PHA-Exchange> AN AGENDA FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS

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From: <pambazuka-news at pambazuka.org>
 PAMBAZUKA NEWS 103 


DEFINING AN AGENDA FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN AFRICA
Rotimi Sankore 

A key index for measuring the march of civilisation in any society is
its comprehensive recognition of, defence and promotion of women's
economic, socio-cultural, civil, human and political rights. By this
measurement, all human societies so far have failed to achieve full
civilisation. The only difference is that some have failed more
spectacularly than others, and some have been more successful at
disguising their failure with sophisticated deception. 

The above is by no means a harsh judgement. The reality remains that in
most societies and across all time women remain the most consistently
discriminated against and exploited section of society. Wherever a
higher or sharper form of discrimination has existed whether on the
basis of race, nationality or religion, women have been doubly exploited
both by members of their own race, class or nationality, and by the
exploiters of their race, language group or nationality. This must end
sooner rather than later if humanity's claim of being civilised is to
have any real meaning. 

Every year, the 'world' celebrates international women's day on 8 March.
In numerous countries, many women are not even aware of the date. In
most countries, this means seminars, workshops and lots of speeches -
mostly for campaigners and the elite. There is nothing wrong with these.
However we must go beyond mere commemoration and utilise this date in
two ways. Firstly as an opportunity for an annual review of the progress
made towards securing the institutionalisation of women's rights on a
universal basis. And secondly as an opportunity to involve everyday
women - and men - in the process of strategizing on ways to eliminate
all remaining forms of discrimination against women. 

But in order to make progress towards sweeping away the obstacles to the
full emancipation of women, we all - men and women - must appreciate the
framework that upholds this unjust discrimination, be prepared to take
it down, and construct the basis of a new society. In Africa the
underdevelopment of the economy and reign of mostly undemocratic
governments - due to internal and external reasons - rests like a heavy
burden on the back of rights issues in general. This underlines the fact
that women's rights cannot be developed and secured in a sustainable way
in isolation from the general development of society and human rights.
In other words, the more democratic and economically developed a
society, the more the rights of women are likely to be advanced. 

But a developed economy and greater rights awareness are only enabling
factors, not decisive ones. Two examples will suffice. For instance,
since the inception of the Convention for the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1979, successive American
administrations have refused to ratify it since the Carter government
signed up in 1980. The current government of Afghanistan on the other
hand ratified CEDAW on 3 March 2003. Also, many Asian countries such as
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia have produced female leaders
with ease - unthinkable in the US or some more developed European
countries. These show that while higher levels of economic development
and 'democracy' facilitate better educational and job opportunities,
higher incomes for individual women and therefore more individual
freedom, women collectively will remain discriminated against until the
social, economic and political frameworks that sustain such
discrimination are dismantled. In this respect, the universal link
between the role of conservative political and religious leaders in
restricting women's rights is too strong to ignore. 

As with most problems, formal and informal education and enlightenment
are vital to finding solutions. The strategic goal of such education and
enlightenment must be to enable exploited women in particular to see the
big picture, to ask the awkward questions and most importantly to
provide the answers. Why are women discriminated against and exploited?
Who benefits from this and how can it be ended? What structures and
mechanisms sustain this discrimination and how can they be nullified?
Fear and ignorance are the biggest obstacles in the way of the
exploited. Once they have been removed, previously insurmountable
problems shrink progressively until they no longer exist. 

In order to understand the basis of gender inequality it is vital to
appreciate unequivocally that the basis of all institutionalised
discrimination and inequality is to facilitate the exploitation of
allegedly unequal persons. This is the basis of racism, slavery and all
discrimination based on colour, language group, nationality, religion,
class - or gender. Just like the myth of racial superiority, the myth of
male superiority has been woven to serve one purpose - that of
exploitation. Exploitation can manifest itself in many forms: economic
exploitation for slavery or cheap labour in the home or in factories;
political exploitation which denies the exploited their full rights to
political participation; social exploitation which suppresses and
ignores the views, opinions and aspirations of the exploited. 

