by Virginia Kapembeza
Women from SADC member states met in Botswana in November to review post-Beijing strategies and to create a base for regional networking on the implementation of the Platform For Action.
The Post-Beijing Southern Africa Sub-regional Workshop was the last in a series of workshops by the Regional Focal Field-level Institution (RFFI) on the Beijing Conference. Eleven countries, including Mauritius, attended through representatives from governments, NGOs and sub-regional networking organisations.
The RFFI workshop had as its objective the formation of a sub-regional structure capable of lobbying and mobilising for the empowerment of women at government level. It was also aimed at developing a sub-regional coalition on women’s issues.
A review of the Beijing conference highlighted several successes, among them: increased networking opportunities owing to the participation of Africa at the global conference; a better understanding of the UN system; the advancement of issues critical to SADC; representation of the sub-region in various key meetings; and exposure to lobbying skills
Among the problems noted were: donors’ control of the conference; delays to the NGO Forum due to limited preparation; some important issues were overlooked; the Africa tent was not very organised; coordination among southern African countries was inadequate and the group was dominated by West Africa, while meetings between NGOs and governments were hampered by accommodation and transport problems.
Despite its shortfalls, the Beijing conference did manage to get some commitments by governments in ensuring gender equality and equity. In southern Africa, some positive aspects of the conference have been disseminated to different target groups. Representatives from several organisations reported that they have had report back seminars on the UN conference and have made some strides toward implementing strategies.
The RFFI conference identified nine priority areas of concern from a southern African perspective which include: poverty, economic structures, women and the environment; health; education; human rights; the girl child; power-sharing and decision-making; the media; mechanisms for the advancement of women; and violence against women and armed conflict.
Regarding poverty, participants acknowledged that the globalisation of economic structures and macroeconomic policies such as the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) perpetuate poverty, and therefore women need to lobby the appropriate economic policies.
It was also decided that a data bank on women’s health should be established to help focus efforts towards goals of health for all especially women. There was also a recommendation for SADC to establish an education desk while other efforts in education will seek to enable the girl child to attain some education or functional literacy where formal education is unavailable.
The chairperson of FEMNET, Njoki Wainaina said that in many countries of the region, the media has turned Beijing into a dirty word. She said, however, that the smear campaign presents a challenge and a realisation that the struggle for equality, development and peace has become even more difficult.
“We need to recognise that the forces of our patriarchal societies and systems are massed to stop our advancement,” said Wainaina. She added that all women should “…stand up to be counted as not only having been to Beijing (physically or in spirit) but as being in the forefront of implementing the Beijing Platform for Action”.
Officially opening the meeting, Botswana’s Vice President and Minister of Finance and Development, Festus Mogae, said southern Africa should strive to develop and reinforce development partnerships since women’s issues affect the whole society. Mogae said it is encouraging that the critical areas of concern identified by the Platform for Action correlate to those of the region, and can thus lay the foundation of the National Plans of Action.
“It is critical that specific strategies are designed at sub-regional level, as a means of providing guidance for improving the status of women, n he said. Mogae said such strategies should ensure that specific and sectoral policies as well as programmes are gender sensitive at the national and regional levels.
The involvement of grassroots women came under the spotlight with Namibia saying it aims to facilitate the formation of the rural women movement in order to channel information through that structure. South African women committed themselves to rural outreach programmes to ensure participation by the most marginalised, especially women.
A paper prepared for the South African Women’s Conference: The Way Forward from Beijing held in October says the government should make public how they intend to implement the Platform for Action with appropriate time frames for the realisation of the commitment. The women also requested that there should be a coordinating point for women in South Africa and all government statistics should be gender desegregated.
Mozambique presented a paper, reporting that seminars and debates supported by government, women’s and international organisations are being held to disseminate the results of the conference. In Mozambique, the Ministry of Social Action Coordination, responsible for women’s issues, has identified education, health, agriculture and justice as priorities.
A representative from Swaziland said her country still lags behind in many of the issues identified in both the African Platform and the Global Platform for Action. She argued that it is essential to strengthen the sub-regional linkages in order to access expertise within the region for training, research and monitoring of activities.
The overall consensus of the meeting was that existing economic structures such as the Preferential Trade Area (PTA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) are not gender- sensitive enough. (SARDC)
