Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi

By Christian Benoni

The Africa Women’s Regional Shadow Report on Beijing +15 released at the CSW in New York says many countries have signed and ratified conventions meant to guarantee gender quality, but are far from achieving gender parity.

“We are calling on our governments to be accountable to Africa’s citizens and to the women in particular,” Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi of the Africa Woman’s Development Fund (AWDF) told Terraviva. “All the conventions, policies and treaties meant to transform the lives of women and girls need to mean something to our leaders; they have not taken them seriously.”

The report mentions Rwanda, which has 56.3 percent representation of women in parliament, followed by South Africa at 47 percent. It notes that Uganda, Tanzania and other SADC countries have employed affirmative action measures to achieve gender parity at all levels of decision making by 2015.

But many more like Kenya still lack legislation to ensure increased levels of women in decision-making positions. The country, which has been home to regional and international discussions about gender equality, has the lowest percentage of women in parliament – 9.8 percent.

“We have made it on paper; we have brilliant policies. But practically, we have nothing to show for it,” said Rukia Subow, chairperson of Kenya’s Maendeleo ya Wanawake (Development for Women) organisation.

Lack of access to health facilities and quality services, coupled with widespread shortages in drugs and family planning methods that can partly address maternal deaths have not helped. And corruption in government has seen millions of dollars lost.

Leaders must “change their commitments into a campaign document,” says Gertrude Mongella, president of the Pan African Parliament. “Women vote and they are the majority of voters. We need to ensure that we vote in people who commit and work towards transforming the lives of women and girls.”