African Women Battle for Equality
A decade ago, African women had reason to expect change following a much-heralded global conference that set ambitious targets to transform the lives of women across the world. Like their counterparts elsewhere, African women are taking stock of progress and asking to what extent promised reforms have been implemented. They are also examining why progress has been limited in many countries and are seeking ways to overcome the obstacles.
There have been moves to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a UN protocol, as well as the development of new policies and guidelines and creation of networks of gender experts, she said, citing just a few examples.
In Africa specifically, women have made significant strides in the political arena over the past few years. The continental political body, the African Union (AU), took a major step by promoting gender parity in its top decision-making positions.
Obstacles persist
“We are all aware that despite achievements and progress made, African women face major challenges and obstacles,” says Dr. Farkhonda Hassan, chair of the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s Committee on Women and Development. For example, she says, the primary development policies in many countries, known as poverty reduction strategies, still do not take into account differences in income and power between men and women, hampering efforts to finance programmes that reduce inequality. In addition, she says, the majority of African women are still denied education and employment, and have limited opportunities in trade, industry and government.
The Beijing platform should no longer be viewed as a set of simple goals and aspirations, says Ms. Hassan, but must be used as a tool to push for the adoption of gender-sensitive policies. “The objective now is not to renegotiate our dreams, but to emphasize the accountability of all actors through detailed discussions of goals, targets, achievements and failures,” she says. “We are no longer seeking promises, but are demanding action.”
Poverty has a woman’s face
For many African women, the Beijing platform and the various international instruments their governments have signed have yet to translate into positive changes in their daily lives. They remain at the bottom of the social hierarchy, with poor access to land, credit, health and education. While some of the agreements that African governments have ratified enshrine property and inheritance rights, in most countries women are denied those very rights.
Compounding the situation are setbacks such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic that is destroying the health of more women than men in Africa, eroding some of the development gains women had attained. As a result, poverty in Africa continues to wear
a woman’s face, notes Ms. Gladys Mutukwa of the Zimbabwe-based non-governmental organization Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF). She finds it disturbing that 10 years after Beijing, African women are much poorer.
A UN Food and Agricultural Organization study on Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Sudan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe shows that women rarely own land.
Getting girls into school
But perhaps the most inhibiting factor is that women in Africa continue to be denied an education, often the only ticket out of poverty. Disparities between girls and boys start in primary school and the differences widen up through the entire educational system. In total enrolment in primary education, Africa registered the highest relative increase among regions during the last decade.
Policies specifically targeting girls were responsible for considerable improvements in countries such as Benin, Botswana, the Gambia, Guinea, Lesotho, Mauritania and Namibia. In Benin, for instance, the gender gap narrowed from 32 to 22 per cent, thanks to policies such as sensitizing parents through the media and reducing school fees for girls in public primary schools in rural areas.
By the time children go through high school and reach college, the gender gap has become even wider. “At the tertiary and university levels the low participation for women continues,” declared African government ministers gathered in Addis Ababa in October to take stock of the continent’s progress since Beijing. “Gender gaps are particularly pronounced in science, mathematics and computer sciences.”
As with a range of other historically male-dominated subjects, an International Labour Organization (ILO) survey shows that women are starkly under-represented in technical programmes in African colleges.
“I strongly hold the view that since days immemorial, women have played and continue to play a significant role in the economic and social development of their countries,” says Namibia’s Women’s Affairs Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. “What is at stake is that they are not visible, not recognized and not rewarded for the hard work they do.” She says that each country should allocate a percentage of its national budget to gender issues. “This request is based on the fact that to date no country allocates more than 1 per cent of its national budget to women and gender issues.” Currently, resources for national programmes for the advancement of women come mainly from external partners.
To redress the bias in macroeconomic policies that favours men and boys at the expense of women and girls, a number of African countries have adopted a tool known as gender budgeting. Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda are among the countries currently assessing their budgets along gender lines. This involves analyzing government spending choices and their impact on women and men, boys and girls, with the aim of better identifying disparities. That in turn can help mobilize more financing to narrow the gaps, for example by funding programmes to reduce the heavy time burdens on women or by improving their access to energy, water, transport and labour-saving technologies.
Influencing policy
“Poor resource bases, few staff and no power or authority within governments to advance equality and justice for women are just a few of the constraints.”
However, women in some countries in Southern Africa have moved into positions of political influence. In South Africa and Mozambique, for example, women hold 30 per cent of the seats in parliament.
In some countries, the presence of women in parliament has made a difference in the adoption of gender-sensitive policies. Because of pressure from women, some countries now have affirmative action policies, such as quotas, to increase the number of women in decision-making positions. “The objective now is not to renegotiate our dreams, but to emphasize the accountability of all actors. We are no longer seeking promises, but are demanding action.” For example, girls not only need access to primary education, but must also be protected from violence and harmful practices.
While there is a need to continue with basic strategies to lift women out of poverty and to halt HIV/AIDS, Ms. Mbugua says, “it is also important to put in place second- and third-generation strategies.” These include ensuring that global trade agreements and new information and communications technologies provide immediate benefits to women. Empowerment of women, she says, should not be confined to a narrow range of sectors within countries, but should also “ensure the equal participation of women in fast-moving global processes.”
‘Equality is still not a reality’
Gender activists are intensifying efforts to obtain the minimum 15 ratifications needed to bring into force a protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights aimed at promoting gender equality. Once in effect, the Protocol on the Rights of Women would provide a legal framework for women’s rights and require states to develop laws that prohibit discrimination.
The protocol states that every woman has the right “to the recognition and protection of her human and legal rights.” It includes articles on equality in marriage, access to justice and political participation, protection of women in armed conflict and the provision of education, training and health care. It also upholds women’s rights to housing and inheritance. The rights of widows and the special protection of elderly women and those with disabilities are also covered. The protocol contains guidelines on ending traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, which it condemns as harmful to the health of women and girls. Signatories will have to report periodically on progress and to provide financial resources to implement the rights enshrined in the protocol.