Maria Munir Yusuf is founder and director of the Association for Women's Sanctuary and Development in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

. She also co-founded the

Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) is a women's public association. The organization has up to 12,000 annually volunteering women. History EWLA was established in 1995 by Ethiopian women lawyers which included Maria Yusuf, Atsedeweine T ...

Early life

Maria was born in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, ...

, Ethiopia to Harari parents. She became involved in charitable work while still in high school, and was able to raise relief funds for the Wollo famine in collaboration with the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

Career

Maria began her career as a judge at the

High Court of Ethiopia , insignia = , insigniasize = , insigniacaption = , insigniaalt = , flag = , flagsize = , flagalt = , flagborder = , fla ...

and following becoming a lawyer co-founded Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) in 1995 serving as board member with other Ethiopian women including

Meaza Ashenafi Meaza Ashenafi (born 25 July 1964) is an Ethiopian lawyer. In November 2018, she was appointed by the Federal Parliamentary Assembly as President of the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia until her resignation on 17 January 2023.Paul Schemm (No ...

and

Atsedeweine Tekle Atsedeweine Tekle Riggio ( Amharic: አፀደወይን ተክለ ሪጎ) is an Ethiopian lawyer and jurist who was the country's first female judge, serving on both the High Court and the Supreme Court. Early life and education Tekle was born in ...

. In 2003 Maria founded the ''"Organization against Gender Based Violence"'' in Ethiopia which would later be renamed the Association for Women's Sanctuary and Development (AWSAD) in 2009, the organization was the first to provide shelter exclusively for vulnerable women in the country. In 2011 she met with

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 20 ...

director of

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and foc ...

who paid a visit to AWSAD.

Awards & accolades

Maria was presented with the AWiB's Women of Excellence award in 2015.

References

{{Ethiopia-bio-stub Living people Women lawyers 20th-century Ethiopian women 21st-century Ethiopian women 21st-century Ethiopian people Ethiopian women's rights activists Ethiopian judges Organization founders Women founders Ethiopian women Ethiopian lawyers People from Addis Ababa Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Women civil rights activists