8 March 2005, International Women's Day

Major Gains and Challenges for Women in Africa
By Houda Mejri, ECA/ACGD, 08 March 2005

Celebrated by the United Nations since 1975, International Women's Day (IWD) is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to gain their rights and to participate in society on an equal footing with men. It is also an opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved, to commend the courageous acts of ordinary women, and to renew commitments to fight inequalities and potential threats to women's rights as a whole.

This year, the day coincides with the 10-year review organized by the UN to assess progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action for the Advancement of Women (Beijing+10), which was held in New York from 26 February to 5 March.

In the African context, the Seventh African Regional Conference on Women held last October in Addis Ababa noted that efforts to promote gender equality had gained momentum in some countries through women's mobilization, advocacy and increased representation in political decision-making. However, the vast majority of women still remain vulnerable on many fronts.

Achievements and Pending Problems

Poverty reduction

• In Africa, the number of people living in poverty - most of whom are women - rose by 82 million over the past decade, while the figures dropped in other developing regions.
• Only 13 countries have specifically incorporated gender concerns into their plans, out of 48 countries that have national action plans for implementing the Beijing Platform for Action.

Education

• Some improvement in education was noted, as enrolment ratios for both girls and boys increased in various countries, while in others there was parity of the sexes at secondary level.

Human rights of women

• African countries have strengthened their legal and policy frameworks. However, the enforcement of existing legislation remains low.

Conflict prevention, peace building and reconstruction

• Violence against women is rampant particularly in conflict zones. In addition, dilemmas persist between post-conflict reconciliation and gender justice, the reintegration of women and continuing discrimination.

Health

• Although some countries have paid increased attention to reproductive health rights, the rates of maternal morbidity and mortality are the highest in the world and access to comprehensive health services continues to be a major challenge.

Participation in governance

• Several countries have increased the level of women's representation in parliament, but women continue to be under-represented in most structures of power and decision-making.

Gender mainstreaming and institutional mechanisms

• Most countries have established national gender machineries, but these mechanisms remain weak and lack adequate capacity, authority and funding.

HIV/AIDS

• Every country has established a National AIDS Commission to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic and its link to poverty.
• Almost 70% of those infected with the HIV virus live in Africa and 58% of these are women.
• Women carry the negative impact of the pandemic in many areas. In addition, the reduction of public services for the victims has placed the burden of care on women irrespective of their HIV status.

The Way Forward

The Seventh African Regional Conference on Women recommended that greater efforts be deployed to promote gender equality. It outlined several key actions to be taken, particularly in the crucial areas of health and education. The recommendations included mainstreaming gender issues into economic analyses and poverty reduction strategies. Affirmative action should be strengthened to boost women and girls' access to education and training programmes, particularly in mathematics, science and technology. In the field of health, governments, NGOs and the private sector should come together to provide accessible sexual and reproductive healthcare services and education to reduce maternal mortality. The rate of HIV/AIDS infection is much higher among women than men and in this regard, governments must establish and monitor strict legal frameworks to address the vulnerability of women and girls. Furthermore, access to anti-retroviral treatment should be ensured.

It is widely recognized that women's empowerment requires a higher rate of involvement in governance and decision-making. To this end, the conference called for institutionalizing polices that guarantee gender equality and replicate the African Union principle of 50/50 gender parity. It also recognized the role the media can play in promoting equality, and suggested that Africa support women's press and communication initiatives as well as making use of new information technology to promote women's activities. Women should also be allowed to have a prominent role in formulating and implementing environmental policies.

Women's rights begin with the girl-child, who must be protected against discrimination, ill health, malnutrition, violence, FGM, forced marriage and exploitation. Direct advocacy to achieve this should start with the parents, traditional and religious leaders and parliamentarians. And all too often, women are the main victims of war and conflict, so governments should ensure that measures are in place to ensure the role and rights of women during the negotiation, transition and reconstruction phases. The conference called on countries to sign and ratify the protocol to the African Charter promoting women's rights as soon as possible.

Finally, men and boys must be involved in the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment through innovative rights-based and culturally sensitive programmes.