African Union
Ministers in charge of Gender and Women’s Affairs have adopted the Common
African Position (CAP) that seeks to advance women’s full and effective
participation and decision-making in public life as well as the elimination of
violence for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and
girls in Africa. The consensus is part of the strategy to ensure the continent
and aspirations of African women and girls are well articulated at the global
discourse at the United Nations 65th Session of the Commission on the Status of
Women (CSW65) to be held from 15 to 26 March 2021.
In a meeting convened
virtually, the Ministers forged consensus on broadly, five key messages that
speak to; the urgent need to strengthen the comprehensive legal and regulatory
frameworks through legal reforms to enhance women’s participation and
representation in public life and eliminate discriminatory laws, policies and
regulations; gender mainstreaming in COVID-19 responses and recovery; prevention
and elimination of all forms of violence against women in public life, and the
protection of survivors of violence; championing for change in negative gender
social norms on women’s leadership and participation in public life; and
increasing the availability of financing in support of women’s participation in
public life.
The Common African
Position is aligned to the call for action at the 65th session of the CSW that
is focused on “women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public
life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and
the empowerment of all women and girls”. The CAP makes great import of the
continuous struggle for women across the African continent spanning several
centuries in the pursuit of parity and equal representation of women in public
life. In recent years, progress has been recorded as African governments,
public and private institutions implement gender-responsive actions, however,
women remain highly under-represented in the executive, legislative and
judicial branches and political party rosters, national institutions, the civil
service, as well as in the broader workforce.
This has been
attributed to existing and emerging challenges including the limited awareness
among men and women on women’s rights; unequal power relations, poverty, low
access to education; inadequate sex and age disaggregated data on economic
disparities; negative traditional norms; the limited database of women
qualified for decision-making roles; the limited political will among the
authorities to enforce temporary special measures for women including quotas
for political party nominations and create women friendly human resource
policies in the public sector; limited funds to implement action plans promoting
women’s rights; and ineffective lobbying and engagement by women’s
organizations.
The CAP builds on
existing commitments at the international and regional levels, in particular
Africa’s Agenda 2063; the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA),
the Programme for Action of the International Conference on Population and
Development (PAICPD); Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (SDGs) as well as
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), the
Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) and the AU Strategy for
Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. It also restates the responsibility by
governments to develop national policies and priorities in accordance with
their international and regional obligations and commitments to achieve gender
equality and the empowerment of all women.
The nexus between
women’s participation in public life and other crucial rights such as social
protection, the right to education, maternal and reproductive health, social
protection, the protection from all forms of violence, and access to land and
resources to enable women’s access to public life, was also underscored by the
Ministers.
Conscious of the
negative impact of COVID 19, the CAP seeks to consolidate and promote
accumulated gains to ensure the gains are not reversed. The Ministers in 2020,
adopted the African Union Gender Responsive
Responses to ensure COVID-19 recovery, response, and stimulus
packages are made available to both men and women equally and not to leave
women and girls behind.
Despite women making
up about 50 per cent of the African population, they remain largely
underrepresented in leadership roles across financial, investment and
entrepreneurial markets. As a result of these longstanding gender gaps, the
continent loses over 20 per cent of its GDP every year. H.E Dr. Véronique
Tognifode Mewanou,
Minister of Social
Affairs and Microfinance of the Republic of Benin, Chairperson of the Bureau of
the Specialized Technical Committee on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment,
underscored the importance for the continent to speak with one voice to realize
the full gains of gender equality and women’s empowerment. She stated, “social
justice, equality and women empowerment are prerequisite for both the growth of
men and women within nations and between nations. We must clear the obstacles
that hamper women in leadership positions or from getting the leadership
positions.”
Through its legal and
binding treaties such as the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights and
its Protocol on the Rights of Women (Maputo Protocol), the African Union has
made gender equality and women’s empowerment one of its priorities. The
treaties have translated into political commitments at the level of Heads of
State and Government, through the adoption of the Solemn Declaration on Gender
Equality in Africa, the AU Gender Policy, and the just launched AU Strategy for
Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment 2018-2028.
The Chairperson of the
African Union Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, in a message delivered on
his behalf by the outgoing Deputy Chairperson, Amb. Kwesi Quartey noted that
despite having these policies in place, women are far from being treated fairly
in public services. He stated, “as voters, women constitute the primary pool on
which candidates crystallize in order to have the most relevant democratic
legitimation by virtue of the majority of universal suffrage. Informally, they
are undoubtedly the strong link in all our countries as key players in local
small businesses, traditional agriculture, and crafts. They are the backbone of
family life. In conflicts and crises, they are, unfortunately, once again on
the front lines, victims of the belligerents' atrocities.”
UN Undersecretary
General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa (UNECA), Dr. Vera Songwe, in remarks delivered on her behalf by Ms.
Thokozile Ruzvidzo, UNECA Director, Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division,
emphasized the need for stringent policy directive to end impunity and bring
justice to victims to ensure that violence against women and girls does not
continue to undermine and erode gains made by member states to realize their
gender equality commitments. Her sentiments were echoed by Ms Letty Chiwara, UN
Women Representative to Ethiopia, Africa Union Commission and UNECA, who
underscored the need to Africa to take stock of the progress in eliminating
gender and sex-based discrimination.
During the meeting,
the AU Commission also launched the African Union Strategy
for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) as a
framework document to strengthen women's agency in Africa and ensure that
women's voices are amplified and their concerns fully addressed through, among
others, effective implementation of legislation and proper financing of gender
equality work.
Source: Directorate of Information and Communication, African Union
Commission
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