Grace, Tenacity and Eloquence: The Struggle for Women's Rights in Africa

by Patrick Burnett (Editor), Shereen Karmali (Editor), Firoze Manji (Editor)

Overview

While it is true that, like elsewhere in the world, African women are not yet equal to men, toiling day and night amidst grinding poverty while facing harsh cultural, traditional, and social prejudices is only part of the story. The writings in this book show that women in Africa are fighting for their rights with grace, tenacity, and eloquence. The contributors describe how they won the cross-continental campaign for a protocol to protect the rights of African women and what still needs to be done to ensure that women enjoy these rights in every country. In a rich variety of articles, they consider topics such as women and conflict, the impact of current U.S. policies on women's health in Africa, women's rights in Islam, and the implications of the Jacob Zuma trial for women in South Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780954563721
Publisher:	Fahamu
Publication date:	03/01/2007
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.53(d)

About the Author

Patrick Burnett is the news and information coordinator for Fahamu and the coeditor of Pambazuka News. He has a background in journalism and is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Shereen Karmali is an editor with many years of experience in the nonprofit sector in the UK and Kenya. Firoze Manji is the founder and executive director of Fahamu and the editor of Pambazuka News. He is the former program director for the International Secretariat of Amnesty International and the former CEO for the Aga Khan Foundation UK.

Read an Excerpt

Grace, Tenacity and Eloquence

The Struggle for Women's Right in Africa

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By Patrick Burnett, Shereen Karmali, Fironze Manji

Fahamu

Copyright © 2007 Fahamu
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-9545637-2-1

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CHAPTER 1

CAMPAIGNING FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Ratify, ratify, ratify. That's the rallying cry behind the articles in the first chapter of this book. The articles represent the voices of women involved in the Solidarity for African Women's Rights (SOAWR) campaign, a coalition of women's rights organisations driving for the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Caroline Ageng'o begins the collection by charting progress in the struggle for women's rights from the 1917 food riots in Leningrad through to the hopes for gender equality on the African continent. In Uganda, writes Jacqueline Asiimwe, strides have been made in the political participation of women. However, there is still much to be done, with the potential ratification of the protocol being a significant step in the right direction. Gladys Mutukwa points out that states have already made commitments to women's rights through various international agreements, and urges African states to continue this trend by ratifying the protocol. Further articles stress the urgency for African states to ratify the protocol.

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY — CAN WE DARE CELEBRATE?

CAROLINE AGENG'O

Writing at the time of International Women's Day in 2005, Caroline Ageng'o charts progress in the struggle for women's rights from the 1917 food riots in Leningrad through to the hopes for gender equality on the African continent. She concludes by adding her voice to calls by Nobel Prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai for debt cancellation.

The pioneers of International Women's Day (IWD) in the late 19th century and early 20th century were ordinary women seeking rights that are today viewed as commonplace. In March 1917, previously downtrodden women, gathering strength and passion, swept through what is now Leningrad over several days of food riots, political strikes and demonstrations in a labour dispute that marked the most memorable International Women's Day.

International Women's Day has today assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. However, few of the pioneers would celebrate the slow progress made in the protection and promotion of the rights of women since 1917. Better working conditions, the right to vote and hold public office, the right to non-discrimination and the fight against poverty remain of concern to women today — as they were then.

The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women's rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women's Day has become a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.

It is interesting to note that International Women's Day in 2005 fell at a time when the world gathered in New York at the 49th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to review the progress made 10 years after the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995. This review, also known as the Beijing+10, presented an excellent basis for reflecting on the position of women even as we celebrated this noble day.

At the end of the Beijing Conference, as had happened at the preceding conferences in Mexico City in 1975, Copenhagen in 1980 and Nairobi in 1985, the governments present produced a policy document known as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), which was a statement about the problems and issues that had been raised at the conference.

The platform identified 12 critical areas of concern that needed to be addressed to enable women to fully enjoy their rights. The governments committed themselves to addressing these concerns with a view to empowering women and achieving equality, development and peace. The 12 areas are women and poverty, women in education and training, women and health, women and violence, women and armed conflict, women and the economy, women in power and decision making, institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women, the human rights of women, women and the media, women and the environment and the girl child.

An audit of how governments have performed in removing the inadequacies raised in the BPfA reveals that very little, if anything, has been done, largely because of a lack of political will compounded by patriarchal overtones that make policy or legislative reform extremely difficult even in the rare cases where the political will exists. This is rather unfortunate given that the principles of equality and non-discrimination are enshrined in a majority of the world's constitutions.

