H.E. Tirumar Abate

H.E the state minister for Planning and Development, Mrs Tirumar Abate,38, is one of the young high government officials. She studied Business Management at undergrad and has an MA in Leadership and Governance.

She was among the women leaders who have shared their experience to young women during the establishment of Young Ethiopian Women’s Voice (YEWV) in December 2022. She is also one of the women politicians who participated in the leadership and decision-making pre-election (Ethiopian national election 2021) training delivered by Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations (NEWA), Timran and UN Women.

She was an active participant in events at schools and Universities she has attended, and she recalled that those exposures helped her to be assertive and vocal. The passing away of her mother when she was just young, forced her to take responsibility for a family of five including looking after her younger siblings. This was where she started to learn how to face challenges and use them to her own advantage.

She had sat down for the entrance exam for the masters program when it was about six days to her due date. She passed and started class when her baby was two months old, and she graduated with the highest grade. Though it’s challenging, she believes neither passing through pregnancy nor raising a baby should stop women from advancing in their education or career.

“Women shouldn’t shy away from taking chances to grab leadership roles at any stage” is her advice for young women. She was a teacher and served at different posts in the lower administrative tiers before joining Enat Party, opposition party. She remembers she used to mentor three students to participate in different activities in their community and grab chances.

She has never let any capacity building training or workshops organized by women as she thinks such platforms are critical for women to build their capacity and confidence and to be assertive.

She believes it’s the women’s responsibility to grab such opportunities.

Having a vision is another important thing as Tirumar explained further. According to her, having a vision gives clarity and helps to keep motivated.

She strongly believes platforms like YEWV are important for young women to build their capacity and learn from each other’s experiences.

Regarding women’s participation in politics, she said politics is nothing but problem solving. According to her, women shouldn’t shy away from politics, rather they have to participate in any capacity building training, build their capacity and confidence as this helps to face the challenges hindering them from joining politics.

Tirumar’s vision is to continue serving her country while aspiring for higher positions.