Key milestones for women’s growth

What you need to know:

  • So far, Kenya is the only African country to have hosted a World Conference on Women.
  • The AU has declared 2015 the Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development — Towards Achievement of Agenda 2063.

The recent Nairobi +30 Conference that marked 30 years since Kenya hosted the World Conference on Women, emphasised the country’s growing leadership role in the region — and indeed the continent — in spearheading women empowerment and gender equity issues.

The first World Conference on Women was held in Mexico City in 1975. It focused international attention on the advancement of women and adopted the Mexico Plan of Action.

The second world conference, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1980, reviewed the progress in implementing the goals of the first world conference, focusing on employment, health and education.

Nairobi hosted the third world conference in 1985, where the achievements of the UN Decade for Women were reviewed and the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies were adopted.

The fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, China in 1995, and the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted.

Since the first world conference, African women have been key players in the global women’s movement.

NUMEROUS CHALLENGES

So far, Kenya is the only African country to have hosted a World Conference on Women, including the launch of the African Women’s Decade (2010-2020) in October, 2010. The main goal of the decade was to promote the implementation of AU countries’ commitments to gender equality and women empowerment.

While these conferences have contributed to the progressive strengthening of the legal, economic, social and political dimensions of the role of African women, there are still numerous challenges.

The AU has declared 2015 the Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development — Towards Achievement of Agenda 2063.

The main focus is on accelerating the realisation of gender equality and the empowerment of women in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The Nairobi +30 conference discussed economic empowerment of women and shared experiences on the existing programmes and policies articulated in the past 30 years.

Participants embraced Africa’s Agenda 2063, which has as one of its main goals as ‘Full gender equality in all spheres of life’, a key principle that was also articulated in the Beijing Platform for Action, African Women’s Decade and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The Nairobi +30 conference further offered an ideal platform for the countries represented to negotiate and agree on a common agenda that will inform the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly meeting scheduled for next month.

The conference emphasised Kenya’s leading role in women’s empowerment and gender equality regionally and in Africa. This has been exemplified through the initiatives undertaken by the government to strengthen its legislative processes as well as implementing critical programmes that promote gender equality and the empowerment of women in the country.

The main thrust going forward will be for Kenya to consolidate the gains already made, as well as to sustain and build on the ongoing discourse, while continuing to provide leadership and being a point of reference for other countries on best practise towards the realisation of women’s empowerment and gender equality.

The writer is the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Devolution and Planning