| ASSESSING
THE POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN |
|
Table
of Contents
Executive summary
1. Introduction
2. The Beijing Platfo m: Women in powe and decision-
making
2.1 Strategic
Goal G. 1: Take measures to ensure women s access to and
full participation in power structures and decision making
2.2 Strategic Goal G. 2: To Increase Women
s Capacity to Pa ticipate in Decision- making and Leadership
3. The
United Nations system: Commitments and achievements
3.1 Challenges
and constraints
4. Commitments
at the national level
5. Regional commitments
5.1 Southern
Africa subregion
5.2 Eastern Africa subregion
5.3 West Africa subregion
5.4 North Africa subregion
6. Ove
view of prog ess at the regional
6.1 Challenges
7. Resources
7.1 Regional
level
7.2 Subregional level
7.3 National level
8. Conferences/
workshops and studies
8.1 Regional
level
8.2 Subregional level
8.3 National level
9. Mechanisms
for monitoring implementation
9.1 Subregional
level
9.2 National level
10. Conclusion
References
Acronyms
Notes
Information
about this publication
Executive
summary
This paper
reviews progress made on the African continent in the area of
Women in Politics and Decision- making since the adoption of the
Dakar and Beijing Declarations. It incorporates assessments from
various sources including: the internet; official documents of
the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa/ African Centre
for Women ( ECA/ ACW) and other organizations; minutes of meetings
and reports of workshops. It also incorporates the assessments
and ideas enerated during the Sixth African Regional Conference
on Women held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 22 to 26 November,
1999.
The paper
argues that progress in the political empowerment of women has
been slow. That 10 per cent of the members of legislative bodies
were women in 1995 and the figure is only around 11 per cent in
1999. The commitments made in the Beijing Platform had two oals:
To take measures to ensure women s access to and full participation
in power structures and decision making and to increase women
s capacity to participate in decision- making and leadership.
Various actions were proposed achieving these oals including:
overnments should establish the oal of achieving ender balance;
creating a critical mass of women leaders in strategic positions;
that women should hold 50 per cent of mana erial and decision-
making posts by the year 2000; that political parties should inte
rate women in elective and non- elective positions; protecting
and promoting women s equal rights with men; removing discriminatory
and prejudicial electoral systems; continuous monitoring and regularly
evaluating progress. Also, African countries at the regional level
commitments made through the Dakar Platform, for example, to establish
mechanisms for participation at community and society levels;
to adopt measures to improve women s economic status; to take
affirmative action and other actions to redress imbalances; to
mobilize and sensitize men, women, NGOs, political parties, trade
unions; enact legislation on women with disabilities; and to ensure
that women occupy 35 per cent of decision- making positions.
African overnments
then endorsed the Beijing and Dakar Platforms which they adopted
and incorporated in national action plans; they ratified of the
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination A ainst Women
( CEDAW) ; and for some, commitments to quota systems and affirmative
action. Main international and regional or anizations such as
the United Nations, the World Bank, the Or anizaition of African
Unity ( OAU) , African Development Bank, ECA, the Southern African
Development Community ( SADC) also made commitments and declarations
for ender mainstreaming in the spirit of the Dakar and Beijing
Platforms.
The paper
notes thatthe reasons for the slow progress is the magnitude of
the challenges to be addressed and these include: cultural and
traditional barriers; the persistent unequal division of labour
and responsibilities within households; civil wars and strife;
women s inadequate education and training; lack of enforcement
of quotas and affirmative action; inadequate eneration, dissemination
and use of ender research and disa regated data; the HIV/ AIDS
epidemic; the serious economic problems facing African economies;
lack of political will.
The recommendations
for spurring progress include: promoting affirmative action to
develop a critical mass of women in leadership positions; setting
up a central fund to assist women who are aspiring to political
office; reviewing and challenging electoral processes and discriminatory
practices that hurt women s aspirations to political office; supporting
women public leaders active and vibrant moves to for technical
support, information and solidarity ensuring economic empowerment
of women; changing oppressive traditional and cultural practices;
promoting alternative leadership through encouraging and acknowledging
leadership initiatives by women at all levels of society; and
conceptualizing an alternative framework for women s leadership
such as the responsible use of power, challenging corruption and
promoting a culture of peace and non- violence. The recommendations
and lessons learnt were derived mainly from the sixth Africa Regional
Conference discussions, and included the following:
( a) That
quota systems and affirmative action work best when they are
accompanied by capacity building and are enforceable;
( b) That
there is a need for strong political will and commitment;
( c) That
countries with a background of political struggles seem to have
made more progress than those which have been fairly stable
;
( d) That
time frames and tar ets must be set for achieving equal representation
and participation of women at all levels of decision- making;
( e) That
decentralization programmes have enabled more women at the rassroots
level to enter into decision- making.
The Conference
also proposed a set of indicators for assessing the impact on
women s political empowerment of such concepts as access to power
and decision- making, participation, and transformation of social
structures and processes.
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1. Introduction
Empowerment
implies the creation of an enabling environment for individuals
to fully use their capabilities to take charge of their live .
