Berhane Ras-Work

Berhane Ras-Work (born c.1940) is an Ethiopian anti-FGM activist. She was the founding President of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC).[1]

Life

Born Berhane Asfaw, into a Christian Ethiopian family, she attended a European-run primary school and at the age of fifteen went to boarding school in Addis Ababa. She gained a BA in education at the Jesuit University.[2] After marrying a US-trained engineer, Terrefe Ras-Work, she accompanied her husband to Geneva in 1970.[3] She gained a MA in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of Development Studies in Geneva.[4]

A television program "started her thinking" about female genital mutilation, and what could be done to raise consciousness and confront the issue.[3] In 1977 diplomats and activists living in Geneva founded the NGO Working Group on Traditional Practices Affecting the Heath of Women and Children. This was a precursor to the IAC, which was founded in 1984. Ras-Work was elected the first IAC President at the inaugural meeting in Dakar.[5]

In 1995 Berhane Ras-Work received the United Nations Population Award.[4] In 2010 she was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria.[6]

Works
  • (ed.) Traditional practices affecting the health of women and children in Africa: report on a seminar. Dakar: Ministry of Public Health, 1978
  • 'Female genital mutilations', Voices from Africa, No. 4, pp.89–96
  • 'Violence against women as a traditional practice', in Yvonne Preiswerk and Mary-Josée Burnier, eds., Tant qu’on a la santé: Les déterminants socio-économiques et culturels de la santé dansles relations sociales entre les femmes et les hommes, Genevalie: Graduate institute publications, 1998
  • the unbidden pain. Janus publishing co, 2014. ISBN 978-1857568097

References
  1. Hoskins, Irene (1998). "Speaking out: An interview with Berhane Ras Work, president, the inter-African committee". Ageing International. 24 (4): 85–97. doi:10.1007/s12126-998-1027-4. S2CID 72664194.
  2. Myriam Meuwly, Les gens: Berhane Ras-Work, la voix des Africaines, Le Temps, 2 June 1998. Accessed 14 December 2020.
  3. Claude E. Welch, Jr. (1995). Protecting Human Rights in Africa: Roles and Strategies of Nongovernmental Organizations. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 94. ISBN 0-8122-1780-2.
  4. George C. Denniston; Marilyn Fayre Milos, eds. (2013). Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-4757-2679-4.
  5. Saida Hodzic (2017). The Twilight of Cutting: African Activism and Life After NGOs. Univ of California Press. pp. 19–20. ISBN 978-0-520-29199-7.
  6. Berhane Ras-Work, Convenor of the WG on Violence against Women and Girls receives highest Austrian award, NGOCSW, April 26, 2010. Accessed 14 December 2020.
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