Date: Sunday, 10 March 2019
"The struggle is never over," says Hanna Simon, in reference to the decades-old war between Eritrea and Ethiopia that thawed only last year.
“Yes, now we have peace after being at loggerheads for more than 20 years. But now that peace is here, we are all trying to get the maximum from this peace; first of all to maintain it."
"We were five siblings to join the struggle," says the former freedom fighter turned ambassador. "Two of my brothers died there for the country."
The Eritrean rebellion against Ethiopian rule was led by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), an insurgent movement supported by the Arab world.
"I saw some women, many women in fact who were with the fighting forces and I asked them, how is it, and they explained. And I understood this was my place. I said I have to serve my country," comments Simon.
Today, she is doing so as Eritrea's ambassador to France, a position she's held since July 2014.
Double curse
Her past struggles nonetheless still inform Simon's opinion when it comes to tackling gender inequality, a notion she admits was absent during her upbringing.
"My mother was very strong. My father kept the family, she too kept the family, and we didn’t know anything about gender segregation."
It wasn't until she joined the struggle and later entered the world of work that Simon discovered the meaning of "double oppression."
"Suddenly I realized there is double exploitation," as a woman, and a black woman at that.
What advice does she give to girls and other women to overcome such hurdles?
"I want to tell them that we have only to fight ourselves, not any other person.
We had the will to snatch our independence." To achieve gender equality, the same sheer willpower will be needed.
Eritrean ambassador fights for women’s rights after years fighting a war