Empowerment also implies the building or acquiring of capacity
to accomplish certain tasks and attain specific goals.
In the area
of women political empowerment, it is increasingly becoming recognized
that women should empower themselves and be empowered. This relates
to both individual empowerment( such as increasing individual
civic competencies) and collective empowerment ( such as networking)
. Empowerment also involves creating a conducive environment so
that women can use these competencies to address the fundamental
problems of society at par with their male counterparts.
It follows,
therefore, that building the analytical, political, advocacy,
leadership, networking and other competencies of women is just
as important or even more important than increasing women number
in higher policy and decision- making bodies and institutions.
It can even be argued that these qualitative factors provide the
foundation for a sustainable improvement of the position of women.
Otherwise, legislative or constitutional mandates ( or any other
situations in which the existing male- dominated power structures
are required to do favours for women - for instance by appointing
them to the cabinet) may merely result in tokenism, manipulation
and unsustainable representation.
The achievements
of the Beijing Platform should therefore be judged on the non-
quantifiable aspects of women empowerment ( e. g. increased ability
of women to enter into political leadership or to create radical
or revolutionary reversals in the flow of political power) as
well as the numbers of women in positions of power and decision-
making. Moreover, indicators of true empowerment should show that
women are increasingly breaking the traditional boundaries and
stereo- types for instance by taking up ministerial positions
in previously male- dominated sectors such as defense, finance
and foreign affair . The reverse should also be true for men who,
for instance, should be appointed men to positions previously
viewed as women domain such as women affair , children and community
services.
This paper
assesses the achievements of governments and United Nations agencies
in the area of Women in Power and Decision- Making. Interviews
and documentary surveys were carried out to establish the following:
the amount of resources ( human and financial) allocated to political
empowerment of women; statistical information indicating the status
of women in the area of political empowerment; conferences/ meetings
and consultations that have been organized at the national, regional
and international levels as a follow- up to the Beijing Conference;
recommendations that have come out of these fora; mechanisms that
have been set up to monitor progress in the political empowerment
of women; the major constraints to or challenges in the political
empowerment of women; and mechanisms and procedures that have
been established to mobilize resources for the political empowerment
of women.
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2. The
Beijing Platform: Women in power and decision- making
Before the
Beijing Conference, it was evident that women played only a small
role in the power and decision- making structures in their countries.
A report by the United Nations Department of Public Information
showed that by mid- 1989 the countries with the highest numbers
of women in cabinet and legislative assemblies were Norway, Sweden,
Bhutan, Cuba and Romania [1].
The same report noted that the extent of progress in empowering
women had nothing to do with a country level of development. It
noted that the most significant reason why women were less represented
than men in positions of power and decision- making was because
they were not put forward as candidates for such posts. In cases
where women were put forward as candidates, evidence showed that
they were more likely to be elected than their male counterparts
[2]
In addition,
since women were not well represented in the executive bodies
of political parties, trade unions and other bodies, they were
not visible enough to be put forward as candidates for positions
of power such as cabinet ministers and members of parliament.
The report also noted that women were better represented in legislative
bodies at the local level. The goal of the Beijing Platform was
to reverse the situation of women by creating strategies to ensure
equal representation of women at all levels.
In the Platform,
issues of political empowerment of women are covered in Theme
G: Women in Power and Decision- Making whose goals ( G. 1 and
G. 2) and strategies are outlined below.
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2.1 Strategic
Goal G. 1: Take measures to ensure women s access to and full
participation in power structures and decision making.
Governments
committed themselves to:
Establishing
the goal of gender balance in governmental bodies and committees,
public bodies and the Judiciary through, among other measures,
setting up specific targets and implementing measures to increase
the number of women in these bodies, including affirmative action
where necessary. The specific actions agreed include;
( a) To
encourage political parties to integrate women in elected or
non- elected positions to reflect same proportions and levels
as men;
( b) Institute
measures to protect and promote women equal rights with men,
their freedom of association and their representation in political
parties and trade unions;
( c) To
review electoral systems with the aim of removing any differential
impact on women;
( d) To
continuously monitore and regularly evaluate progress in the
efforts to increase the representation of women in decision-
making positions but also all other levels of employment.
( e) To
regularly publish quantitative gender disaggregated data to
show the levels of men and women employed in the public and
private sector with a view to ensuring women full representation
in employment.
( f) To
give special focus to indigenous women participation;
( g) To
support NGOs and research institutions which work to enhance
women participation, empowerment and decision- making environment;
( h) To
ensure that government- funded organizations adopt non- discriminatory
employment policies;
( i) To
take measures to ensure shared work and parental responsibilities
within families aimed at ensuring reconciliation of women family
and professional life;
( j) To
ensure gender balance in nominating, appointing or electing
candidates to United Nations bodies, agencies and organizations
particularly at senior levels.
Political
parties would:
( a) Examine
and take measures to ensure that the party structure does not
discriminate against women directly or indirectly;
( b) Develop
initiatives to ensure women participation in all internal policy-
making structures and appointive and elective processes;
( c) Incorporate
gender issues in their political agenda and ensure that women
participate in leadership on equal basis with men.