The situation in Africa is further compounded by retrogressive cultural practices and traditions, and poverty and armed conflicts. The first two influence, amongst other things, the legislative processes and serve to accentuate the discrimination that is visited upon women. Examples of harmful traditional practices include virginity testing, widow inheritance, sexual slavery and female genital mutilation. Patriarchy has been so well perfected that even where discriminatory laws and policies are removed, women are unable to immediately enjoy the benefits because the pressures of society demand that women remain in an inferior position to men. Take the case of free primary education, for instance. Several countries have made it possible for children to access free education at primary or elementary level without discrimination on the basis of sex. Yet many girls drop out after the first few years mainly because of the burden of domestic chores, such as fetching water and firewood, in addition to their other work. Therefore, unless the government addresses the basic issues of poverty, such as the provision of shelter, potable water and security, from a gender perspective the results of the costly legislative reform processes will not be felt for a long time.

The recently published stories of sexual abuse of women and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by UN peacekeepers speaks volumes not only about the vulnerability of women in conflict situations but in society in general. Those to whom they looked for protection instead turned on them for the simple reason that they were women. The plight of women in the DRC rekindles memories of the hundreds of women in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda who suffered unspeakable sexual atrocities in conflicts that they neither understood the origins of nor played a part in.

Is there then any hope at all for African women? The various continental processes currently underway under the auspices of the African Union offer some respite for women. The African Charter on Human and People's Rights provides for non-discrimination in Article 2 and equality in Article 3. In Article 18 the charter calls on all states to ensure the elimination of discrimination against women and to ensure the protection of the rights of women and children in accordance with international standards.

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa was adopted to supplement the charter with regard to the rights of women. The protocol remains by a long way one of the best initiatives undertaken by African leaders to bring an end to discriminatory and harmful practices against women. It addresses issues of non-discrimination as they relate to civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights as well as the right to development and peace.

This progressive protocol is yet to come into force. Ten countries have ratified it to date: the Comoros, Libya, Rwanda, Namibia, Lesotho, South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, Mali and Djibouti. Thirty-six other countries have signed, of which three are engaged in finalising the ratification procedures at a national level. As we celebrate International Women's Day we continue to urge member states of the African Union to urgently ratify this protocol to enable women to enjoy their rights. We also urge governments to repeal laws that discriminate against women so that these conform to their constitutions.

And yes, we dare to celebrate the ordinary women who on the day, as their counterparts did in 1917 and before, stand against ordinary discriminatory practices so as to make non-discrimination an ordinary way of life. In so doing they became extraordinary. We celebrate the African woman who, unlike the man, toils day and night amidst grinding poverty on the continent and faces up to harsh cultural, traditional and social prejudices yet still manages to achieve much.

In the past year the most extraordinary of these ordinary African women that we must name as we celebrate is Professor Wangari Muta Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. At the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women Professor Maathai dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to all women and called on developing countries to cancel debts owed by Third World countries, noting that servicing debts continued to impoverish already poor countries. She further noted that this amounted to punishing poor countries and women. Reflecting on the slow progress made since the agenda on issues affecting women was set 30 years ago, the Nobel laureate said that the burden of debt under which the continent was submerged made it impossible for governments to address pertinent issues of basic provision affecting women. We can only add our voice to her call.

Pambazuka News 197, 10 March 2005

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ASPIRATION INTO ACTION: RATIFY THE PROTOCOL NOW!

JACQUELINE ASIIMWE

In Uganda in 1967 there were no women members of parliament and in 1980 only one out of the 143 members of parliament was a woman. In the 1989 National Resistance Council elections, the NRM government brought significant improvement to women's political participation and reserved 34 seats for women. Uganda, writes Jacqueline Asiimwe, is often given as an example of effective women's political participation, but there is a long way to go before the playing fields are truly level. Part of the solution is to turn the aspirations of the Millennium Development Goals into action by ratifying the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.

Introduction

One of the Millennium Development Goals is the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women. While limited in nature, the goal addresses gender disparity in education, the share of women in wage employment and the proportion of seats held by women in national parliament. The importance of this goal to human development cannot be over emphasised.

This article explores just one of the aspects of the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women by sharing Uganda's experience in the area of women's political leadership.

The Uganda experience

Uganda is oft cited as a success story with women in leadership — specifically political leadership. Indeed the 1995 constitution has various articles that address women's (political) leadership. The national objectives and directive principles of state policy enshrined in the constitution, stipulates that the state will ensure gender balance and fair representation of marginalised groups on all constitutional and other bodies. Article 32 addresses the need for affirmative action; Article 33 spells out rights specific to women; Article 78 states that every district will have one woman representative to parliament and Article 180 (b) ensures that one third of members of each local council will be women.

