FROM BEIJING TO AFRICA - IMPLEMENTING THE BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION
Barbara Lopi
The year 2005 marks the 10th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference 
on Women, which was held in Beijing, China, in 1995, and processes to 
review the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) are 
gaining momentum. Recently, a southern African intergovernmental 
Sub-Regional Meeting for the decade review of the BPFA was held in 
Lusaka, Zambia, from 26 to 28 April 2004 under the auspices of the 
southern Africa Office of the United Nations Economic Commission for 
Africa (UNECA) in collaboration with the Southern African Development 
Community (SADC).

Prior to the sub-regional review meeting, representatives of women's 
human rights, women's empowerment and gender and development 
non-governmental organisations from eleven countries met in Lusaka, 
Zambia on 25 April 2004, at a special session devoted specifically to 
reviewing the achievements, challenges and opportunities in the 
implementation of BPFA. The objective of the working session, which was 
convened by the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre 
(SARDC), Women in Development Southern Africa Awareness programme 
(WIDSAA) in collaboration with the Non Governmental Organisation 
Coordinating Council (NGOCC) in Zambia, was to consolidate civil 
society input to the intergovernmental decade review meeting.

The NGO meeting achieved their objective by producing a communiqué, 
which was presented to the sub-regional intergovernmental decade review 
meeting. The communiqué outlined constraints and challenges encountered 
in implementing the 12 critical areas outlined in BPFA.

While acknowledging the region's progresses, the Gender NGOs expressed 
deep concern about the rapid spread of HIV infection in the SADC 
countries and the millions of deaths caused by AIDS, which they 
described as a testimony to the continued unequal power relations 
between women and men.

The communiqué highlighted several constrains and challenges hampering 
the implementation of the 12 critical areas of concern outlined in the 
BPFA as obstacles to the advancement of women and gender equality. Key 
among the constraints is the failure to operationalise established 
gender equality frameworks and implement national and regional 
policies. A majority of countries in the regional have adopted national 
gender policies and developed attractive strategic plans for their 
implementations, but these have remained unimplemented. Reasons include 
a lack of financial and human resources.

The established mechanisms for the advancement of women have also been 
less productive due to unclear mandates, understaffing and limited 
skills in gender mainstreaming. Only a few experts have the requisite 
gender competencies and awareness on gender equality instruments to 
implement policies and assist in mainstreaming of gender.

Another major concern expressed was the misconception surrounding 
gender mainstreaming, which was reported to be hindering the promotion 
of gender equality.

To clear the current misunderstanding of the concept of gender 
mainstreaming, the NGOs in their communiqué called for a strong review 
of 'gender mainstreaming' at the continental, regional, national and 
civil society levels within countries and for the development of 
approaches that result in transformation, rather than mere reform, of 
the patriarchal structures.

“Gender mainstreaming has been simplistically defined as the social 
roles of women and men without any analysis of the unequal power 
relations within structures, which hinder women's effective 
participation. This interpretation of the approach has led to 
situations where gender mainstreaming is viewed as the sole 
responsibility of women, and it is seen as a 'favour', rather than as a 
strategic means to bring about gender justice and equality.

“We note with grave concern the misconceptions that have arisen around 
'gender mainstreaming' as the identified approach to give women equal 
access to opportunities in all sectors. Some governments have 
interpreted the approach to mean mainstreaming 'traditional gender 
roles' whereby women are still unable to break through the 'glass 
ceilings' into decision-making positions,” read part of the communiqué.

Gender experts define gender mainstreaming as the (re) organisation, 
improvement, development and evaluation of policy processes, so that a 
gender equality perspective is incorporated in all policies at all 
levels and at all stages, by the actors normally involved in 
policy-making.

Gender mainstreaming means that gender equality is part of common 
policies and thus it (gender mainstreaming) implies a broader and more 
comprehensive definition of gender equality, giving value to 
differences and diversity. In stressing the need to (re) organise, 
improve, develop and evaluate policy processes, gender mainstreaming 
must be able to challenge the male bias that characterises society and 
the structural character of gender inequality. Mainstreaming must 
involve more and new actors in building a balanced society.

Concern about the the lack of gender specific job descriptions, and the 
limited knowledge on gender issues, was also expressed. This was 
coupled with low working morale that defeated the good intention behind 
established gender focal points in the ministries in most SADC 
countries. Personnel at these focus points are usually overburdened by 
other responsibilities, and in some cases lack gender-mainstreaming 
skills, thereby rendering them unable to influence policy changes in 
their respective sectors. These problems are compounded by the high 
turnover of gender specialists.