All stakeholders
in each country including subegional, regional and international
bodies would:
( a) Build
a critical mass of women leaders, executive and managers in
strategic decision- making positions;
( b) Create
or strengthen mechanisms to monitor women access to senior levels
of decision- making;
( c) Review
the criteria for recruitment and appointment to advisory, decision-
making and senior positions to ensure relevance and to remove
all obstacles to women participation;
( d) Encourage
NGOs, the private sector and, trade unions to achieve equality
of men and women in their ranks including in decision- making
bodies and all negotiations;
( e) Develop
communication strategies to promote public debate on the new
roles of women and men in society and in the family;
( f) Restructure
recruitment and career planning/ development programmes to ensure
that women ( especially the young) have equal access to training
( including on the job) , job counselling and mentoring/ coaching
in order to advance their careers in leadership, managerial
and decision- making positions;
( g) Encourage
and support women NGOs participation in United Nations conferences
and their preparatory processes and have gender balanced composition
of delegations to United Nations and other international fora.
The United
Nations pledged to:
( a) To
implement existing employment policies and measures and adopt
new ones to achieve overall gender equality, particularly at
the Professional level and above all, by the year 2000, giving
due regard to the requirement to recruit from as broad a geographical
spread as possible, in conformity with article 101 paragraph
3 of the Charter of the United Nations;
( b) To
develop mechanisms for nominating women a candidates for appointment
to senior positions in the United Nations system;
( c) To
continue to collect and disseminate quantitative and qualitative
data on women and men in decision- making and to analyze their
differential impact on decision- making;
( d) To
monitor progress towards achieving the Secretary- General s
target of having women hold 50 per cent of managerial and decision-
making positions by the year 2000.
For women's
organizations and others the objectives were:
( a) To
build and strengthen solidarity among women through information,
education and sensitization activities;
( b) To
advocate at all levels on behalf of women to enable them to
influence political, economic and social decisions, processes
and systems, and seek accountability from elected representatives
on their commitment to gender concerns;
( c) To
establish, in line with data protection legislation, databases
on women and their qualifications, for use in appointing women
to senior decision- making and advisory positions, for dissemination
to governments, regional and international organizations and
private enterprises, political parties and relevant bodies.
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2.2 Strategic
Goal G. 2 To Increase Women s Capacity to Participate in Decision-
making and Leadership.
Governments
and all other stakeholders in the country, including subregional,
regional and international bodies would:
( a) Provide
leadership and self- esteem training to assist women and girls,
particularly those with special needs, for example women with
disabilities or belonging to racial/ ethnic minorities, to strengthen
their self- esteem and enable them to take up decision- making
positions; Have transparent criteria for decision- making positions
and ensure that the selecting bodies have a gender- balanced
composition;
( b) Create
a system of mentoring for inexperienced women and, in particular,
offer training in leadership, public speaking, self- assertion,
campaigning, and similar areas;
( c) Provide
gender- sensitive training for women and men to promote non-
discriminatory working relationships and respect for diversity
in work and management styles;
( d) Develop
mechanisms and training to encourage women to participate in
the electoral process, political activities and other leadership
areas.
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3. The
United Nations system: Commitments and achievements
Immediately
after the BejingConference the United Nations sought to spur the
global implementation of the Platform for Action through all its
agencies. In its resolution 1996/ 34, the Economic and Social
Council endorsed the system- wide medium- term plan for the advancement
of women, 1996- 2001, and called for a mid- term review to be
undertaken by the Commission on the Status of Women ( CSW) at
its forty- second session, in 1998.
The plan was
formulated at the end of 1995 pursuant to a decision of the Commission
on CSW. It wa structured around the 12 critical areas of concern
contained in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
It was also formulated to reflect relevant mandates from other
recent United Nations conferences and summits. Activities were
clustered under each critical area based on a typology of action,
that is, information collection and database development; research
and analysis; operational activities, including advisory services,
technical assistance and training; and public outreach and information
dissemination. The plan largely addressed activities targeted
at women but also included gender- responsive activities that
were planned as part of mainstream programmes and projects [3].
The theme
of women empowerment and enhancing their presence in power and
decision- making positions was at the heart of United Nations
priorities within the United Nations system itself and beyond.
The United Nations pledged to ensure that 50 per cent of its decision-
making positions would be taken up by women by the year 2000;
to appoint more women as special representatives and envoys; to
ensure accountability of individual manager for implementing the
strategic plan in their areas of responsibility; to continue work
to create a gender sensitive environment; and to enable the Focal
Points for Women effectively to monitor and facilitate progress
in the implementation of the strategic plan [4].
The Inter-
Agency Committee for Women and Gender Equality ( IACWGE) was created
specifically to ensure implementation by monitoring activities
to ensure that the goals and objectives of women in power and
decision- making were fulfilled. Furthermore, the General Assembly
mandated CSW to integrate into its work programme a follow- up
to the Beijing Conference in which the Commission should play
a catalytic role, regularly reviewing the critical areas of concern
in the Beijing Platform for Action including women in power and
decision- making.
