Gender and Law Conference

Statement by Dr. K.Y. Amoako,
Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa
Addis Ababa,
23 October 1997

Mr. Chairman,

Your Excellency, Mr. Kebede Tadesse, Minister in

Charge of Social and Administrative Sub-Sectors,

Honourable Ministers and Justices,

Distinguished Delegates,

Colleagues and Friends,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Addis Ababa, to the Economic Commission for Africa and to the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC). It is a particular pleasure because this Conference brings to Addis so many of my friends and colleagues from the World Bank and is an important indicator of the growing concrete collaboration between my present organization, ECA, and my former, the Bank.

This Conference is an important one because the process reflects the understanding of our two organizations that it is countries themselves which must articulate the issues and problems and define the strategies and solutions. In organizing this meeting, we have ensured that the title -- East Africa speaks -- sets the tone. We have endeavoured, therefore, to provide a facilitating and enabling process for countries to speak for themselves -- to identify their priorities and offer their perspectives. On our part, we hope to contribute to a rich dialogue and exchange of experiences, resulting in practical and implementable options that will improve the lives of women and men in East Africa, particularly poor women.

At the heart of this meeting is the goal of gender-equitable and sensitive human development and the implications of continuing constraints to women rights for the attainment of that goal. We have to acknowledge that women's low status and the discrimination against them, which limits the scope of their rights in most of our countries, is not an accident. The causes of women's subordination and unequal gender relations are deeply rooted in history, religion, culture -- in laws and legal systems -- and in political institutions and social attitudes. The solutions, therefore, require a comprehensive approach to address long-term systemic discrimination and oppression.

While the situation of women varies from country to country, there are many commonalities. In many African countries, a multi-legal system often creates different classes of women with differing and unequal rights. Custom, interpreted and often misinterpreted or created by men, becomes customary law, governing many women's lives, despite constitutional and statutory provisions which afford them equal rights. In most African countries women's ability to control resources, make decisions, inherit and divorce are constrained by the law. Women's participation in and receipt of benefits from the formal and informal economic sector are impeded by laws and regulations, while their enormous contributions are made invisible by undervaluation and undercounting. Increasing and pervasive violence against women reflects, in part, entrenched resistance to changes in the subordinate position of women in society.

Many African women, particularly rural and urban poor women, therefore believe that their countries' legal systems are either irrelevant to their lives or constitute systems which reinforce constraints and inequities. This is because, in many cases, they are not aware of nor do they understand the provisions. In addition, women must have some level of assertiveness and empowerment to be able to pursue judicial remedies. Most critical, even when the provisions are supposed to promote and protect women's rights, there is often a wide gap between de jure and de facto -- between passage and implementation. If a woman farmer, newly widowed, has land taken away from her by her husband's relatives or his community, or a woman entrepreneur seeks credit to begin or expand her productive work and is denied because she is a woman, or if she is beaten at home and is told, by the police, to try not to upset her husband, how much faith can she have in equality before the law?

But the reason that we have come together is not to cite the constraints and be daunted by them. The high-level of participation in this meeting is an indicator that you understand that law is "man-made" -- and I say that advisedly, as there are no societies in Africa or probably elsewhere, that can claim that women are fully participating in the formulation of the laws of those societies, given the low numbers of women in policy and legislative bodies. If "man-made", we know that they are the product of social and cultural processes and reflect the dominant values of those processes. If "man-made", they can be changed and they can be changed quickly to ensure that both women's and men's needs and aspirations are included and addressed.

We were reminded of this in a recent forum on governance in Africa, held here at ECA, where there was a firm consensus that, although democracy is a difficult process requiring vigilance and reinforcement, it is absolutely essential to good governance. When some countries called for more time to democratize, the South African representatives gave us their example -- apartheid laws were scrapped in a relatively short period of time. In that case the law was used to lead and the social consensus continues to be built today. The law must also lead in moving women into decision-making positions and all governance mechanisms and processes. As we have come to understand the links between responsive and effective governance more fully, we know that governance that does not represent both sexes is neither participatory nor inclusive. At the same Governance Forum participants agreed that the absence of women's voices and perspectives has contributed to an impoverished debate and often, distorted policies.

What is required, I believe, to make progress in all these areas is the political will of policy makers at the highest levels to ensure that the laws are revised or enacted, that there is a deliberate effort to build a social consensus for the laws and that the application and implementation are done with vigour and impartiality. We have also learned over the years that political will is often more important than resources. A good example is the increase of women's literacy to 70% in Zimbabwe, through strong political will and effective utilization of scarce resources.

Mr. Chairman,

The issues have been clearly articulated in the papers to be discussed over the next two days. They already reflect a dialogue between the women and the policy-makers of the six countries and shows their commitment and political will to address these issues as priorities and as part of an over-all development strategy. In the Ethiopian presentation, violence against women manifests itself in many ways -- domestic violence, abduction of young girls as part of forced marriages, rape and female genital mutilation -- contributing to grave physical health problems, psychological trauma and preventing women from participating in community and national life. In the Kenya case, the four systems of law have particular implications for women living with male partners, without being formally married. Maintenance, ownership of shared property and custody of children become thorny issues. For Tanzania, the implementation of the 1971 Law of Marriage Act, considered ground-breaking for women, is still constrained in many rural areas, where customary land tenure prevents women from inheriting matrimonial property. In Zimbabwe, progress in adhering to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination is shown, but there are still impediments to women's economic empowerment and ownership of property. Uganda's on-going decentralization is intended to ensure significant changes in the political and economic framework of governance. However, there is only now a deliberate effort to utilize this transformative process to empower women and to address their poverty and participation in decision-making processes.

Mr. Chairman,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In order to make further progress, the dialogue that has begun must be deepened and expanded. While legal systems are under the authority of the state, civil society has a critical role to play in asserting rights and influencing policy. Regional initiatives, such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, while still needing some modification, are also important measures for countries' progress in the protection and promotion of legal rights.

Two years after Beijing, where countries, international organizations and women entered into a compact for gender equality, we are feeling the pressure to ensure that the commitments are translated into concrete actions -- enlarging women's choices and improving their lives. This Conference will do just that.

At ECA, the promotion of gender equality is a cross-cutting programme. We want to use our 40th anniversary in April 1988 as a time to reflect on the major contributions of African women to the development of their countries. We will focus on the ways in which women and men, and governments and the UN, can accelerate the advancement of women toward gender equality in the 21st century. And as we strive for gender equality, let us remember the African saying: "Paradise is open at the command of mothers".

I look forward to the Action Plans and to continued close collaboration with all of you and with the Bank.