Recommendations regarding the other priority areas of concern in the 
BPFA were as follows:

* In order to effectively reduce the prevalence of HIV and AIDS, 
governments must make gender equality central to all strategies, 
polices and programmes.

* Declining economies and poverty remain big challenges for the region. 
It was recommended that by December 2006, women form no less than 50% 
of all bodies that make decisions on economic policy; and enact laws 
that guarantee that women form no less than 50 percent of the 
beneficiaries of land redistribution schemes and have access to and 
control over ownership of land in their own right.

* Recognising the high maternal mortality rates in the sub-region, 
provision of quality reproductive health services is paramount. It is 
recommended that user fees for all women including pregnant girls 
seeking health services be removed; that a broad range of female 
controlled protective devices such as microbicides and condoms be 
provided as contraception and protection from HIV and STIs and 
legislative reforming permitting access to safe and affordable delivery 
and abortion be effected.

* On gender violence, it was recommended that all SADC countries 
provide post sexual violence medical therapies for women and girls and 
especially those therapies that prevent and reduce the transmission of 
HIV and STIs; all countries enact legislation that criminalizes 
domestic violence and sexual offences committed in both the public and 
private spheres; all SADC countries ensure that they make and protect 
budgetary provisions for implementing measures to protect women and 
girls from violence; that governments enact stiffer penalties for all 
forms of sexual violence against the girl-child including trafficking, 
and protect girls from child labour.

* On women in decision-making positions, it was recommended that 
governments adopt measures within the framework of the elections which 
are unfolding in the region over the next 18 months, to fulfil the 
commitment of reaching the target of a minimum of 30 percent women in 
strategic political and decision making positions by December 2005; 
domesticate all regional and international instruments that are legally 
binding, and transform declarations into Protocols; and amend all 
constraints urgently to eliminate the provisions that currently exist 
for the discrimination of women and girls through customary and 
personal law.

* While recognising the growing acceptance of women's participation in 
decision-making, the NGOs recommended that governments make a concerted 
effort to: meet the African Union's target of 50% women in managerial 
and decision-making positions in all parastatals, public institutions, 
regional bodies, media institutions, the judiciary, the public service 
and trade unions; and enact special measures to increase women's 
participation in structures and policy-making processes at all levels.

* On women in the media, government and media were recommended to set 
targets for the advancement of women in the media; and set up an 
independent regulatory media authority to monitor the implementation of 
these targets. The media were also urged to develop editorial and 
employment policies which prohibit discrimination against women in the 
workplace, and ensure their promotion to key positions.

Lastly, Southern Africa - and the African continent - must begin to 
operate on a new gear, which ensures that all commitments agreed upon, 
including protocols and declarations signed, are adhered to. As the 
continent prepares for the African Union meeting in July, governments 
and heads of states that have not signed, ratified or acceded to the 
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the 
Rights of Women in Africa must do so.

Few countries have so far signed, ratified or acceded to the Protocol, 
which holds lots of opportunities to squarely address a number of 
interconnected issues on violence against women, based on African 
women's experiences. The Protocol is crucial for enacting gender 
sensitive legislation that is rooted in local experience and responds 
concisely to women's lived realities.

* Barbara Lopi is Project Manager/Editor the Southern African Research 
and Documentation Centre, Women in Development Southern Africa 
Awareness (SARDC WIDSAA) programme.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

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EQUALITY NOW: BEIJING +10 CAMPAIGN
Equality Now, which works for the protection and promotion of the human 
rights of women around the world, recently launched a global Beijing + 
10 campaign for the repeal of discriminatory laws with respect to the 
commitments made in the Beijing Platform for Action.

To highlight the gap between women’s realities in countries around the 
world and the commitments made by governments ten years ago, Equality 
Now has issued 'Words and Deeds: Holding Governments Accountable in the 
Beijing+10 Review Process' The report highlights a representative 
sampling of discriminatory laws in countries around the world and calls 
on their governments to rescind these laws in accordance with the 
commitment made in the Beijing Platform for Action. A number of African 
countries' laws (Algeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, 
Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania) are included in 
the report, which is available at the website: www.equalitynow.org