The United
Nations strategic plan was still under implementation when the
mid- term review was conducted. However, the following excerpt
gives a general indication of some activities accomplished in
the area of women in power and decision- making :
Both the Platform
for Action and the plan give new importance to the critical area
Women in power and decision- making . In this connection, the
United Nations system has focused on increasing the number of
women in decision- making positions at all levels and in various
sectors, strengthening the role of women parliamentarians, providing
leadership and management training, researching issues of women
empowerment and honouring significant women role models. The organization
has given support to women s organizations to empower women, particularly
at the community level [5].
Internally,
the United Nations system itself has made some headway in efforts
to increase the number of women in positions of power and decision-
making. Starting from the goal of 50/ 50 gender distribution by
the year 2000 in all United Nations agencies at the national,
regional and international levels, initiatives have been undertaken
to improve the balance of men and women in the system.
During the
sixth African Regional Conference on Women ( 22- 26 November,
1999) various United Nations Agencies including the United Nations
Development Fund for Women( UNIFEM) , the Division for the Advancement
of Women ( UNDAW) , the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees
( UNHCR) , and the International Research and Traning Institute
for the Advancement of Women ( INSTRAW) reported individually
on progress made, especially with regard to implementation of
activities but also on some specific outcomes of such activities.
These include, facilitating access to the Platforms through media,
discussions and translation into various languages; resource mobilization;
advocacy and capacity building; engendering governance and transformational
leadership; establishing institutional mechanisms, alliances and
networks for women political empowerment; enhancing the use of
modern information technologies such as the internet; and interfacing
with NGOs.
Data from
the International Civil Service Commission ( ICSC) show that,
generally, the situation is improving in all United Nations agencies,
organs, funds and programmes. For example, recruitment of women
at the senior levels ( p- 5 and above) at present account for
4.8 per cent of all recruitment compared to 2.6 per cent in 1993.
However, progress seems to be slow and there is still a long way
to go towards parity especially at the highest echelons of the
system. For example, about half of the women at the professional
level are at the P- 3 level and below; women hold only 20 per
cent of the system s geographical distribution posts at the P-
5 level and above; as the grade levels increase, the number of
women thins out [6].
There is concern
about the slow progress in achieving the 50/ 50 requirement by
2000. At the current rate of progress, this goal may not be reached
until 2013 for geographical posts and 2018 for non- geographical
posts [7]. Among other things,
the position of women in the United Nations system can be improved
through: top level commitment; policy development including establishment
of focal points and ongoing revision of targets; expanding recruitment
sources; facilitating work/ life balance; enhancing the working
environment; follow- up mechanisms [8].
These are ongoing initiatives that have already shown results
and there are other new initiatives are being developed all the
time.
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3.1 Challenges
and constraints
Globally,
the United Nations strategic plan and implementation of the Beijing
Platform is faced with the following challenges/ constraints:
lack of data and of methodologies and indicators for monitoring
progress; lack of tools for tracking expenditures for cross- sectoral
activities, at both headquarter and field levels; inadequate human
and financial resources; low levels of commitment, both politically
in some countries and at the level of management in some agencies
of the United Nations system; cultural and other constraints;
and delays in delivery of technical assistance [9].
[Table
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4. Commitments
at the national level
The main commitment
made at the national level by most African countries has been
to endorse the Beijing and Dakar Platforms for Action and to adapt
these, mostly through participatory processes, to their plans
of action and gender policies. In addition, by acceding to CEDAW
without reservations ( or with few reservations) most countries
have demonstrated a level of national commitment to raising the
status of women and increasing their presence in power and decision
making. The following examples, from the four African sub- regions,
serve to illustrate these commitments and the progress achieved
as well as the challenges and constraints that countries continue
to face.
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5. Regional
commitments
5.1 Southern
Africa subregion
South Africa
has developed a national action plan for implementing the Beijing
and Dakar Platform . The plan considers women and violence as
a top theme alongside economic empowerment and health, poverty
and education. The ruling African National Congress has committed
itself to affirmative action by reserving 30 per cent of parliamentary
seats and 50 per cent of local government seats for women. It
has also pledged to implement CEDAW without reservation. As a
result, South Africa has the highest representation of women in
the national assembly on the African continent; 19 per cent of
local government elected representatives in the 1995 elections
were women and 14% of positions at the executive level are held
by women; 13% of foreign heads of mission are women. Some of the
problems faced in the regionare highlighted below.
After Namibia
s elections in 1998, 15 women out of the 78 legislators in the
Parliament were elected [10]
amounting to about 19.2 per cent. While this signified a reduction
from the previous elections there wa , however, some improvement
at the local level.
Namibia has
implemented quotas for its 11 local councils at the regional and
local levels. In the 1998 election, 158 or 40 per cent of the
397 filled seats were taken by women. These positions were distributed
as follows: one Regional Governor ( out of 13) , 136 local counselors
( out of 329) , five mayor ( out of 28) and 16 deputy mayor (
out of 27) .
The constraints
cited in Namibia s case are: human, material and financial shortages
making all programmes heavily donor- dependent; lack of adequate
research for making informed decisions; the burden of HIV/ AIDS;
lack of a pecific gender budget; and lack of readily accessible
credit systems for women.
