INTERNATIONAL: Women Want Liberation

“Until women and girls are liberated from poverty and injustice, all our goals – peace, security, sustainable development – stand in jeopardy,” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said during the 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York when launching the International Women's Day.

The International Women's Day is observed annually on the 8th March and in the country it was celebrated at the Mbabane Market.
Having been in New York for what I will call the Women's Summit, I cannot agree more with the UN secretary General.
In fact, when we all sit down and reflect on the things that happen around the world today be they political, social and/or economic, the most affected by its effect are women.

Until we fully appreciate how women are affected by our actions or inactions, we will not fully appreciate the challenges they face on a daily basis.

Claim
There is no country in the world that can claim it has addressed all the challenges faced by its women folk, in fact, there are glaring disparities between men and women all over the globe.

In 1995, women all over the world held their meeting in Beijing, China where they adopted the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). To a number of people, particularly men, the Beijing Platform for Action identified 12 critical areas of concern which they need addressed.

The critical areas are; women and poverty; education and training for women; women and health; violence against women; women and armed conflict; women and the economy; women in power and decision making; institutional mechanism for the advancement of women; human rights of women; women and the media; women and the environment and the girl child.

Coming from Beijing the tone of the conference was that women now wanted to be in power and control men. For the past 15 years, culture and religion has been used to block or frustrate the women's campaign for fair representation in addressing their concerns.

When it suited us men, we have told women to stop stressing about their human rights because God and ancestors have always wanted that women be subservient or obedient and take what their husbands and heads of the families want.

In fact, to pour a damper into the whole women's movement, we have portrayed women as power hungry creatures that want to be high-handed over the husbands. Instead of playing a supportive role, men have tended to be threatened by the call for more women representation in decision-making levels, both in the private and public sector.

But being in power and positions of decision-making is not the be all and end all of women's concerns, but just one of the 12 critical areas of concern. And being worried about women in power and decision making does not necessarily address all the other 11 valid concerns.

When you look around the world today, poverty, HIV and AIDS, climate change effects, poor health service delivery and violence has a woman's face.

If you want to project a very clear and vivid picture of a society in abject poverty, affected by AIDS and drought, is ample demonstrated by a woman's face!

There are no prizes for guessing why it is the case – women hold the sky (in other words they are the majority in all the countries of the world).

So in New York this year, taping from the 1995 Beijing spirit, women faced the United Nations and called for a transformation within itself which will now put women's issues at the centre of everything that moves the world.

Women from Europe, Asia, Africa, America and everywhere made it clear that they want a strong Women's Agency to be formed which will have a UN under Secretary General as its head.

They made it clear that they would be happy if that person is a woman.

Further, they are quite clear that alone as women they cannot achieve all their goals hence they are appealing for men's support.
They admit that alone they cannot end the violence against women nor can men end the wars all by themselves, but realised that we need each other.

The UN Secretary General told the gathering that since the landmark meeting in Beijing, there have been signs of progress.

“Most girls now receive education, especially at the primary level, while a growing number of countries have policies and legislation supporting gender equality and reproductive health.

“So, as we look back on Beijing, we have much reason to be proud. Proud but not complacent,” said Ban who said as a son, husband, father and grandfather to girls, he has made women's empowerment his priority.

He pointed out that injustice and discrimination against women persist around the world, manifest in violence in some cases. He said over two thirds of women experience violence in their lifetime, most commonly at the hands of an intimate partner.

In the country there is lot that still needs top be done in terms of policy and legislation to ensure that women are empowered.

Political
Whilst we should not undermine the women's movement push for more political seats and top positions in the corporate world and business, we must always remember that not all women will be in power or in business, hence the need to ensure that all the other 11 concerns are addressed to ensure that they are totally empowered. The African Union has declared 2010 to 2020 a Women's Decade and plans are afoot to launch the event in a spectacular way in October 15th.

Swaziland and Kenya are so far the only two countries that have offered to host the five day long launch. It was made clear that this is about the emancipation of the poorest of the poor women and a strong point made that there would be no point of establishing a Women's Agency within the UN structures if it fails to improve the quality of life of women across the globe, particularly in Africa where culture and religion is still used as a means to keep them in bondage.