Ellen Ngezi, one of the women whose efforts were key in the fight against apartheid
in African politics continues to lag behind the West because women’s organisations on the continent were not established in- dependently but within a nationalised con- text. She says equality and commitment to women’s rights can only be won from the base up with the active involvement of women themselves. “Women are at last getting the help they
need in terms of political involvement. Tis is largely thanks to the United Nations, European Union, local and international NGOs, and religious institutions,” she adds. Encouragingly, women have reason to
despite gains made by a number of Afri- can countries such as Liberia and Rwanda. “Men haven’t allowed women to share
independence as well as women’s emancipation” Te report shows that maternal mor-
the running of their countries. Parliaments, the judiciary, civil service, and civil society organisations are largely controlled by men. Even countries which have largely bridged the gender gap in education, like Madagas- car and Tunisia, are not translating the gain into higher scores in women’s economic and political participation,” says Dr Saskia Wieringa, one of the report’s authors. Dr Wieringa is the director of the
Institute for Women’s History in Amster- dam. She adds that, “women’s voices have been silenced and their concerns have hard- ly been taken into account when construct- ing the state apparatus. Tis means issues like maternal mortality, domestic violence, and harmful traditional practices have re- ceived insufficient attention.”
tality rates, which claim more lives than Aids, TB and malaria combined remain needlessly high. Even relatively rich South Africa scores disappointingly high with a ratio of 400 per 100,000 live births. Critically, thousands of overlooked
women ex-freedom fighters are also fading away in abject poverty. As in many revolu- tions, women were essentially fighting a war on two fronts, for their countries’ independ- ence and for the emancipation of their sex. Ghennet Girma of the International
Ethiopian Women’s Organisation (IEWO) participated in the student protest move- ment against Emperor Haile Selassie’s gov- ernment in the 1970s. She highlights the deep gulf between the call for women’s equality and the commitment of independ- ent African governments to deliver on their promises. She believes that gender equality
“Women were fighting a war for national
celebrate in several countries, where their voices are beginning to be heard. “Te struggle was well worth it,” says Ellen Ngezi. “Our daughters are getting the edu- cation and jobs they deserve, which we fought for. Yes there is violence against women. But there is violence everywhere in the world. Violence in South Africa for example is linked to poverty, which, if eradicated, will remove a lot of aggression against women. “Te future for women in South Africa
is good. Winnie Mandela gave us the say- ing: ‘Wa thinta imfazi unthinta i mbokoto’, which means ‘if you provoke a woman, you provoke a stone’. Women in South Africa are not going to allow any setbacks in their status,” she adds. Women are also making progress in
Tunisia and Morocco. Women’s emancipa- tion in Tunisia, a major plus for the coun- try, started right after independence under President Habib Bourguiba and continued even under the government of the recently overthrown President Ben Ali. In Morocco, “the introduction of a
quota system means women are making significant gains in the political arena,” says Fatima Sadiqi, president of the National Union of Women’s Organisations in Mo- rocco. “Tere are currently 34 women MPs and 3,406 in local government councils.” Overall, female parliamentary repre-
sentation is steadily growing in a number of African countries. However, women’s participation in politics remains limited as the UN report shows.
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