In many countries
there has also been an increase in NGOs dealing with women political
empowerment.
In Malawi,
the national machinery worked fervently to put more women into
power in the 1999 elections. Such organizations as the Women Voice
and the Association of Malawian Professional Women are working
for women empowerment. The National Democratic Institute ( NDI)
, an American funded body conducted training programmes for aspiring
women parliamentarians for the 1999 presidential and general elections.
It is also targeting women aspirants for the upcoming local government
elections. The Parliamentary Women Caucus ( PWC) is also behind
many activities for women empowerment such as encouraging other
women to stand for elections.
The emphasis
on civic and voter education specifically targeted at women has
resulted in 16 women ( two of whom independents) entering the
193 seat National Assembly. This was an improvement from the previous
nine women out of 177 seats after the 1994 general elections.
However it still falls short of the targeted 30 per cent of seats
for women as stipulated in the SADC Protocol [11]
.
Elsewhere,
constitutional reviews have specifically examined ways of enhancing
equality between men and women and laws are being reviewed to
remove bias against women. Efforts are being made to improve girls
attainment of basic literacy and education.
The UNDP s
civic education project in Malawi claims to have resulted in a
60 per cent increase in women participation in decision- making
positions, especially in the boards of parastatals, with a number
of women becoming appointed as board chairpersons. However, progress
is slower in the civil service. Within the UNDP itself, the target
for achieving a 50- 50 sharing of posts between men and women
has been set for 2003. The organization claims, however, that
women currently make up about 75 per cent of its management cadre
and the new Resident Representative is a woman.
In Botswana,
public perception of gender equality and advancement of women
has significantly improved. However, as of the last election there
are 40 men as opposed to only four women in Parliament whilst
in the Cabinet there are 13 men and only three women. The public
service is no exception to this scenario [12].
As in many
other African countries, the status of women in Botswana has improved
with increased awareness of gender issues at various levels of
society. Steps are also being taken to integrate gender concerns
in policies, programmes and projects.
One constraint
is the continued existence of laws and practices that discriminate
against women in spite of the equality provisions of the Constitution.
The National Machinery is also new and therefore lacking in adequate
finances and staff with the required skills. Sometimes it is difficult
to define priorities and the lack of a decentralized system hampers
progress at the district and community levels. In addition, there
is a tendency to view women issues as the exclusive responsibility
of the National Women Machinery with the result that other departments
view gender issues as secondary to their primary roles and responsibilities.
In Swaziland
a slight improvement in the participation of women in decision-
making has been reported. Sensitization campaigns on power sharing
are said to have progressed very well.
As in other
African countries, Swaziland considers the following as obstacles
to women empowerment: the patriarchal structure of society; socialization
and culture; lack of support systems; lack of research; and lack
of a well- formulated gender policy.
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5.2 Eastern
Africa subregion
Uganda s priorities
are poverty, income- generation and economic empowerment; reproductive
health and rights; legal framework and decision- making; the girl-
child, and education. Although women in power and decision- making
is not specifically mentioned as a priority area, some progress
has been made in this area as shown by the commitment to affirmative
action and quotas in elected bodies at the national and local
levels. The achievements and obstacles for Uganda have been mentioned
in preceding sections.
Seychelles
has prioritized nine critical areas of concern and Women in Power
and Decision- Making is explicitly mentioned. Here that 5 per
cent of manager in the parastatal are reportedly women and 65
per cent of those currently being trained in management skills
are women. Seychelles is one of the countries indicated above
as having a high representation of women in the national assembly.
In Kenya,
the current Parliament has 4.2 per cent of the 222 elected seats
are taken up by women compared to 3.2 per cent in 1991. However,
more women have been nominated ( 42 per cent of total nominations)
than in 1992 ( only 8 per cent) . Women form 23 per cent of staff
in public administration compared to 21 per cent in 1992. The
number of women in the Judiciary has risen from 25 per cent in
1992 to 30 per cent 1998. Women currently occupy 8 per cent of
seats in local authorities; 6 per cent of ambassadors and high
commissioners are women ( compared to 3 per cent in 1992) ; 13
per cent of principal secretaries and 16 of deputy secretaries
( compared to 6 per cent and 8 per cent respectively in 1992)
. It is also worth noting that more women judges ( commissioners
of assizes) have been appointed since May 1999 [13].
It is difficult
to say which of these improvements are the direct results of the
Beijing Platform activities since the base year of comparison
is 1992 while the Beijing Platform was developed in 1995. Some
noted constraints in Kenya have been the slow progress of the
constitutional review process, insufficient funds to cover rural
areas, limited media on successful women and low circulation of
poster .
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5.3 West
Africa subregion
The ACW/ ECA
follow- up meeting for West Africa which took place in Dakar,
Senegal, from 25 to 27 November, 1997, gave progress in the subregion
as follows:
There was
an appreciable increase in the number of women in decision- making
and power management. Mali, for example, has 6 ministers; Gambia
has a woman vice- president; portfolios for the Ministries of
the Interior, Education, Justice, Industry, Scientific Research,
Tourism and Culture, Environment for example, which were hitherto
occupied by men are currently being offered to women. Most countries
had adopted their Plans of Action and identified their priority
areas identified includeding women human rights and women participation
in decision- making bodies [14].
