Empowerment of women in Africa and the Arab world: Merits, prospects and challenges (II)
Many Afro-Arab women and their communities are worse off today than they were a decade ago in spite of the Beijing Platform for Action and subsequent governmental commitments made at international conferences or ratification of United Nations and regional bodies like the African Union and declarations by member states. For millions of afro-Arab women, hunger, […]
Many Afro-Arab women and their communities are worse off today than they were a decade ago in spite of the Beijing Platform for Action and subsequent governmental commitments made at international conferences or ratification of United Nations and regional bodies like the African Union and declarations by member states. For millions of afro-Arab women, hunger, violence, poverty, exclusion, deprivation and discrimination are their everyday realities.
Afro-Arab women have not realized meaningful gains from the sustained growth of their national economies in years past. Deregulation and privatization, labour migration patterns and the resulting changes in family structures have further marginalized women. Today, they are the backbone of the informal economy, especially in the agricultural sector. They lack access to productive resources, including credit, land, and technical and support services.
Where Afro-Arab countries have made remarkable strides is in increased women’s political participation resulting from government quotas or reserving seats for women in national and local legislative bodies. The share of parliamentary seats held by women in Africa for instance, increased from 7 percent in 1990 to 17 percent in 2007 (UNIFEM, 2008), in line with the global average. Rwanda now ranks first among all countries of the world in terms of the number of women elected to parliament, and where women outnumber men in parliament, as provisional election results indicate.
In the same vein, Africa has produced its first female president in Liberia in the person of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. More African women have made significant electoral gains in the levels of decision-making. Prominent women leaders include the Deputy President of South Africa, Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and the Prime Minister of Mozambique, Ms. Luisa Diogo. While some have served as acting presidents in both Burundi and Guinea-Bissau, the 2006 election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as President of Liberia is, perhaps, the most significant milestone for women at the highest levels of politics in Africa.
Nearly all the Arab countries have extended electoral franchise to women. It is only in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirate that women are not allowed to vote or be voted for because the two nations lack elected legislature. The situation has somewhat improved in Kuwait following the recent electoral victory of a woman in that country.
However, the UNDP Arab Human Development Report 2005 observed that the political process in Arab nations is still far from representative of women and their needs and concerns. The report further contends that women participation in senior levels of government remains largely cosmetic, with few women in high-profile positions without much real power. The report asserts that real decisions in the Arab world, at all levels, are in the hands of men. Women’s role, the report argues, are symbolic-one or two female ministers in most cases; limited to smaller portfolios like women’s/social affairs ministries; and conditional : dependent on internal and external pressures at the time of appointment and subject to the whims of male leaders.
The report further maintains that some Arab governments resist empowering women because expanding the participation of women in politics will disperse power more widely throughout society, reducing the dominant current leaders. Same thing obtains in Africa.
In most societies all over the world, and for centuries, the political domain is defined and controlled by powerful men. The absence of women in established political structures is attributed to the forces of patriarchy, feudalism and capitalism that kept women out of the public sphere and confined them to work within the family and lowest-paid non-prestigious occupations. Studies also point to colonialism as a factor in women’s subordination and their exclusion from politics.
In response to women’s lack of power, the concept of ‘empowerment’ has become a central issue in the feminist definition of politics. Empowerment is taken as a process by which an oppressed person gain some control over their lives by taking part with others in development of activities and structures that allow people increased involvement in matters which affect them directly. By socially empowering women they will be released from the traditional tedious work focussed on the household and with time they will be involved in political power that will effectively advocate their interests at local, national, and international levels of politics. The process of generating and using power to bring about social change is a political activity.
Meaningful development is not possible when women—normally half the population, and in the case of Southern Sudan about 60%-are excluded from power. Their needs and requirements are not adequately represented and decisions are not taken with their interests in mind. Women should continue to overcome new challenges to strengthen their power and position even though the political opportunity is still slim. While, their presence alone does not guarantee change for women, it allows them to demonstrate sound political leadership, an awareness of women’s needs and the importance of gender equality, all of which will open doors for the next generation of women leaders.