150 rights groups converge on Nairobi for gender forum

Hundreds of rights campaigners from 150 women's organisations from 35 African countries converge in Nairobi on Wednesday to discuss, among other things, how far governments have delivered on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.

The two-day meeting — billed as the largest pan-African women’s conference in Nairobi since 2015 and which is hosted by the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (Femnet) — seeks to find ways of pushing African governments to effectively deliver on the agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Held under the theme “Safeguarding our gains, African women collective action on defining the pathway to achieve Sustainable Development”, the conference is expected to provide a platform to reflect on the role of women’s rights organisations, according to Femnet executive director Dinah Musindarwezo.

Further, Ms Musindarwezo said, the meeting would focus on understanding the impact of illicit financial flows on women and girls in Africa

“It is time for Africa and the global community to address gender equality and prioritise the collective voices of women in the continent, to ensure the SDGs are fully implemented,’’ she said.

“We are here to collectively strategise on ensuring this is done and the right budgetary allocation made by our governments to facilitate this realisation” Ms Musindarwezo added of the meeting to be held at Crowne Plaza Hotel.

UNDER-FUNDED

According to her, gender-related institutions and programmes were the most under-funded, and called on African governments to prioritise their budget allocations with this in mind.

Organisers say the conference comes at an “opportune’’ time when African countries are starting to put in place mechanisms for monitoring, reviewing and implementing women’s agenda.

They have also singled for discussion what they see as among major threats to women and girls, which include violence, low representation in decision making, doing unpaid work without value and recognition.

“Women and girls are also being denied the right to own and control property; girls being forced to child marriages and FGM, to having women still dying while giving birth from preventable diseases,” said Ms Musindarwezo.

STILL RIFE

Currently, according to UN Women, one in three women has experienced violence (physical, sexual, psychological and otherwise).

Over 200 million girls have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) and in other countries, maternal mortality is at unacceptable rates, with other forms of gender discrimination still rife.

According to UN Women, women continue to participate in labour markets on an unequal basis with men.

In 2013, the male employment-to-population ratio stood at 72.2 per cent, while the ratio for females was 47.1 per cent.

ONE ON ONE INTERVIEW

What is the rationale behind the theme of this conference?

The conference will mark the first convening of Femnet members and women’s rights organisations generally across Africa after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and soon after the AU developed the 10-year implementation plan of the Agenda 2063.

The conference will provide a platform to reflect on the role of women’s rights organizations in securing the stand-alone gender goal and other gender targets in other goals and to collectively deliberate on a roadmap for women’s rights organizations to effectively engage in the implementation of the SDGs and Agenda 2063.

This conference will be timely in an environment where gender gains are being threatened.

Who will be the participants in this conference and what do they, as women’s rights organizations and women leaders, seek to achieve?

The participants will be women’s rights organisations and individual African feminists of diverse and intersecting identities.

Other participants will be Femnet partners who might be based in other regions with a specific interest in supporting the advancement of gender equality.

They will be meeting to deliberate on existing opportunities at an opportune moment when African countries are starting to put in place mechanisms for monitoring, review and implementation of both agendas and some are preparing for National Voluntary Reporting at the High Level Political Forum in July, 2017.

In addition, the African Union in partnership with UNDP, UN Economic Commission in Africa (UNECA) and African Development Bank are also developing a joint Implementation framework for both 2030 Agenda and Africa Agenda 2063 to allow AU member states to be accountable to both agendas in a more efficient and effective way.

The convening will discuss how to take advantage of these regional and global opportunities while identifying existing opportunities at the national, local, regional and global levels.

Why is it important for African women to cultivate a collective voice towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

African women and girls are stakeholders in development who have worked over time to exercise and demonstrate their political, social and economic agency. It is therefore critical that national efforts recognize this fact and create space for women’s rights to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.

At the heart of 2030 Agenda for sustainable development is a commitment to leave no one behind.

This includes the voices of African women and girls at all levels of implementation, follow up and review of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

The 2030 Agenda and Africa Agenda 2063 both put realisation of gender equality at its centre. This therefore makes it women’s business to see to it that those commitments are realized to transform the lives of women and girls.

Why must African governments prioritize gender equality and Women’s empowerment and emancipation within their strategic focus to achieving the SDGs 2030?

Following the wrap-up of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) there was resounding evidence of Gender Equality and women’s empowerment as one of the key unfinished business.

Some of the evidence was from the Beijing Platform for Action 20-year review, where it was found that no country globally had attained gender equality.

As it is now, according to UN Women 1 in 3 women have experienced violence (physical, sexual, psychological and otherwise).

Over 20 million girls have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) and in other countries maternal mortality are at unacceptable rates with other forms of gendered discrimination still rife.

According to UN Women, women continue to participate in labour markets on an unequal basis with men.

In 2013, the male employment-to-population ratio stood at 72.2 per cent, while the ratio for females was 47.1 per cent, women bear disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care work.

