Ethiopian lawmakers on Thursday elected Sahle-Work Zewde as the country’s first female president, AFP reported. They unanimously voted for the 68-year-old senior diplomat to replace Mulatu Teshome, who had resigned earlier. The president’s post in Ethiopia is largely ceremonial.

Last week, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had appointed a 20-member cabinet, in which half the posts are held by women. These include Defence Minister Aisha Mohammed and Muferiat Kamil, who leads the newly-formed Ministry of Peace.

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“If the current change in Ethiopia is headed equally by both men and women, it can sustain its momentum and realise a prosperous Ethiopia free of religious, ethnic and gender discrimination,” said Sahle-Work on Thursday.

Sahle-Work’s appointment makes her Africa’s only female head of state, reported the BBC. After the swearing-in ceremony, she promised to work hard toward make gender equality a reality in Africa’s second most populous country. In her address to the parliament, she also promised to promote peace.

Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Fitsum Arega said, “In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalises women as decision-makers in public life.”

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The cabinet reshuffle last week made Ethiopia only the third country in Africa, after Rwanda and Seychelles, to achieve gender equality in their cabinets, Reuters reported.

Sahle-Work has been Ethiopia’s ambassador to France, Djibouti, Senegal and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an eight-country trade bloc in Africa. Before becoming president, she was the United Nations representative at the African Union.

Africa’s last female head of state was Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, who resigned in March over allegations that she used a credit card given to her by a non-governmental organisation to make purchases worth thousands of dollars.