An ECA Symposium To Celebrate The International Women’s Day

By Houda Mejri, 07 March 2006

In a book published recently and titled “ the World of Women”, the French sociologist Alain Touraine writes “The progress and development of a given society can only be measured against the status of its own women and their participation in decision-making”.

Women Participation in Decision-Making is precisely the theme topic chosen this year to celebrate the UN International Women’s Day. On this occasion, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) through the African Centre for Gender and Development (ACGD) will organize on March 9, 2006, a Symposium on this theme that will be attended by the international community, the UN system, national and international NGOs, representatives from universities and the media in Addis Ababa, as well as the ECA staff.

Together, they will reflect during this half-day Symposium on a number of issues related to theme of the year, namely:
1. Legal frameworks to promote women in decision- making
2. Women in political decision- making structures in Africa
3. Preparing women at home for decision- making
4. The role of higher education in preparing women for decision- making
5. Women at the decision-making level in the UN system
6. The role of the media in the promotion of women in decision- making
7. Implementation of the “gender-parity “ principle in the African Union

Each theme will be focused upon by high profile speakers who will make presentations at the Symposium based on a set of guiding questions provided by the ACGD.

In addition, ACGD will produce a Brochure that relates the experience of 4 African women in the UN system who “have made it to the top” and accessed the decision-making status. They will relate in the brochure their own journey, their reflections and their expectations with regards to gender equality, women in power and the advancement of women in Africa as a whole.

In order to highlight even further the importance of this day and pay tribute to African women’s struggle to enforce their rights and reduce gender gaps, ECA/ ACGD has produced a 12-minute video clip of interviews of African women in decision-making levels. The video will attempt to capture their reflections on major gender challenges Africa has to address, and the need to promote women’s participation in decision-making in order to help African societies win the challenge of development. One of the interviewees is H.E. Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia’s new president and the first woman president in Africa.