Delegates celebrate Africa’s advancement in gender equality, women empowerment

Delegates at the end of a day’s conference in Kenya to celebrate Africa’s advancement in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment have come up with the African Countries Declaration and commitment to gender equality and empowerment to be presented to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) later this year.

“We as African countries acknowledge the African Union Heads of State and Government Declaration of 2015 as the year of women’s empowerment and development towards Africa’s agenda 2063 which seeks the realisation of 50/50 representation in decision-making positions,” has said.

The conference was attended by ministers in charge of Gender and Women Affairs from 54 African countries, the civil society and development partners, to celebrate Africa’s advancement in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.

Dubbed the Nairobi+30 Conference, the meeting, organised to mark 30 years since the Third World Conference on Women was held in Nairobi Kenya in 1985, gave participants the chance to take stock of the progress made in the last 30 years in the African women’s movement.

Africa’s Agenda 2063

The forum was intended to fast-track implementation of Africa’s Agenda 2063 which has as one of its goals, “full gender equality in all spheres of life”.

“We recognise the critical role of women and girls in society and embrace global commitments on the realisation of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and call for the strengthening of the gender machinery through enhanced financial and technical support,” the delegates declared.

They also called on the men and boys of Africa to be equal partners in the realisation of gender equality and women’s empowerment, and reaffirm their commitments to the agenda of gender, and confirmed that the promotion of Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women would take centre stage in the implementation of the AU Agenda 2063 and the new Global Sustainable Development Goals.

Finally, they declared that as African Countries, “We recommit to continue to implement programmes, actions and activities that will realise and strengthen Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment throughout the continent.”

In his address, the Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mr John Alexander Ackon, who led the Ghanaian delegation, re-emphasised the government’s commitment to the promotion of gender sensitivity in the socio- economic development processes of the country.

Support and encouragement

He said that was why the government was giving women the necessary support and encouragement in various socio-economic fields of endeavour, for the promotion of their active participation in those fields.

He said that would be done through concrete administrative, legal and constitutional measures, adding that the government believed that socio-economic empowerment of women was inextricably linked with equality between women and men and development.

Mr Ackon said Ghana was empowering women socially, politically and economically, and ensuring that they were represented adequately at all levels of decision-making.

He mentioned that institutional and policy measures were being pursued in Ghana to promote the development of women and children.

These, he said, included the formulation of National Gender and Children’s Policies which had been approved by Cabinet, strengthening of legal frameworks with the development of an Affirmative Action Legislation, and Intestate Succession Bill and Property Rights of Spouses’ Bill, both currently before Parliament.

Leadership positions

He said, currently, Ghana had a good number of women occupying leadership positions at the highest level, stating that women made up 29 per cent of ministers, 23 per cent of deputy ministers, 16 per cent of chief directors (first secretaries) and eight per cent of district, municipal and metropolitan chief executives.

He said the high-level appointments of women also included the chief justice, the electoral commissioner, the director- general of ghana prisons, the director-general of ghana aids commission, the controller and accountant general, and the government statistician.