Who does what
Need for social movements capable of impacting policy
Mechanisms put in place in Africa concerning gender equality are in urgent need of overhaul, according to Fatou Sarr. Sociologist and director of the gender laboratory and of scientific research at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, as well as an international consultant, she suggests potential remedies, all of which depend on support being lent to various social movements.
Newly-elected Member of the Rwandese Parliament swear in at the opening ceremony of the new National Assembly, 10 October 2003, before Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagame.
© AFP
It was in the aftermath of the World Conference on Women in Mexico in 1975 that the majority of African countries began to take measures for instigating gender equality. There was one notable exception, Rwanda, which from 1965 onwards already had a system in place, but one which still has little substance, as Fatou Sarr explains in a report drawn up in 2008. Nonetheless, remarks the expert, the ministry for gender and women’s promotion (referred to as Migeprofe), set up in Rwanda in 1999, is a model of its type in as far as its role has been clearly defined, namely that of promoting gender fairness and equality within the development process and leading the shift from a ‘vertical’ approach to a ‘horizontal’ one.
This is not the case in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Senegal, Gabon or Togo. “Very often”, she explains, “these countries have confined themselves to action plans containing eclectic, ad hoc programmes which correspond to the particular needs of the development stakeholders.”
Since the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, various ‘national women’s councils’ have been set up in the majority of these countries. As advisory bodies to governments, their main activity is the organising of special events. A further innovation are the ‘gender focus points’. Unfortunately, adds the sociologist, these lack the necessary skills and expertise, meaning they exert little influence, owing (with the exception of Rwanda) to their lack of strategic positioning. Moreover, they sorely lack the financial means they seek from their national ministries (often less than 1 per cent of the national budget, as in Togo (0.29 per cent), the DRC (0.042 per cent) or Senegal (0.2 per cent)).
The solution? According to Fatou Sarr, measures need to focus on heads of state – “in Africa, the social structure is still very stratified” – to encourage them to raise the budget allocated to the issue, reinforcing this social movement and thus giving it the necessary clout to have a decisive impact on policy.
Good progress, considering…
“In spite of frustrations, gains have been made”, acknowledges Fatou Sarr. The aid project for young mothers in Gabon which has allowed eleven crèches to be constructed and which pays for the retraining of these young women, allowing them back onto the jobs market, is a notable example. On a political level, the five countries cited by the sociologist have no cause to be embarrassed as far as representation of women in their parliaments is concerned. According to 2006-2007 figures, this stands at 11 per cent in Togo, 16.7 per cent in Gabon, 22 per cent in Senegal, 8.4 per cent in the DRC and 48.8 per cent in Rwanda, something of an unprecedented figure worldwide. In Canada, one of the leading lights in this regard, female representation in parliament stands at 21.3 per cent, as against 18.2 per cent in France, 16.8 per cent in the US and 9.4 per cent in Japan.
