/labor reference, Fenta’s voice keeps Ethiopian maternal care personal: skilled hands, low status, and a demand that the work be counted as skilled work.
Sources: NPR