Ghana s Platform
for Action has seven priority areas of which Women in Power and
Decision- Making is explicitly mentioned. Noted achievements include
a 15- year Plan to implement the Beijing Platform; a committee
constituted under the First Lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyeman-
Rawlings, which seeks affirmative action through a 40 per cent
quota representation of women in policy- making bodies; a system
established in place ( starting at the highest levels) to implement
affirmative actions, including the monitoring of progress; development
of a gender policy document and a strategy framework; and sector
specific gender policy documents for agriculture, education and
trade unions. Appropriate laws ( for example customary registration
and divorce laws) have also been passed which provide for one
standard form of inheritance. Also under review is legislation
that regulates distribution of marital property upon divorce.
The number
of women in Parliament has increased from 16 to 18 out of 200
a modest increase. There is a Women in Public Life Project which
has undertaken a number of tasks including: conducting a major
research on the situation of women in decision- making; developing
training needs; and disseminating research findings to various
institutions and Government. A documentation center has been set
up and a management information system is planned to further disseminate
gender and development data. In addition, a directory of women
in decision- making is being developed as well as one on women
with leadership qualities at the grassroots level.
In Ghana,
obstacles encountered include inadequate financial, human and
material resources. There is also an over- dependence on the expertise
of NGO staff as well as negative societal attitudes and perceptions
about the roles of men and women.
5.4 North
Africa subregion
In Egypt,
there are nine women in a Parliament of 454 seats ( 2.2 per cent)
; 2 women in a Cabinet of 23 ( 8 per cent) ; 22 women out of 360
local authorities ( 6.1 per cent) and women account for 5.7 per
cent of the Senate. Among the major obstacles faced are difficulties
in implementing legislation that challenges religious forces and
the effects of economic liberalization/ structural adjustment
policies and programmes. NGOs also claimed that they were not
consulted in the formulation of policies on women [15].
[Table
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6. Overview
of progress at the regional
The average
representation of women in national legislative assemblies in
Africa stands at 11 per cent which reflects little progress in
achieving the 30 per cent target for women in decision- making
positions by 1995 set by the United Nations Economic and Social
Council ( ECOSOC) [16].
In the post-
Beijing/ Dakar period, there seems to be growing consensus that
progress in advancing the status of women is still slow in spite
of some gains. For example, many awareness campaigns have been
carried out forcing governments to make some concessions; affirmative
action policies have helped address women concerns, especially
their participation in national and local assemblies. Many more
countries are now at various stages of developing their gender
policies.
The internet-
based WomenWatch Global Discussion Forum on Beijing+ 5 solicited
view , opinions and statistics across the globe, including Africa,
to assess progress in the 12 themes of the Beijing Platform for
Action. Discussions on women empowerment were conducted through
the Women- Power Working Group [17].
Some of the key themes addressed by the members of this Working
Group were: progress attained since 1995; women in office addressing
gender issues; impact of affirmative action/ quotas; obstacles
to strengthening women in decision- making roles and establishing
partnerships and coalitions. The views expressed generally demonstrated
that there had been a lack of progress, although some successes
were highlighted in the specific examples below.
In Nigeria,
for example, efforts to entrench a 30 per cent women quota in
the democratic constitution were thwarted and the three main political
parties in their various manifestos did not make any commitments
either. The President s promises for affirmative action were also
not reflected in his appointments. Of the 46 Minister , only five
are women ( 10.8 per cent) . Recently, about 106 ambassadors were
nominated and only seven were women ( 6.6 per cent) . The situation
at the State and local levels is not any better. For example,
of the 23 local government chairpersons in River State, there
is not even a single woman. The State Governor is a man and there
are no women in the 32- member State Assembly. The National Assembly
has 16 members representing River State, none of whom is a woman.
The two Ministers and one Special Adviser from River State are
men. At the State level, of the 16 Commissioners and about five
Special Advisor , only three are women [18].
In Uganda,
the country s quotas and affirmative action policies have ensured
that women have to make up at least one- third of any committee
and each district selects one woman representative to Parliament
[19]. This has increased
the participation of women in politics and other key positions.
Women participation in decision- making has had an impact on the
policies enacted.
However, positive
changes have also been occurring. UNIFEM has implemented a number
of training activities, for parliamentary and local election aspirants,
in lobbying, interpreting and presenting budgets and bills, public
speaking, campaign strategies, personal communication and presentation
skills. National Machineries have been assisted in strengthening
capacity for policy advocacy, coordination and monitoring of programmes
for the advancement of women. Women political caucuses have been
formed in Kenya and Nigeria to monitor gender aspects of constitutional
reviews and political processes [20].
A number of
organizations are also working at the regional level to empower
women in various ways. The Association of African Women for Research
and Development ( AAWORD) uses social science knowledge to empower
women in various ways, including convening fora where younger
women can interact with older role models. The Africa Women Development
and Communications Network focuses on knowledge dissemination
as a tool for women empowerment based on the premise that knowledge
through information is power.
