Senedu Gebru

Senedu Gebru (Amharic: ሰንዱ ገብሩ; 13 January 1916 – 20 April 2009) was an Ethiopian educator, writer and politician. In 1957, she became the first Ethiopian woman elected to Parliament.

Biography

Early life Senedu Gebru was born on 13 January 1916 in Addis Alem, Menagesha, 30 km west of Addis Ababa. Her father, Gebru Desta, was a European-educated writer and former mayor of Addis Ababa and briefly president of the senate. Her mother, Kasaye Yelamtu, was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian and raised her in the faith.

She was educated at the Swedish Mission School in Addis Ababa before being sent to Switzerland at the age 12, along with her sister, Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou. She did not like the school, so she was sent to a school in France, where she learned French and English. She also discovered a love for literature, and earned a degree in the subject at Lausanne University in Switzerland.

Return to Ethiopia In 1933, she moved back to Ethiopia and took up a teaching post plays at Qidus Georgis (St. George) School in Addis Ababa and also acted as an interpreter for foreign journalists. She taught writing and literature and also worked with playwright Yoftahe Negussie on staging school plays, having taken part in some herself while abroad.

After a year of teaching, she married the well-known Blatta Lorénzo Ta'izaz

Her group travelled to Neqemte, where she tried to arouse resistance to the Italians and was nearly captured. Gebru moved back to Goré, where she joined the Black Lions and established a Red Cross Unit after receiving some medical training. Gebru served as an informant for the Black Lions about Italian troop movements. Eventually, after catching pneumonia, she was captured by the Italians and interrogated. Meanwhile, her brother was killed on 19 February 1937. She later wrote a play about this event. Her rebellious behaviour resulted in her being imprisoned on the Italian island of Asinara along with her father and sister.

She was repatriated to Ethiopia in 1939 and was briefly married to Dejjazmach Amede Ali Mikael, who is a nephew of Lij Iyasu and a grandson of Negus Mikael Ali. In 1941, following the liberation of the country, she took up a teaching post Weyzero Sihin School in Dessie.

Aboneh explains that many of these plays dealt with the anti-fascist struggle, portraying Ethiopian heroism and martyrdom. She also turned to historical figures, such as Emperor Tewodros, Emperor Menilik and Emperor Haile Selassie, as well as social issues, including love and marriage. Loyalty to the current emperor is expressed throughout. Most were written and performed in Amharic, but a small number were in English.

During these years she advocated complete parity between men and women, including contesting articles in the 1960 Civil Code that provided the husband with the right to choose the place of residence. However, she received little support and Fitawrari Zewde Otero, a parliamentarian at the time, recalled her saying, "I may be the only woman representative today and you can ignore my comments but there will be a time when more women are in parliament and this law will be in place".

She married her third husband, Major Aseffa Lemma, who served as Ethiopian consul in Aden. While she visited him, she did not move to Aden. When he was appointed ambassador to West Germany in 1969 she was also appointed educational attaché, a post she held for around two years.

Later life and death Senedu returned to Ethiopia in the years leading up to the 1974 revolution while her husband sought exile in Germany. The revolution ended her political career. She lived in Addis Ababa and continued to write, including as a regular contributor to the 'women's column' in the Amharic newspaper Addis Zemen. She also gave nine playscripts to the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at Addis Ababa University. In 2005 the University awarded her an honorary doctorate in recognition of her contribution 'as an early champion of the emancipation of Ethiopian women'. Her son, Samuel Assefa, was serving as ambassador to the United States at the time of her death of 20 April 2009.