Whether in highly industrialised or less industrialised countries, the
average woman in a family or relationship faces the same fate. She is
expected to wake up, clean the house, get children ready for the day, do
the cooking, the shopping, washing, have little or no opinion on the big
issues, and sacrifice her career and aspirations. Just to remind her who
is the boss she is likely to be subjected to threats, some intimidation
and in some cases occasional or regular beating for emphasis. 

Although personal aspiration, education, profession, income and social
status make a difference to the circumstances of women in relationships,
a defining factor is always the level of enlightenment of the male
partner or family members. But it is not just individual men that
benefit from this shameful state of affairs. Societal discrimination
against women leaves them open to unequal pay for equal work, low paid
jobs or stereotypical jobs and positions such as secretaries, teachers,
nurses and shop assistants. These lead to only one conclusion. Not only
is there a clear profit motive for denying women equal rights, there is
also a clear social motive i.e. the artificial creation of an underclass
based on gender and coerced into playing the role of helpers and
assistants. 

It is therefore vital to see the big picture. Although most men benefit
from the status quo, not all men are misogynists and the major battle
must be to change society as a whole. Significantly, the suppression of
women's rights could not and cannot be sustained without the invention
and implementation of both formal and informal control mechanisms. The
mechanisms for social control and discrimination against women have
ranged from the blatant to the subtle. For example, the denial of the
rights to vote and to seek political office, denial of property and
inheritance rights, imposition of spouse approval for bank loans,
travelling passports and so forth, to outright denial of citizenship
rights i.e. denial of the right to transfer citizenship to children as
was the case until recently in Botswana, or to transfer citizenship to
spouses as is the case in Nigeria. The tacit support of the law and
'culture' for violence against women inside or outside the home, marital
rape, the 'stigmatisation' of rape victims etc are deliberate and
cynical mechanisms for sustaining exploitation of women. 

Women are also generally groomed for a life of subservience. They are
indoctrinated within most families and communities to defer to men (not
on the basis of intellect but gender), to have lower aspirations and
expectations, and to acquire certain 'female skills' in preparation for
being 'given away' in marriage. (Male children on the other hand are
groomed for leadership in society.) In some societies, women who do not
or are reluctant to adopt the name of the families they marry into are
negatively described as 'feminists'. This logic confers 'legitimacy and
respect' on married women and subtracts the same from women that are
not. But despite these injustices, society has made a little progress
from the era when assertive or 'troublesome' women were simply branded
'witches' and burnt at the stake or stoned. 

Nevertheless, not enough progress has been made and humanity will still
be considered far from attaining civilisation until the progress is
swift and measurable against targets. A simple reason for this is that
it is not only women that are negatively affected by discrimination
against them. A UN population report in the year 2000 concluded that
every single minute of everyday a woman dies as a result of pregnancy
related complications. That is over half a million preventable deaths a
year. Aside from the fact that it would be intolerable to a male
dominated society for there to be a preventable cause of death of men on
this scale, the loss to society of potential geniuses and innovators is
astounding, except of course to those that by some twisted logic
genuinely believe that women are inferior beings. 

The HIV/AIDS epidemic currently sweeping across Africa is also cutting
down millions of women in their prime. Although HIV knows no gender or
social barriers, women are biologically more vulnerable and women of
lower income and social status are paying a higher price than most. The
reasons are economic as well as social. Some may disagree, but the
reality is that the removal of social safety nets by naked
commercialisation and liberalisation policies imposed by international
financial institutions has left many women in Africa in an economically
desperate situation. 

While unchecked commercialisation has tripled or quadrupled prices of
rent, transport and other social necessities, liberalisation has tied
many economies to 'international' currencies and priced goods way beyond
the income of most people - especially women whom in contemporary
society the world over earn lower incomes. This has altered power
relations in ways that leave women open to social and economic abuse. 

