Dr. Marakie Tesfaye
TOPIC
Where do you go when you gotta go?
Where do you go when nature calls? For millions of women worldwide, the answer involves a daily threat to their dignity, health, and safety. Marakie Tesfaye exposes a silent but powerful form of gender inequality: the hidden ways public spaces exclude women through inadequate sanitation. This talk challenges us to rethink courage by recognizing that for countless women, the simple act of using a toilet is an act of bravery. Marakie argues that toilets aren’t just infrastructure; they’re a battleground for power, safety, and freedom, demanding that we design a world where every woman can exist in public without fear or shame.
ABOUT
Dr. Marakie Tesfaye is an advocate for women’s rights and dignity with a PhD in Creative Leadership for Innovation and Change. As the founder of the Jegnit Movement, she addresses systemic barriers in sanitation and menstrual equity. Her initiatives include Birqe, a dignity kit distributed to over 50,000 Ethiopian students and displaced women, and Kebelo, a project that reimagines water-fetching tools for women in rural communities. She also developed Mechot, an app that helps users locate clean public toilets, and hosted Gwadegna, a national TV show focused on sanitation and dignity. Her advocacy contributed to the Ethiopian government’s decision to remove taxes on sanitary pads. Marakie is also recognized for using social media as her classroom, leading bold, viral conversations on patriarchy and feminism through her live series Patriarchy 101 and Feminism 101, challenging cultural norms and sparking critical dialogue across the diaspora as well as for her upcoming book, Holding It In.