International Women's Day 2010

Women Need to Become Key Actors of Change, Not Passive Instruments of Policies

UNIFEM Liaison Office/ UNECA, Addis Ababa.

Held this year under the theme, “Equal rights, Equal opportunities, Progress for all”, the International Women’s Day was celebrated through a Symposium coordinated by UNIFEM and UNECA on behalf of the United Nations organisations participating in the Social and Human Development Cluster of the Regional Coordination Mechanism (RCM). The Symposium gathered representatives from the Ethiopian Ministry of Women Affairs, the African Union Commission, the donor community, several African and international diplomatic delegations, civil society organizations and the UN System.

In her opening remarks, UNIFEM’s Representative to the African Union, Ms Florence Butegwa, reminded the participants that even when strong commitments and actions have been taken in Africa, serious and pervasive gender-based inequalities remain, and are in some cases getting worse. She noted that a lot more had to be done to convert the promises implicit in the policies into concrete realities of African women and girls. She also emphasized the need to coordinate actions between all stakeholders so as to fill the gaps in gender related issues. In this relation, she mentioned the new gender architecture that the United Nations is creating and stressed its role as the real driver of action to support progress towards gender equality.
Ms. Litha Musyimi-Ogana, Director of the Women, Gender and Development Directorate of the AUC, reminded participants about the context which gave birth to International Women’s Day, the commitments and progress that the region has agreed and accomplished over the years. Ms. Musyimi-Ogana stressed the importance of the Women’s Decade and the Women’s Fund that had been adopted by the African Heads of States. She highlighted the ten areas that the decade would address. “These two activities, she said, are important and strategic to assist Africa in fighting poverty and closing the gender gap in opportunities and rights”.
The representative of the Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s Affairs pointed out the commitments that the government has made to ensure gender equality, and the activities that are being developed towards the advancement of women in Ethiopia. He also underlined the need to invest efforts in ensuring equal opportunities and equal rights for women, emphasizing that more initiatives need to be undertaken to guarantee a more just and equal system.

 In her presentation on the outcome of the recent African regional review of the implementation of Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing +15), Ms. Ruzvidzo indicated that the review had shown that most African women still have no access to equal opportunities in their countries. She shared with the gathering where women stand currently with regard to such areas as political participation, economic empowerment, access to health care, and combating gender based violence. She acknowledged though that, “whilst there has been progress especially in setting up of laws, significant work remains to be done in order to achieve the goals and commitments that African countries have agreed upon”.

Talking about conflict and post conflict situations, Dr. Kambudzi Admore Mupoki, Secretary to the Peace and Security Council at the African Union, stated that women and children were especially vulnerable, particularly in Africa, which is still the most affected region by conflicts. After presenting the challenges that the AUC faced in this area, he insisted that “African countries need to strengthen their action to promote irreversible peace and security conditions that would address the root causes of conflict and provide a better platform to protect the rights of women and children”.
On behalf of the UNICEF Liaison Office to the AU and UNECA, Mr. Anthony Mwangi centered his presentation on Violence Against Women and Girls. Described as a violation of the essential basic human right to safety, security and physical integrity, VAW and Girls takes equality from girls, reflecting it in low enrolment of girls in schools, poor performance at school, high dropout rates, teenage pregnancy, early marriage, increasing rates of HIV and AIDS in the 15-24 year old age group and psychological trauma. The UNiTE campaign to end VAW and Girls, he noted, is one among many initiatives to promote this equal opportunities and rights, fight against gender-based violence and show how a non-violent environment promotes progress and development for society. He concluded by calling for a more aggressive work, to ensure that every girl has the right to a childhood that provides her with the opportunity to reach her full potential.

The ILO Regional Coordinator for Women’s Entrepreneurship Development, Ms Aminata Maiga, gave a presentation under the title “Creating Opportunities as a Means to Ensure Equal Rights for Women.” Ms Maiga reiterated that it is only through economic independence that women will be able to fully engage in the development processes. The ILO official highlighted the Cairo Platform for Action for the Development of Women Entrepreneurship in Africa, a key document adopted during the First Pan-African Forum on Women's Entrepreneurship Development (October 2009). The Platform emphasises the many gender-based constraints and the continued under-representation of women in political and socio-economic decision making at the national, regional and international level. It also underlines the importance of micro, small and medium enterprises as a vital mechanism of economic growth and in the fight against poverty. She also acknowledged that investing in women economic empowerment should be included in the National development plans as a strategy for economic growth.

In his presentation made on behalf of UNEP, Dr Strike Mkandla, analysed the linkages between equal rights and opportunities and environmental issues. Climate change and other environmental issues, he insisted, are taking their toll on millions of African women and children who already live in poverty. They also have a serious impact on the means of the most vulnerable groups in society to access to resources. “World’s climate change and the consequences for humanity and especially for the most vulnerable groups call for immediate action, considering that humanity is already witnessing the impact”.

Touching on the role of international cooperation to push the gender agenda in Africa and promote gender equality, Ms. Maria Cruz Ciria, Head of Development Cooperation, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, reiterated her country’s commitment to investing in processes that enhance equal opportunities and strengthening frameworks that ensure equality of rights and opportunities for women. When it comes to international cooperation, she explained, “gender is definitely included as one of its main lines of action, based on the belief that development processes are only possible once a solid equality is promoted. The Spanish Government consistently supports processes as the Beijing Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals, as part of its contribution to sustain commitments made by African countries themselves and help them enforce such commitments.” 

In the discussion that ensued, attending diplomatic delegations of Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, The Gambia, Burkina Faso, took the floor to share some of their national experiences and good practices to effect gender equality in several areas and sectors, namely political participation, education parity, access to health and promotion of maternal and child health. All stakeholders were called upon to strengthen action and enhance collaboration, so as to bring about real changes. Men’s participation and involvement was also emphasized repeatedly, as well as the need to set benchmarks with achievable goals and objectives.

Summarizing the proceedings and findings of the Symposium, Dr. Jacinta Muteshi, Officer-In Charge of UNIFEM Ethiopia country office, insisted on the need to strengthen accountability, increase coordination and move ahead with gender mainstreaming programs and coherent action to implement the gender agenda and achieve sustainable results.

The concluding remarks made by Mr. Luc Rukingama, Director, UNESCO, emphasized the fact that failing to address the issues related to gender inequalities and disparities can only jeopardize development process and pose a threat to the development of African society as a whole.
 
 For further information, please contact:

* Daniel Almeida, UNIFEM 
daniel.almeida@unifem.org
* Houda Mejri, Information Officer, ACGS/UNECA
hmejri@uneca.org
Tel: (00215) 115 44 33 37
www.uneca.org