INTERNATIONAL: Global Forum Tasks Women On Empowerment, Maximizing Potentials

SOCIO-POLITICAL and economic advancement of women could mostly be achieved in the shortest- possible time if the global community shows appreciation of the capacity of women. That, experts say, would widen the network of women and build their capacity to do great things.

This is part of the revelation at this year's Women Advancement Forum (WAF), which took place last week at Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa. WAF provided a network for women from different continents and different backgrounds in the professions, businesses, politics, social service (NGOs), public service, to share and find ways to improve their capacities.

The Forum provided a unique opportunity for participants to appreciate themselves and their contributions to making the world a better place for every woman and girl-child. These women came together to share ideas on how to scale up on Women Advancement.

A number of highly placed women drawn from across the world made presentations on the team of women advancement. Hear them.

Candide Bamezon-Leguede, President Of ECOWAS Federation Of Business Women And Entrepreneurs (ECOWAS FEBWE).

She said the work done by women remains invincible in Africa, despite that women work as much as men or even more, because three-quarter of their time is dedicated to non remunerated work. That Women are not considered as fully active economic actors because the domestic and informal works are not taken into account by our national statistics. Women, she said are very active because they are mainly in the informal economy, which is estimated to generate 20percent of the global economic production. In the African continent it generates up to 70percent of new employments as at 1990.

Despite this, women, she said have excelled in every sphere of human endeavor to the extent that their contributions and practical involvement in policy and decision-making, international and national development issues cannot be undermined.

Bamezon-Leguede salutes the courage and the wisdom of WAF executives at creating a forum for the advancement of women, where women's views and contributions to continental issues are put in the front burner. She charged women to make more décisive efforts to leave the traditional roles in which they have since been confined by nature, common law and men.

“Women should also choose the fields of training different from the traditional ones that they have always followed in order to rise to the same level as men and maximize their potential in socio economic and political activities. Changing the way we think systematically is a sine qua non condition toward those changes that we all desire from our hearts.”

She said leadership for change calls for the acquisition of a new conscience, the integration of new habits, the development of new capacities and full participation to the decision making process. These elements, she noted are crucial and necessary in order to strengthen the capacity of women the world.

Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay, Former Speaker, The Gambian Parliament & ECOWAS Parliament, said for women to have a say in decision making, the girl child must go to school, get good education and be able to take up the challenges of nation building.

She said; “When our girls are educated, they will be in better position to take up decision making responsibilities and then give priority to women's empowerment, especially through the MDGs.”

According to Ceesay, the key milestone in the road map to the MDG's and women empowerment is for governments to continue to enact women and girl child friendly laws. With good education, women's participation in politics will be facilitated and they will acquire the political clout to bring about the advancement and emancipation of women and girls.

Gambia is still struggling to attain the MDGs, because of poor policy planning and poor implementation. She blamed culture and tradition for some of the drawbacks. For there to be emancipation and advancement, she said there is no end to trying, even as she cites Blacks in America, who were legally emancipated in 1863, yet, they are still fighting for more emancipation and advancement till date.

“The same with us, every small step gained should be applauded with the hope that it will lead to more steps towards emancipation. Our effort towards this should be seen as never ending. Let's awake the sleeping lioness and keep her awake to nurture the next generation of leaders for our continent.”

Hon. Nkiruka Onyejeocha, Chair, Nigeria's House Committee on Aviation, National Assembly. She said now is the time to reposition the African women for equal and full participation in the power structure and policy making process. She identified the urgent need for awareness, which arises from the fact that a reasonable percentage of African women are not educated and live in absolute ignorance of their rights, positions and privileges in the society.

She said that women in Africa are educationally disadvantaged is a societal and policy challenge that requires urgent attention. Hence, she called on African states, their governments, gender-based non-governmental organisations and women societies to take urgent steps in addressing the low level of education among African women.

According to her, educating women is a step in the right direction and will tremendously boost the chances of women to fully participate in policy- making, business and economy. Looking at other climes where similar efforts were made to address these challenges, she said contributions of women to national development in areas of politics and economy are overwhelming.

Nkiru wants public policy to be used by African governments to boost women's access to education through the introduction of mass and compulsory education, initiation of adult literacy programmes for women that have passed the age of basic education. While academic programmes and school curricular should be redesigned to address the challenges of women's participation in policy making, business and the economy.

Nkechi Mba, President, National Council Of Women's Societies-Nigeria, said women have always been a part of every ideological and physical struggle for change as it is on record that many women played major roles in the struggles for the independence of many African countries, even though not much of this was recorded.

In South Africa, before the 1994 elections, she said women formed a vibrant National women's Coalition across ethnic, religious, political and social lines, which helped to sustain the Peace Accord and the creation of a democratic constitution and the Bill of Rights.

She recalled: “A woman such as Mariam Makeba employed music as a formidable tool for the ideological struggle against Colonial Rule. Furthermore, during the Ethiopia-Eritrea war, women mobilized other women to end the war. In Sierra Leone, the Women's Forum – a Coalition of Women's Groups, raised public awareness on the Lome Peace Accord.”

Mba said all these efforts by women brought about positive changes in all the affected countries. Just as in January 1949, Madam Funmilayo Ransome – Kuti, Nigerian Nationalist acted as a change agent when she led about 50,000 women and marched to the Palace of a despot, the Alake of Egbaland, and chased him into exile for his shortcomings, which the people could no longer tolerate. That brought about a change of an unjust system and the dethroning tyranny. She wants women all over the world and Africa to cause changes in the work place, public places and policies.

WAF's general assembly session deliberated on those issues affecting women and the society. At the end of the session, notable African women who had impacted lives of other women were given awards.

EPILOGUE

AT the end, it was agreed that until women have access to economic resources, women's rights - civil, political, social and cultural – global peace and growth remain unrealizable. If realized, it will bring about effective participation of all in and the shaping of the political and economic policies that affect lives on a daily basis.

The women went home with a greater determination to actualize the MDGs, change the tide of history and chart a better future that would ensure human security, gender equality and women's empowerment.