From Africa Recovery, Vol.14#1 (April 2000), page 18
African women prepare for Beijing+5
ECA conference outlines progress since 1995 world conference and challenges ahead
By Jon Offei-Ansah, Addis Ababa
African women and men need to push at all levels of society for faster progress in women's advancement, said participants at the Sixth African Regional Conference on Women held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last November. Over 1,500 people from governments, civil society, regional institutions, bilateral, multilateral and UN agencies met at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to review the implementation of the 1995 Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action for the Advancement of Women. The conference also agreed on a regional plan to accelerate the implementation of these platforms and to prepare for Beijing+5, the global review scheduled for June 2000 in New York.
"We still have a long road to travel," said ECA Executive Secretary K.Y. Amoako, noting how much easier and faster it is to change a law than to ensure its implementation. "The paper barriers are coming down, but the behavioural barriers are still largely up." Analysis of national reports submitted to ECA by 43 African countries showed that women continue to lack access to resources and services, that there has been erosion of progress in some areas and that many of the old problems still persist, Mr. Amoako said.
New challenges have also arisen, added Ms. Angela King, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women. Due to migration of men seeking jobs in urban areas, the number of female-headed rural households is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, whereas the ownership and control of land by women is not. In zones of conflict and war where women and girls are the main targets and victims, goals for the advancement of women will remain unattainable unless there is peace and security, Ms. King emphasized.
Participants recognized the progress made since 1995 in implementing the Platforms for Action. Among other things, 47 African countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). South Africa has passed the 30 per cent target of women parliamentarians and other countries are moving in this direction. Botswana has the first woman governor of a central bank. In some countries, land tenure reform has enabled women to own, use and inherit land.
However, speakers also noted that the lack of quality health services, especially reproductive health services, helps keep maternal mortality and morbidity rates too high in many countries. Participants agreed that the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the rising incidence of poverty place a disproportionate burden on women. They set the target of halving the incidence of new HIV/AIDS infection by 2004.
Emphasizing the link between "quality growth and gender equity," ECA Deputy Executive Secretary Lalla Ben Barka commended conference participants for insisting that higher levels of investment should be directed to those sectors that affect women and young people.
Conference participants endorsed a regional plan of action that aims to accelerate in the period to 2004 the implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action for the advancement of women. The plan provides a framework for solving the problems that recur most frequently in national progress reports.
Among the key problems is the fact that most countries have paid inadequate attention to the coordination of activities and this had led to duplication of effort and the waste of precious resources. Even where such structures for coordination are well defined, they often lack the appropriate mandate, tools and resources to do their job effectively. Monitoring and evaluation have been weak, making it hard to assess progress. Nearly all countries reported that they lack the resources for implementing the platforms, and few of them have formulated national gender policies or gender-sensitive sectoral policies.
Turning to the immediate future, conference participants agreed on the need to maintain forward momentum at national and regional level and to keep a sharp focus on the 12 priority areas specified in the Beijing Platform for Action (see box). They agreed that in order to improve monitoring and evaluation, each country will establish a "follow-up team" composed of representatives of ministries covering the 12 critical areas. Governments will have to finance training workshops for these teams as well as the monitoring and evaluation activities, with additional funding to come from regional institutions. With national evaluation reports due for examination in 2004, participants said that such teams should be fully operational as soon as possible.
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BOX 1:
The 12 critical concerns of the Beijing Platform of Action
-- The persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women
-- Unequal access to education and training
-- Unequal access to health care and related services
-- Violence against women
-- The effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women
-- Inequality in economic structures and policies, in all productive activities and in access to resources
-- Inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels
-- Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women
-- Lack of respect for and inadequate promotion and protection of the human rights of women
-- Stereotyping of women and inequality in women's access to and participation in communication systems, especially in the media
-- Gender inequalities in natural resource management
-- Persistent discrimination against girls and violation of their rights
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