Giving Compass' Take:

• Appointing women to leadership positions is key to achieving gender equality and Ethiopia is making strides in this area with a 50% female cabinet, reports Global Citizen.

• Why is Ethiopia only the second state in Africa to address gender equality in this way? What can the U.S. learn from such progressive governmental action?

• Here are three actions to achieve gender equality through economic empowerment.

One African country has recognized the need for equal gender representation within its government.

On Tuesday Ethiopian lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the nominations of a 50% female cabinet, AP reports.

“Our women ministers will disprove the old adage that women can’t lead,” said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who moved the nominations forward Tuesday. According to Abiy, this decision is the first of its kind in the history of Ethiopia and probably in Africa.

Ethiopia, the second most populated country in Africa, is only the second state after Rwanda on the continent to have equal gender representation in the cabinet, according to BBC.

The first cabinet Abiy announced in April, made up of 28 people, only includedfour women. This time around he trimmed down the cabinet to 20 people, 10 of which are women. In Ethiopia, a few groups have always been in power but the new cabinet is also more ethnically diverse than ever, representing 80 different ethnicities.

Read the full article on gender equality in Ethiopia's government by Leah Rodriguez at Global Citizen .