April 19, 2006
Women at work
Feminism finds a foothold in the Ethiopian construction industry. Now all they have to do is to recruit some female builders.
The photo is take looking down on to Haile Gebreselassie Road which leads into Meskel Square to the right. Note the new blue and yellow NOC petrol station in the background, one of scores springing up around Ethiopia.
It is part of a newish chain owned by Sheik Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi , the richest man in Ethiopia and, apparently, Africa, who was recently named the 77th richest man in the world by Forbes.
Posted by aheavens at April 19, 2006 11:17 AM
Comments
Ethiopia is emerging,construction boom is everywhere,hydroelectric projects,telecommunication expansion are on the rise, while the loser diaspora is barking(the wrong tone) instead of contrubuting.
For that matter we Ethiopians in Ethiopia got nothing to do with these losers. Save your money and politics. Try to get away from those degrading GHETTO subsedized housing.
Posted by: Lencho at April 19, 2006 4:12 PM
I have seen women working on construction sites in Ethiopia...but I heard they don't get paid the same as their male counterparts for the same work because the perception is that they wouldn't be as productive as the men. Don't know if that's true or not.
Funny photo though!
Terri
Posted by: Terri at April 19, 2006 8:45 PM
Hi Andrew,
What do you mean "now all they have to do is recruit some female builders"? I saw a lot of women working at construction sites the last time I was in Ethiopia a few months ago. Female construction workers have always been pretty common since the Mengistu period.
Sheik Aloudi is the richest black man on the planet. At the rate the price of oil is going up, he will rank even higher next year!.
Not to bad for a a man who grew up a poor kid in Wello.
Posted by: Safiya at April 20, 2006 12:59 AM
In the interest of fairness, you shouldn’t have posted Lencho’s comment regarding the diaspora. I don’t think you would have posted it if the same kind of comment was directed at Lencho and his friends (of course I’m talking about the government). I have a mind to tell Lencho what I think of him and his comments, but I doubt you will post it Andrew, so why bother.
We just found out Ethiopia has received close to 21 billion dollars in aid since EPRDF took over.....hummmm....maybe Lencho can tell us what happened to it.
Now let me be fair, Andrew you are still my man.....we criticize those we love..... Yeah including the damn government!
Posted by: Aye Gud at April 20, 2006 8:52 PM
Andrew,
I felt for you when I saw that all the conections to Ethiopian websites are gone from your blog, what can I say Mr.Heavens but "TRADING PLACES" I am enjoying the freedoms your ancestors have fought for, whereas you are dealing with my lot. May be we should have a reality show to that effect.
Posted by: Mamitu at April 21, 2006 1:34 PM
Hi Mamitu - I think you must have checked in just as I was making changes to the links in the right hand column. If you look now, you will see that I have in fact expanded the links to Ethiopian blogs. There are now enough Ethiopians blogging from Ethiopia to give them their own section. After I had done that, I thought every one else ought to have one as well. Thanks for looking.
Posted by: andrew at April 21, 2006 6:00 PM
I passed a bunch of construction sites while visiting Ethiopian universities in March, and almost all the construction workers I saw were women. In fact they were among my favorite sights of the trip, a medley of brightly colored robes.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/86199507@N00/114026958/
How do they get these jobs? Do they like them? Do they resent working under foremen who mostly seem to be men? I never found out.
Posted by: Jacob at May 28, 2006 6:46 AM
I FEEL SAD WHEN I SAW THIS PHOTO BECAUSE IT DEMONSTRATES HOW HOW WE ARE IN HUMAN TO OUR SISTERS, MOTHERS AUNTS ....
Posted by: MOHAMMED USMAN at December 31, 2007 5:27 PM