Other organizations
such as the Forum for Women in Development ( FOWODE) in Uganda,
the Women Lobby Group in Zambia and Emang Fasadi in Botswana are
all working to empower women politically and they require capacity
building and support.
Namibia, South
Africa, and Uganda have Constitutions that provide for affirmative
action to increases the number of women in policy and decision
making positions. In South Africa, 20 per cent of parliamentary
seats and 50 per cent of local governing council seats are reserved
for women. Angola, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe have quota legislation
guaranteeing certain numbers of women in legislative assemblies.
However, vigilance is still called for to prevent backsliding
and political manipulation [21].
So far, the six African star performers in terms of women representation
in national assemblies, mainly attributed to affirmative action
and quotas are South Africa 29.3 per cent; Mozambique 25.2 per
cent; Seychelles 23.5 per cent; Namibia 22.2 per cent; and Uganda
21 per cent [22].
At the subregional
level, the Southern Africa Development Community, SADC, provides
an example of the institutionalization of the Beijing and Dakar
Platform . The SADC Heads of State Declaration on Gender and Development
reaffirms the subregion commitment to the Nairobi Forward- Looking
Strategies, the African Platform for Action and the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action. The Declaration endorses SADC s decision
to establish a policy framework for mainstreaming gender in all
SADC activities; establishing an institutional framework for advancing
gender equality including the establishment of Gender Focal Points
( GFPs) , in all sectoral initiative , an Advisory Committee and
a Gender Unit) . The Declaration has an addendum on the Prevention
and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children with proposed
legal, social, economic, cultural and political strategies to
tackle this strongly condemned phenomenon.
Although the
above commitments serve to empower women and improve their status,
SADC has also made a direct commitment to ensure that women occupy
30 per cent of positions in power and decision- making. The Gender
Monitor publicizes implementation of and achievements in the SADC
member countries commitments . The first issue of this publiscation
highlights the successes that have been made so far in women empowerment
[23]. Angola for instance
has appointed well- qualified women to the positions of Cabinet
Ministers of Petroleum and Fisheries while at least 7 countries
Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe
have identified women in power and decision- making as one area
of priority.
Affirmative
action and quotas have in addition also been introduced in Angola,
Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
The SADC countries
have in addition finalized action plans concentrating on certain
priority areas and implementation has started. Where there is
stronger partnership with the non- governmental sector such as
in Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa,
the environment for promotion of gender equality is enhanced [24]
Gender awareness in general is increasing in the subregion and
actions are being implemented by various actor , sometimes in
uncoordinated fashion, to enhance the empowerment of women. There
has been an increase in the number of NGOs dealing with women
issues and networks are being formed to enhance the capacity of
national machineries for empowering women. Regional offices of
such international agencies such as UNESCO are making efforts
to enhance empowerment. One such effort is the training of parliamentarians
in Malawi jointly sponsored with UNDP and undertaken by the University
of Malawi. The training programme, which comprises several phases,
was started at the request of the Women Caucus in Parliament.
[Table
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6.1 Challenges
Many of the
national reports on progress in implementing the Beijing and Dakar
Platforms state that progress has been made in empowering women.
However, there are issues and problems that need to be addressed
before any country can claim to have made significant progress
in empowering women. The concept of political empowerment of women
, for instance, needs to be well articulated with clear indicator
of empowerment as well as mechanisms for continuous monitoring
and evaluation. The numbers of women in policy or decision- making
institutions cannot be taken to be the sole indicator of empowerment
of women. There is the real danger that such numbers may have
resulted from a manipulated or perverted selection process [25].
The impact of women empowerment cannot be measured by the closing
of gaps in Parliament but by the amount of power and influence
they wield in changing the conditions of women in the whole country
including those in rural areas.
It has been
indicated elsewhere that women chances for political empowerment
are limited by discriminatory practices and attitudes arising
from unequal power relationships between men and women. The question
is how much progress has been made in removing these obstacles?
Have the activities that have been implemented since the Beijing
and Dakar Platforms resulted in much noticeable, measurable impact?
Anecdotal information and general impressions indicate that limited
progress has been made in these areas but that there is a long
way to go to remove long- held male dominated practices, attitudes,
values, traditions and social, political, and economic systems.
A few examples
show that not every progress is necessarily positive or sustainable.
Uganda is said to be one of those few countries in Africa that
have made significant achievements in women political empowerment
[26]. Yet many intractable
obstacles remain even in such a conducive environment. As one
author noted:
Women participation
is often met with enormous challenges deeply ingrained in traditions
and customs that have for a long time constituted societal practices.
The belief that women are good as cooks, sex providers and juniors
is still persistent. For example, in the cabinet women are given
ministries which are considered useless to the economy, and therefore,
not so demanding. This simply is to prove the point that women
cannot take on hectic jobs [27].
This author
goes on to observe that there are only 6 women cabinet ministers
in Uganda and they occupy silent ministry posts that are considered
not of utmost importance. There are altogether 35 state ministers
out of whom only 11 are women meaning that out of the total of
66 ministers in Uganda less than one third are women.
