I Am a Woman Born of Woman
Reclaiming the Power Patriarchy Stole
By Lemlem Adanech Handame
About the Book
Women’s blood keeps humanity going, yet it is shamed and hidden. Women’s bodies bring every human into existence, yet “የሴት ልጅ”/ “born of a woman” has become an insult. As if anyone walking this earth was not born of one.
In I Am a Woman Born of Woman, Lemlem Adanech Handame traces her journey from girlhood in Ethiopia, where her grandfather cursed her existence for being born female, to Canada, where patriarchy wears a sophisticated mask: subtle, professional, polished, but designed for the same purpose.
This formidable hybrid memoir weaves personal narrative with evidence-based research to expose the architecture of gender inequality across cultures, institutions, and generations. From the physical scars of female genital mutilation in rural Ethiopia to the invisible barriers of discrimination and wage gaps in Canada, Lemlem documents what hides inside the ordinary and proves that the limits they built were never meant to hold us.
About the Author
Lemlem Adanech Handame is the pen name of Lemlem Zeleke Kebede, an Ethiopian-Canadian author, speaker, and international development professional. The pen name replaces her father’s and grandfather’s names with those of her mother (Adanech) and grandmother (Handame), reclaiming a maternal lineage that patriarchal naming conventions erased.
A PMP-certified project management professional and certified John Maxwell leadership speaker, Lemlem has built a distinguished career managing multi-million dollar programs across the Global South. She holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Leeds and a Master of Arts in Rural Development. She currently resides in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
What Readers Will Find Inside
- Personal narrative: A journey from rural Ethiopia through university, early career, international development, immigration to Canada, and the slow work of building a life on her own terms.
- Evidence-based research: Statistics on the gender pay gap, unpaid labor, workplace discrimination, beauty industry economics, and political representation, woven into the story rather than separated from it.
- Historical analysis: The ancient laws, religious texts, and philosophical traditions that built the system, from the Code of Hammurabi to modern HR policies.
- Cross-cultural comparison: How patriarchy operates in Ethiopia (loud, visible, physical) and in Canada (quiet, systemic, normalized), and why the structure is the same.
- A framework for seeing clearly: The book names four pillars of patriarchal control: controlling women’s bodies, devaluing women’s work, tying women’s status to men, and excluding women from power. Once you see the pattern, you cannot unsee it.
Who This Book Is For
For every woman who was told she was less.
For the immigrant who traded one shore for another, only to find that the architecture of exclusion follows no map.
For every person who wants to understand how patriarchy actually works, not as theory, but as lived architecture.
And for every woman suffocated by the norms of today, who feels the pressure but is still searching for the ‘why’ behind the weight.
A Book That Builds a Library
A portion of proceeds from every copy sold will fund the construction of a library at the school Lemlem’s mother, Adanech, built in her home community in southern Ethiopia.
Adanech was one of fewer than one percent of women in her region to graduate high school. She walked four hours each way across hills and valleys, carrying food on her back, fighting off abductors, refusing to quit. After earning her teaching diploma, she returned home and transformed a mud-and-twig schoolhouse into a real place of learning. She mobilized the community: farmers donated wood, women cooked for workers, children gathered stones. She built desks and chairs. She planted trees. She created a garden and a marketplace.
The library will carry her name because the women who build things deserve to be remembered.
This library continues her legacy.
Upcoming Events
Book Launch: July 23, 2026 | Fredericton, New Brunswick
Details coming soon.
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