Women devote one to three hours more a day to housework than men; two to 10 times the amount of time a day to care (for children, elderly, and the sick), and one to four hours less a day to market activities

How global leadership dynamics impacting on the lives of women & Girls and in particular the “Global Gag Rule” as imposed by the current government of the United States.

The Global Gag rule will undo the momentum built on advocacy towards sexual and reproductive health and rights which are critical commitments within SDGs under the health (SDG3) and Gender (SDG.5) goals.

The funding cuts will impact heavily on resources to directly work on sexual and reproductive health and rights including access to reproductive rights.

Coupled with shrinking civic space, there will be even less political space and allies (direct and indirect) which will heavily affect already established movements at the grassroots, national, regional and global level.

Despite the fact that global gag rule targets abortion, it will affect progress on other areas such as HIV and AIDS given that abortion work does not happen in isolation and has been hosted in institutions that also provide full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health and rights for adolescent girls, young women and other populations such LGBTIAQ.

We might see increase in HIV prevalence, teenage pregnancies associated with a fragmented approach in service provision and advocacy. Programmes such as DREAMS (PEPFAR) funded initiative might be in jeopardy given that the approaches are comprehensive and speak to the entire spectrum of adolescent girls and young women’s vulnerability to HIV.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) came and went marking minimal achievements or transformation, why must the SDGs be different and what are the expectations for its impact on women and girls?

The MDGs were different in terms of how they were formulated which led to lack of ownership amongst governments and other development stakeholders including CSOs due to the technocratic and top-down approach and hence the gaps in implementation. MDGs were also narrow and not ambitious enough to be transformative.

The SDGs were developed in a consultative manner, taking into account the priorities, needs and aspirations of various constituencies including women and girls.

The formulation process created space to enable various stakeholders engage in the process of their development. Women and girls organised in various formations such as the Women’s Major Group, Post 2015 women’s coalition and other mainstream civil society spaces to influence the SDGs, seeking the stand alone goal and gender targets in other goals.

To this end, women and girls own the process that bore the agenda and hope that the spirit of partnership and the transformative nature of SDGs will see the entire agenda including gender commitments therein realised.

Numerous Global Policies, local and Regional instruments have seemingly ‘failed’ to achieve full gender equality, why should the SDGs be different?

The SDGs provide a space for renewed hope, commitment and rallying call nationally, regionally and globally.

The SDGs in that sense provide a platform for women’s rights to bring it home and tie them to previous regional and global commitments to women’s rights.

Further to this, SDGs reinforce and reinstate some of the commitments in CEDAW, Maputo, 1994 International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing for Platform for Action which then provides a platform to reignite conversations on those commitments.

The conference has a special focus on understanding the impact of Illicit Financial Flows on women and girls in Africa, Why is this important?

The African High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows conservatively puts the amount of financial resources leaving Africa at $50 billion annually.

Because of their scale and negative impact, the issue has become an urgent matter of concern.

In the global south, Africa is at the forefront of the fight to curb IFFs, however the narrative has been largely gender blind.

There is a gap in terms of research and knowledge on the links between gender and IFFs. Femnet is the only Pan African Women’s Rights organisation that is pushing this agenda.

We are working to contribute to the general body of knowledge on IFFs from a gender angle.

The money the continent loses contributes to rising inequalities especially for the women of Africa who will in turn bear the biggest burden.

Curbing this phenomenon could mean more resources for social services like maternal health, care work, girl child education… It is in this frame that Femnet feels it is imperative to create a critical mass of women’s rights advocates who understand and can speak to these issues at national, regional and international spaces.

What should the International Community do to ensure the full implementation of the SDGs by countries in Africa for the good of women and girls?

• Ensure that there are resources to implement the gender goal and other gender targets. This must include funding Gender Machineries that drive gender equality work. These include but not limited to; Women’s Rights Organisations, UNWomen, AU Directorate of Women, Gender and Directorate and Government Ministries of Gender and women.
• Work with countries towards creating space for women and girls to engage in their implementation, follow up and review.
• Foster efforts to advance the collection and analysis of gender data that is timely, of goof quality, consultative and is used to inform policies, programmes and resource allocations.
• Ensure an approach that recognizes the political, economic, social and environmental intersections of Gender Equality and the entire 2030 agenda for sustainable development (SDGs)
• Commit to the full implementation of 2030 Agenda and other global commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment

What are the three major risks threatening the lives of women and girls in Africa today and why must Africa and the World be concerned?

The major risks threatening women and girls today are many, ranging from violence, low representation in decision making, doing a majority of unpaid work without value and recognition, women and girls being denied the right to own and control property, girls being forced to child marriages and FGM, to having women still dying while giving birth from preventable diseases.

The gains made in gender equality and women’s rights are being threatened by the shrinking civic space, dwindling resources especially to Women’s Rights Organisations and by the general lack of political will and low interest to address the structural and systematic gender inequalities.

If these issues are not enough to make our governments pause and come up with real solutions then I do not know what is. These are enough to declare a state of emergency, however it doesn’t, due to the very same issue we are addressing here- gender inequality that makes anything that affect women and girls negligible.