The move, which we reported on here, was also done to “show respect to women for all the contribution they have made to the country,” according to Abiy.
Appointing a cabinet that’s at least 50 per cent female is still, unfortunately, rare enough that it makes international headlines, as we saw when Canada, France and Spain did the same thing.
However, there’s been a definite trend towards gender-balanced cabinets in 2018, with six of the ten that the world currently has being appointed in 2018.
That’s according to iKNOWPOLITICS, which has just released a new report on gender parity cabinets.
These are the ten countries with gender parity cabinets:
Canada
Unveiled by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November 2015, gender parity was still present during the July 2018 cabinet reshuffle, with 17 female and 17 male ministers.
Colombia
Unveiled by President Iván Duque in August 2018.
Costa Rica
Unveiled by President Carlos Alvarado in April 2018, with 14 women and 11 men.
Ethiopia
Unveiled by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in October 2018, with ten women and ten men.
France
Unveiled by President Emmanuel Macron of France in May 2017. His revamped October 2018 Cabinet included 17 women (out of 34).
Nicaragua
Unveiled by President Daniel Ortega in January 2017, with nine women and eight men.
Rwanda
Unveiled by President Paul Kagame in October 2018, with 13 women (out of 26).
Seychelles
Unveiled by President Danny Faure in April 2018, with five women and five men.
Spain
Unveiled by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in June 2018, with 11 women ministers and five men.
Sweden
Unveiled by Stefan Löfven in 2014, with 12 women and ten men ministers, making the country the world’s “first self-proclaimed feminist government”.