Time not on our side, gender activists tell JB
Malawi President Joyce Banda becomes the first woman to head the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) amid civil society’s calls to speed up the race for gender parity, especially by ensuring women access to land and other means of production.
Speaking when Banda presided over the 10th anniversary of the African Union Protocol on Right of Women in Lilongwe on Thursday, Gender Links chief executive officer Colleen Lowe-Morna Lowe said standing before a female Head of State and African Union Commission chairperson, Nkosazana Dhlamini-Zuma, was her dream when the heads of State and government signed the Sadc Gender Declaration in Blantyre in 1997.
Failure to achieve the low-perched commitment of 30 percent women representation in decision-making positions reinvigorated the activists to press for the adoption of the Sadc Protocol on Gender and Development which guarantees 50: 50 distribution of positions in all spheres of life by 2015.
With two years to go before the deadline of the 28-point road map to gender equality, the activist reiterated the catchphrase of the 2013 Sadc Gender Barometer which the President launched at the celebration: “Time is now, time is running out. If men and women are to be equal, it must extend to all spheres. It is vital to ensure access to land credit and other means of production so that women can improve their income and livelihood.”
With the region facing 10 elections before 2015, Lowe urged member States to ensure that calls for equal representation of men and women in decision making is not just a slogan, but make it real. Malawi, which goes to polls in May next year, saw women representation in parliament rise from 13 percent to 22.
In her address, President Banda recounted her shift from the civil society to politics, arguably to help reform laws that constrain women, especially the 81 percent living in rural areas
“We have travelled a long journey together. During this journey, I have learnt that it is the responsibility of those in leadership to protect the voiceless,” she said.