For instance, women in relationships in which they are largely dependent
on men are in no position to demand that their unenlightened male
partners use condoms even when it is clear that they may have been
engaging in unsafe sex with multiple partners. For example, the large
number of migrant workers in South Africa mirrors this problem. The
Apartheid socio-economic policy of migrant labour camps meant that tens
of thousands of men travelled to work for long periods during which not
a few engaged the services of sex workers. Many women are themselves
forced into this by lack of education, poverty and the primitive drive
to 'survive'. Inadequate education on HIV/AIDS ensures high infection
levels. The men then travel back to their families where wives dare not
refuse unprotected sex and when the infected become pregnant, the
children also become victims. 

The obstacles preventing gender equality in Africa are enormous but not
insurmountable. As the most exploited of all continents through over
five hundred years of slavery and colonisation, not to mention decades
of several forms of dictatorships supported by internal and external
forces, Africa needs all its human resources to develop society to the
minimum level necessary for a dignified existence. To achieve this,
general and specific issues need to be addressed and a clear agenda
defined for the institutionalisation of women's rights in Africa. 

GENERAL ISSUES 

* Mass education and enlightenment: This means countering deeply
established prejudice through the introduction of rights issues in
general and women's rights specifically into formal educational systems.
Informal channels such as the media and other public education avenues
must also be utilised. The average person accepts society as they are
born into it until education or confrontations with sharp decisions
change their outlook. 
* Constitutional and legislative reform: Immediate ratification and
localisation of all international and regional conventions and treaties
covering women's rights. The immediate review of constitutions to ensure
that they fully reflect women's rights, and repeal of all anti women
legislation. 
* Judicial and law enforcement reform: An overhaul of the judiciary,
legal system and law enforcement agencies to ensure that all issues
relating to women are specifically covered and reviewed to reflect full
and uncompromising respect for their rights. This must also include the
retraining of judicial and law enforcement personnel, and the
appointment of more qualified women into the judiciary and law
enforcement agencies. 

SPECIFIC ISSUES 

* Violence against women: Every single form of violence against women to
be specifically legislated against with emphasis of the obligation of
the state to prosecute such cases without placing the burden of pressing
charges on women. Special emphasis to be placed on violence in the home
and rape. Law enforcement agencies and personnel to be retrained and
prosecuted for failure to press charges and enforce the relevant laws. 
* Health rights: An increase of health budgets in relation to health
issues specific to women such as maternal mortality, mother to child
transmission of HIV, cervical and breast cancer etc. Budget increases to
be measured against World Health Organisation standards of expenditure
per head. A strong emphasis on health awareness and preventive
healthcare. 
* Reproductive rights: The right to family planning, safe sex and
enlightenment on the benefits of child spacing. 
* Political rights: Full political participation rights including the
rights to vote and be voted for, women quotas for elective and appointed
public offices, the creation of women's affairs ministries and so forth.

* Economic and Employment rights: The right to equal pay for equal work,
the right to maternity leave, the recognition of women as principal
breadwinners and concessions that go with this such as tax breaks etc.
Equal access to bank loans and credit and legislation outlawing
workplace discrimination. 
* Social and cultural rights: All forms of social discrimination and
anti women right practices to be identified and outlawed through firm
legislation. E.g. discrimination based on marital status or maternity.
Discrimination reinforced by religion and 'culture' to be specifically
targeted for enlightenment campaigns. 
* Inheritance and property rights: Full rights to property especially in
relation to inheritance from parents and husbands without the
interference of family members to disposes women. 

These ten points are not exhaustive, but must be the minimum acceptable
standards. For these basic objectives to be achieved the issues must
also be taken up outside the framework of rights organisations. Women at
all levels must be involved, and be supported by community based
organisations such as market women associations, their professional
associations, trade unions and student unions. In more democratic
countries, pressure must be placed on all political parties, the
legislature and judiciary and in less democratic ones directly on the
government. Networks must be established at national levels established
to harmonise strategies. Timetables, targets and review dates for reform
must be set in order for it to be both measurable and effective. March 8
every year should be a good date for such reviews. 

* Rotimi Sankore is co-ordinator of CREDO for Freedom of Expression and
Associated Rights an NGO focussing on rights issues in Africa. CREDO can
be contacted via info at credonet.org