Inter Press Service (IPS) Articles
AFRICA-POPULATION: WOMEN WANT BREAD-AND-BUTTER CONCERNS RAISED
AN INTER PRESS SERVICE FEATURE
BY REMI OYO
CAIRO, SEP 9 (IPS) - AFRICAN WOMEN ARE ANGRY THAT BREAD-AND-BUTTER AND DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES HAVE BEEN RELEGATED TO THE BACKWATERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT (ICPD), NOW ENDING ITS FIRST WEEK IN THE EGYPTIAN CAPITAL.
THEY WANT DEVELOPMENT TO BE STRESSED AND EMPHASIS TO SHIFT ''FROM OVER-POPULATION TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE, JUSTICE, HEALTH, FOOD, SECURITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF THE AFRICAN WOMAN''.
AT LEAST 45 PERCENT OF AFRICA'S POPULATION OF 682 MILLION IS FEMALE.
THEIR DEMANDS WERE ARTICULATED IN A SHORT STATEMENT READ TO JOURNALISTS THURSDAY BY DIANE ACHA-MORFAW, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE CAMEROON ASSOCIATION OF FEMALE JURISTS.
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE AFRICAN WOMEN CAUCUS, THEY SAID THE NINE-POINT DEMANDS EVOLVED AFTER MONITORS ON THE CONFERENCE SHOWED ISSUES CONCERNING THEM AND CHILDREN ''ARE NOT BEING GIVEN THE PRIORITY THEY DESERVE OR ARE BEING DELETED FROM THE PLAN OF ACTION''.
''WOMEN MUST BE PART OF THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS,'' THE CAUCUS SAID, BUT ADDED THEY ''WANT NO PART'' IN WARS RAGING IN AT LEAST THREE AFRICAN COUNTRIES -- LIBERIA, THE SUDAN AND RWANDA.
''WHY MUST WE SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF WARS WE DID NOT START?'' THE CAUCUS ASKED ON BEHALF OF NEARLY 300 AFRICAN WOMEN ATTENDING THE CONFERENCE IN CAIRO.
ALTHOUGH THE CAUCUS GOT NO READY ANSWER, IT NONETHELESS ASKED TO BE INVOLVED IN PREVENTION AND RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS AND PROMOTION OF PEACE. IT ALSO DEMANDED MORE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS IN A CONTINENT THAT HAS WITNESSED FREQUENT MILITARY COUPS.
IN ORDER TO AVOID BEING MARGINALISED, THE WOMEN INSISTED ON BEING PARTNERS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CAIRO PLAN OF ACTION AND NARROWING THE GAP BETWEEN DEVELOPING AND INDUSTRIALISED STATES.
BISI OGUNLEYE, A TRADITIONAL NIGERIAN CHIEF IN HER SIXTIES, NOTED THE SOLUTION TO AFRICAN WOMEN'S PROBLEMS IS ALSO LINKED TO CONTROL OF RESOURCES.
OGUNLEYE, WHO HEADS THE COUNTRY WOMEN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, A RURAL-BASED NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION (NGO), SAID ''THERE SHOULD BE AN APPROPRIATE SYSTEM THAT WILL ALLOW OUR FULL AND MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION''.
OGUNLEYE WAS PARTICULARLY CRITICAL OF DONOR NATIONS AND THE UNITED NATIONS FOR NOT DOING ENOUGH TO ENSURE A STRONG PARTICIPATION OF AFRICAN WOMEN AT THE CONFERENCE.
''WE ARE TALKING OF THE ISSUE OF RESOURCES, BEFORE NOW THEY BROUGHT US AS TOKENS TO THIS KIND OF CONFERENCE,'' SAID THE CHIEF, WHO DISCLOSED THAT A MEETING TOOK PLACE IN MARCH IN NEW YORK TO ENSURE THAT MORE AFRICANS WOULD TAKE PART.
''WE WANTED TO HAVE NATIONAL AND REGIONAL MEETINGS BUT AFRICAN WOMEN DON'T HAVE CONTROL OF ASSETS. PEOPLE MANAGING THE MONEY DON'T RECOGNISE OUR CONTRIBUTION SO THEY DON'T SPREAD THE MONEY FOR OUR PARTICIPATIBN,'' SHE COMPLAINED.
''WHEN THE U.N. SYSTEM ALLOCATED MONEY FOR PREPARING FOR THIS CONFERENCE, THEY DIDN'T EVEN REALISE THAT AFRICAN WOMEN HAD TO PREPARE FOR IT.'' NYOKI WAININA, CHAIRMAN OF THE AFRICAN WOMEN'S CAUCUS BLAMED ILLITERACY FOR MOST PROBLEMS WHICH HINDER RESOURCE GENERATION.
WAININA, A KENYAN AND ALSO CHAIRMAN OF THE AFRICAN WOMEN'S DEVELOPMENT NETWORK, SAID ILLITERACY MUST BE ERADICATED AS PART OF AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.
ACCORDING TO THE LATEST HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA'S ADULT LITERACY RATE IS 51 PERCENT, ALTHOUGH WOMEN'S RATE IS A MERE 40 PERCENT.
''WE HAVE TO COME UP WITH A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO SOLVING THIS PROBLEM,'' SHE ADDED.
THE ISSUE OF ABORTION, WHICH HAS BOGGED DOWN THE CONFERENCE TO ABORTION, DID NOT WEIGH DOWN MEMBERS OF THE AFRICAN WOMEN'S CAUCUS.
''WE RECOGNISE THAT THERE ARE NO SIMPLE ANSWERS, BUT WE ARE SAYING WE WANT TO PREVENT ALL UNWANTED PREGNANCIES SO THAT ABORTION IS NOT NECESSARY,'' WAINANA SAID.
A RECENT OAU STUDY ON ABORTION-RELATED COMPLICATIONS IN SEVEN SUB-SAHARAN COUNTRIES INDICATED THAT BETWEEN 39 AND 72 PERCENT OF FEMALES AT HOSPITALS STUDIED WERE GIRLS AGED BETWEEN 11 AND 19.
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO CONTROL HER FERTILITY AND NOT BE SUBJECTED TO NEGATIVE LEGAL PROVISIONS, CULTURES AND TRADITIONAL PRACTICES, THE CAUCUS ARGUED.
SOME OF THE TRADITIONAL NORMS INCLUDE CIRCUMCISION, EARLY MARRIAGES AND, LIKE IN SUDAN, WOMEN EXPECTED TO HAVE AS MANY CHILDREN AS THEY CAN HAVE -- PRACTICES WHICH ARE WIDESPREAD ON THE CONTINENT.
ACCORDING TO THE OAU, ''ALMOST 50 PERCENT OF AFRICAN WOMEN ARE MARRIED BY THE AGE OF 18. THE CULTURE OF EARLY MARRIAGE ALSO LEADS THEM TO A REPEATED CYCLE OF PREGNANCY AND CHILD BIRTH''. THE CAUCUS INSISTED, HOWEVER, THAT ''REDRESS CAN COME IF THERE IS THE VOICE OF THE AFRICAN WOMAN''.