by Munetsi Madakufamba
Advocacy for gender equality will fail unless governments fully commit themselves to international agreements aimed at the total elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
This was underscored at a media-training workshop on reporting the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDA W) which was recently organised by Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency in Harare.
It was also noted that the score on the status of women will remain low unless the media sensitizes policymakers and the public at large on the issue of gender equality.
CEDAW, which was approved by the UN General Assembly in 1979 and adopted as a treaty in 1981, is a human rights instrument aimed at advancing the status of women in their political, economic, social and cultural endeavour.
The convention guarantees gender equality before the law as well as ensuring equal protection under the law, setting out measures as to how this can be achieved. Although some countries ratified or signed
CEDAW, their signatures have not been followed by corresponding constitutional refom1s which would translate the goals of the convention into practical application.
Addressing participants at the IPS workshop, Tendai Bare, Senior Secretary in the Zimbabwe Ministry of National Affairs, Employment Creation and Co-operatives, said CEDA W also calls upon state parties to initiate constitutional, administrative and other measures in order to ensure equality between men and women, as well as allowing for temporary measures of affirmative action to be taken into account.
“In recognition of the fact that much of the discrimination against women has its basis in cultural and traditional patterns that perpetuate gender stereotypes, Article 5 of the convention requires state parties to remove the social, cultural and traditional practices which continue to undermine the status of women,” she explained.
Some countries, notably South Africa and Namibia, which are fairly new democracies in the region, have gone a step further in advancing the status of women. Activities at government level in South Africa show a lot of progress. It has adopted a gender commission which is empowered to monitor policies of the state, public bodies and private businesses and institutions in order to promote equality.
The commission is also responsible for the evaluation of laws and recommendations for new legislation affecting the status of women.
In Namibia, the constitution provides that international agreements which are binding on the country, such as CEDAW, automatically form part of the law. However, a country report on Namibia prepared by the department of women affairs in the office of the president says Namibian women are not fully exercising their rights because they do not have access to the information.
In Tanzania, where the government ratified CEDAW without reservations, very few people, including the media which is supposed to lead the crusade, are familiar with the operations of the convention. However Zimbabwe is currently translating all CEDAW documents from English to Shona and Ndebele so that even the grassroots people can understand it.
Gender experts say delays in the implementation of CEDAW is caused by countries which ratified the convention with reservations.
Bare complained that Article 16 of the convention, which is concerned with topical issues vis a vis marriage, family laws and inheritance was not being implemented in many countries. She says “this is a result of the fact that in most African countries there is misconception that a man is superior to a woman so women are not allowed to inherit from their fathers and deceased spouse.”
Ceciwa Khonje, Director of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Harare, said although the UN has helped the world community to create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women, their situation was still bad the world over.
Of the world’s 1.3 billion poor people, 70.1 percent are women. The UNIC Director also noted that of the 185 highest-ranking diplomats to the UN, only six are women.
In a message to mark the International Women’s Day 1997, Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, admitted the absence of women from the Peace Table despite evidence suggesting they bring a particular and positive perspective to preventive diplomacy, peace-making and peace-keeping”.
Annan cited UN peace and security missions which benefited from the involvement of women, among them, Namibia and South Africa.
“The women who participated were perceived to be compassionate, averse to choosing force over reconciliation and willing to listen and learn,” he said, pledging his support for women in their quest for gender equality. (SARDC)