One of the first demands that the women's movement made of the new NRM regime (the NRM came to power in 1986 and has ruled Uganda since then. It is also known as the Movement Government) was in the area of women's political rights. At independence in 1962 there was a 2:88 female to male ratio in parliament. But in 1967 no women served in parliament; in 1980 only one out of the 143 members of parliament was a woman. In the 1989 National Resistance Council elections, the NRM government brought significant improvement to women's political participation. Thirty-four seats were reserved for women; two women won their seats in open contests against male candidates, three women were nominated by the president and two were historical members, appointed because of their participation in the guerrilla war led by the National Resistance Army. By 1996, 52 women held parliamentary seats, 39 of them reserved and constituting 19 per cent of the members of parliament. By 1995 also, women constituted 17 per cent of all ministers, 21 percent of all permanent secretaries, 35 per cent of all under secretaries, and 16 percent of all district administrators. Women were also represented on national commissions such as the Constitutional Commission, the Electoral Commission and the Human Rights Commission as well as on parastatal boards.

Through affirmative action, women made considerable headway in parliament. Women now make up 24 per cent of the parliamentarians in Uganda and despite the ongoing discussion of the merits or demerits of such a policy one of the positive results is that women have been given exposure, political experience and increased confidence. When asked about the changes to women's status after the 1986 NRM takeover, women overwhelmingly responded that the biggest changes related to women's participation in politics, standing for office, becoming public and government leaders, and being able to express themselves publicly to a greater degree than in the past.

Despite these gains though, it is still not very easy for women to make it into political offices and prestigious leadership. The major players in politics and decision making continue to be men despite women's presence and the issues on women's political agenda do not feature nor are they deemed a priority. The fact that men predominate in the public/political sphere in Uganda means that its organisation and structures are heavily influenced by male values, attitudes and priorities. Very often women are expected to conform to and not transform the structures and norms of the public sphere. Whether the culture and atmosphere of politics is actively antagonistic to women, or simply organised in a way that does not suit them, it can be difficult for women as relative newcomers to challenge. Those who attempt to transform the structures and norms face a quick and brutal backlash.

Further, despite the high numbers of women in politics and in the public sphere, women are still regarded as intruders in this (male) space and are largely unwelcome in the political domain; for the most part they are endured as a necessary evil rather than an equal partner on the pathway to development. As one person put it:

The biggest threat facing the stability of families today is the desire for women to join high-level politics. There are shortcomings to this, most important being the lack of 'quality time' and parental love to children ... Women should be limited to 10 per cent political representation and should be stopped from voting for presidents and MPs at least for some 200 years.

Another person put it this way: 'Sometimes when you give financial, economic and social power to women, in most cases it brings problems. Check which type of woman is given power'.

The major scenario with regard to women and leadership has been bureaucratically putting women in places of leadership and authority without any attempts at simultaneously removing the practical and structural obstacles that stand in their way to effective involvement in this arena. In short it is not enough to increase women's participation in politics/leadership without democratising the public space where such politics operate. This issue is closely related to tokenism, which is the practice of appointing a few women to positions of power and responsibility, without giving them the requisite support, or eliminating the impediments they face. The following quote illustrates this point:

Women are not brought in as an equal partner but as a means of balancing the composition. This is reflected during parliamentary debates where in most circumstances the speaker or the chairperson is giving women a chance to speak. He will often say 'let me first gender balance'. When looked at analytically it seems like the speaker has been giving an opportunity to substantive speakers, and then giving women a chance for the sake of balance.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Grace, Tenacity and Eloquence by Patrick Burnett, Shereen Karmali, Fironze Manji. Copyright © 2007 Fahamu. Excerpted by permission of Fahamu.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Keep in touch with Fahamu Books,
Title Page,
Copyright Page,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
INTRODUCTION,
Chapter 1 - CAMPAIGNING FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS,
Chapter 2 - MOVING THE PROTOCOL FROM PAPER TO REALITY,
Chapter 3 - WOMEN, HEALTH AND FOOD SECURITY,
Chapter 4 - WOMEN AND CONFLICT,
Chapter 5 - WOMEN AND ISLAM,
Chapter 6 - WOMEN AND THE JACOB ZUMA TRIAL,
Chapter 7 - COMMENTS AND ANALYSES,
ABOUT THE AUTHORS,