African Center for Gender and Development

International Women's Day 2006: ECA Symposium on Women in Decision- Making

By Houda Mejri , 14 March 2006

Over 200 participants drawn from the international community, the diplomatic corps, the UN system, national and international NGOs, the academia, the media, as well as ECA staff attended ECA's Symposium on Women's Participation in Decision- Making organized in celebration of the International Women's Day at UNCC on 9 march 2006. The selected topic for reflection this year was "women in decision-making" and coincided with the theme of the meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2006.

In her introductory remarks at the Symposium that was opened by H.E Ms.Hirut Dilebo, Ethiopia's Minister for Women's, the Officer in Charge of ECA's African Center for Gender and Development, Ms Thokozile Ruzvidzo, expressed her joy at the enthusiasm shown by participants who came in great numbers to discuss the various issues of the Symposium. Underlining the importance of the theme chosen for the celebration, she said it was all the more important since it coincided with the election for the first time in Africa, of a woman president, H.E President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia. Ms Ruzvidzo exhorted that while we must rejoice at the progress women are making in accessing the structures of decision-making at all levels, we also needed to reflect on the complex challenges that women continued to face.

This need for collective reflection was stressed further by Ethiopia's Minister for Women's Affairs who reminded the audience that no policy is likely to raise economic productivity, reduce infant mortality, improve nutrition and promote health as the policy of equal rights of women and men. "As decision-makers", she added, "we have the obligation to exercise the trust that has been placed on us to make a difference with seriousness and humility".

After viewing the video clip produced by ECA to highlight the selected theme, Mr. Patrice Vahard, Officer in Charge/ Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presented a paper on the legal frameworks to promote women in decision-making. He examined some of the reasons why various national and international instruments were not implemented the way they should be. A major reason, he suggested, was that these instruments that underscore women's human rights including the right to decision-making " are arguably developed against the mind set of lawlessness as if there was no prior legal order". This has created a clash between African legal norms and colonially inspired legislations. The solution, he suggested, would be to seek a point of convergence between tradition and modernity, national and international laws through collective endeavour to harmonize positive laws and policies.

The second sub- theme focusing on "Women in decision-making structures in Africa" was presented by H.E. the Ambassador of Mozambique to Ethiopia Ms. Ana Nemba Uaiene. Giving some eloquent examples on the progress achieved by her country in this area (11% of MPs and 28% of government members are women), she underlined that the trend was irreversible and that "education for girls creates the basis to underpin and sustain progress achieved at the regional level." "Quotas and affirmative actions are surely important measures", she noted, "but investing seriously in education and training for women and girls remains of the essence ".

Assessing the presence of "Women at the decision-making level in the UN System", Dr. Monique Rakotomalala, UNFPA Resident Representative in Ethiopia, summed up the efforts that helped her organization reach the 50/50 parity goal in 2000. Such progress was achieved in a number of UN agencies; however, the trend had started to fall noticeably over the past few years, hence the need to undertake a causal analysis. "We should, as women decision-makers, help redress the trend, avoid causing bottle necks in the system and pave the way for more women to come on board".

Ms. Regina Amadi -Njoku, the Regional Director for Africa of the International Labour Organisation also explored these ideas at length and admitted that her organization "has not attained gender parity yet as far as senior positions are concerned, although the number of women directors has increased exponentially". In addition, having more women in decision-making positions can be facilitated by networking because "sisterhood is strategic and women need to lobby to become more present within the UN System".

Bringing a more practical dimension to the theme of the Symposium, Dr. Hirut Terefe from Addis Ababa University underlined in her presentation on "Preparing women at home for decision-making," the role of the family where we are all molded. She emphasized that educating society on women's right to decision-making begins at home. The critical issue therefore was the content and the message of that education.

Touching upon the important issue of higher education and its role in preparing women for decision-making, Ms. Roman Kifle presented to the Symposium a synopsis of what Unity University College has accomplished in reducing gender imbalance in education through the Project Challenge 100,000 Africa . Within the framework of this Africa-wide project, a scholarship programme called The Girls' Education Project was initiated to address gender imbalance in higher education for underprivileged young women in Ethiopia. So far it has enrolled up to 1,500 students. Over 35 of these students graduated in 2005 and are now employed. "This is how women can be empowered through education," concluded Ms. Kifle, "so as to become decision- makers and change agents for other women and for society as a whole".

Another sub-theme discussed during the symposium was the role of the media in the promotion of women in decision- making. To address the issue, Ms Elisabeth Aqubay, a journalist from Journalists Without Borders in Ethiopia, focused her presentation on the "modest" place women occupy in the industry and the reasons thereof. Though women leaders in the media are few, "they should try to showcase their success and motivate others to break taboos and stereotypes." "Besides", she noted, "their status can help them reach out to decision-makers and sensitize them."

All presentations made at the Symposium triggered rich and stimulating discussions that led to the following conclusions and recommendations:

• It is critical to tap into indigenous knowledge even as Africa invests in education

• Women without formal education have the right to enjoy all their human rights as much as everybody else.

• African women need to access more power in addition to the authority they have at family and community levels;

• Affirmative actions to address historic imbalances in Africa should be strengthened and expanded;

• The role played by community radios and talk shows to give women a voice and to change the social landscape should be increased

• African women networks need to strengthen their financial base in order to facilitate women's access to strategic decision-making -positions

• Symposiums such as the one held on 9 March should be organized more often in order to encourage collective reflections and sharing of ideas in Addis Ababa

Closing the Symposium, Ms. Winnie Byanyima, Head of the Gender Directorate of the Commission of the African Union commended ECA's initiative in organizing such an encounter thereby making it possible to reflect together on the challenges facing African women. She underlined that enforcing women's rights, including those to decision-making, required combined efforts to define feminist values, discard patriarchal attitudes, coach and monitor the young, strengthen collaborative networking etc. Convinced that Africa would increasingly look for answers from its women, Ms. Byanyima concluded that "the problem is not just pushing for the inclusion of women, but rather seeking to implement a transformative agenda because African societies need transformative leadership".