Addressing
the 53 rd Session of General Assembly, Item 103/ 104 on Advancement
of women and Implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World
Conference on Women, Ms Angela King, Special Adviser on Gender
Issues and Advancement of Women noted:
However, we
have a long way to go to meet the challenges of the Platform for
Action. This is especially so in light of current global realities
characterized by a financial crisis that is substantially reducing
national incomes and growth in many parts of the world, including
Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America The financial crisis is
lowering social indicator in affected countries. It is threatening
many other , including those considered the richest and most powerful.
It is crucial for us to focus on the gender dimensions of the
consequences of the current crisis, as well as of globalization
in general.
Members of
the Women- Power Working Group identified several challenges for
women entering into positions of power and decision- making in
Africa and elsewhere. These include: the lack of training and
preparation for working in the political arena; offices that focus
on women are being demoted to lower ranks in public administration
and thus are placed at a higher risk for cutbacks; and with the
primary responsibility that women must fulfil for their homes
and families ( without greater involvement of men in household
labour - including childcare - any outside responsibilities, such
as involvement in politics represent additional burdens for women.
The main obstacles
to women participation in decision making are varied: cultural/
traditional inhibitions women are to be seen not heard and women
roles should revolve around taking care of the children and the
home; lack of funds; lack of formal education; marginalization
by male- dominated structures; women in positions of power not
raising gender issues primarily because most of them have been
appointed by men. They therefore toe the male line or remain passive.
The Sixth
Regional Conference workshop on women political empowerment noted
that the factor for slow progress in empowering women is in the
political, structural, social- cultural, and contextual realms,
as follows:
Political
factors: lack of political will in political leaders and
parties; absence of affirmative action; lack of political and
leadership training; inadequate civic and voter education for
the masses; inadequate allocation of resources to women structures;
absence of women critical mass in decision- making bodies; discriminatory
laws and practices against women.
It also noted
structural factors such as: institutional sexism;
the patriarchal system that influences women to discount themselves
and other women; low level of women education.
The social-
cultural factors noted include: traditional and cultural
barriers; capable women avoiding risks and exposure involved in
taking up political positions; socialization; exist attitudes
and perceptions toward women.
The contextual
factors noted include: lack of effective monitoring mechanisms
at the national, regional and United Nations levels; lack of resources;
need for sponsoring women to run for political positions; lack
of women role models; lack of solidarity among women.
Another obstacle
in the political system is the glass- ceiling that keep women
from reaching positions of significant decision- making power.
Members also mentioned that women often feel that they are in
the minority, and that the cultural expectation is that women
will be, and should be, silenced simply because they are women
[28].
Severely declining
economies and the debt burden for most African countries have
reduced available resources for all development initiative , including
for women and gender in development programmes. The downsizing
and reforming of public services has also seen the removal or
merger of departments and ministries, including those addressing
women affair . Some cultural and religious beliefs continue to
pose a major deterrent to progress, especially since these factors
will take generations to change. New and more ingenious strategies
need to be created for this intractable challenge.
The star performers
mentioned above do experience challenges that need further attention.
For instance in South Africa women experience conflict between
work and domestic responsibilities; certain processes in Parliament
still need to be made gender- sensitive; many women still feel
that they lack the skills for dealing with Parliament [29].
In spite of
the progress made in some sector , women are still largely invisible
in the key decision- making positions of academia, the judiciary,
financial institutions, parastatal bodies and their governing
boards, and the private sector. Quotas and affirmative action
provisions need to be enforced in these areas. It is also crucial
for SADC countries, for example, to tackle the structural problems
that keep women out of power and decision- making. Women skills,
competencies and personal empowerment in all spheres of life need
to be increased if women are to effectively assume positions in
power and decision- making [30].
Inadequate
support of families and political parties also prevents women
from taking up positions of power and has to be dealt with. NGOs
which try to help women in this area have little capacity and
are too dependent on outside donor . This negatively affects empowerment
and the building of effective institutions for women advancement.
The problem
of balancing between their personal and professional live remains
a major challenge for women. Sacrifices, major risks and serious
challenges abound on either front, especially when spousal, family
and societal encouragement and support are absent.
In West Africa,
the ACW/ ECA follow- up meeting in 1997 noted a number of institutional
constraints to women empowerment. These include: conflicts and
absence of peace; poor formulation and monitoring of plans; low
status of structures responsible for the advancement of women
and lack of a clear definition of their mandate; and lack of political
will to effect changes.
Technical
and financial constraints were also identified. These include:
ineffective coordination and cooperation among the various actors
in the planning and implementation of plans of action; ineffective
distribution of responsibilities in the implementation of action
plans; existence of everal other sectoral plans of action and
lack of coherence between them and the national plans of action;
insufficient gender dis- aggregated data; low capacity in gender-
related planning; lack of vision with regard to social issues
when formulating national plans of action; insufficient consultation
and grassroots participation in developing national action plans;
inadequate sources of information; inadequate financial resources
and inability to mobilize funds.
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