Source: The Guardian
The 11 candidates contesting presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo all pledge to improve peace and security in the country – promises received with varying degrees of scepticism by Congolese voters.
Source: IPS Africa
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s victory for a second term of office has been described as a boon for women despite the controversy surrounding an opposition boycott of the runoff.
Source: IPS
Tunisian women poured into the streets armed with the vote, their latest weapon, when the country voted in its first democratic election since a popular uprising unseated former president Zine Abidine Ben Ali, ending his 27-year- long stronghold on the country.
Women in Zimbabwe have taken a resolute stance towards their economic empowerment and the tide of their willpower has taken many forms in recent years.
Source: The Zimbabwean
When the African Union declared that 2010-2020 is the African Women Decade, many people may not have taken it seriously. But the rise of women in various fields in Africa, one year into the decade, has been impressive.
The AU declaration could actually be an understatement, as indications are that women in leadership are scaling unprecedented heights and could be the much-awaited answer to most of the continent’s challenges.
Two African women scooped the Nobel Peace Prize for their "non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work," and shared the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Liberian leader, the only female Head of State in Africa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her country-woman, Leymah Gbowee, a peace activist who was a key figure in organizing the movement to bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War, have done the women folk proud by winning the prestigious award.
Another woman, Tawakul Karmans, a Yemeni journalist and human rights activist, who is one of the loudest voices in the Yemeni protests and a major figurehead of the on-going Arab Spring opposition, is one of the youngest people to receive the prize.
Many will agree that this year’s winners are most worthy because the three women have fought tirelessly for peace and women’s human rights in a non-violent manner - unlike the former male award winners.
Sirleaf is honoured for the development she has accomplished after Liberia's devastating 14-year civil war, led by Charles Taylor who is now facing human rights abuses at the Hague.
Leymah Gbowee started a peace movement by organizing women to pray for peace.
In 2004 the late Professor Wangari Maathai of Kenya, became the first African woman to win the peace prize.
Maathai was renowned as a fearless social environmental activist who led a peaceful women’s movement in Kenya defying years of violent resistence by the then Kenyan government.
Nobel Peace Prizes may come and go, but the courage of these women will remain a source of inspiration for many. Whilst the numbers of women winners may be numerically small, and there are many women in the continent whose achievements are not internationally recognized, the awards have transformed women’s mindsets and the resulting inspiration is likely to reach very far.
Recently Zimbabwe’s first female Vice President, Joice Mujuru, was ranked the fifth most influential woman in Africa by Forbes Africa magazine.
Sirleaf topped the 20 most influential women in Africa followed by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s Minister of finance.
The third most powerful woman was Joyce Banda, who was appointed Vice President of Malawi in May 2009, becoming the country's first female Vice President.
The magazine named Gill Marcus, Governor of the Reserve Bank of South Africa as the fourth most powerful woman in Africa.
Isabel Dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s president, is number seven and Nelson Mandela’s wife Graca Machel is ranked number 15.
Zimbabwe’s Vice President Joice Mujuru and Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe are an inspiration to many Zimbabwean women who may wish to take up political decision-making positions.
However, the rise of women into decision-making and leadership positions should not be restricted to the 2010-2020 decade target alone. Women leaders should be given a chance to flourish and be the world’s alternative strategy for peace and sustainanble development.
The existing gender gaps in decision making, access and control over economic resourcerces will require more than just a decade of ‘redress’ policies and practice. Whilst women’s achievements in the coming decade should be celebrated, future decades present opportunities for women’s total empowerment, gender equity and a world of difference to every woman.
Joice Mujuru
Lindwe Mazibuko is the first black woman to pose a serious challenge to the ANC. But can she convince the electorate, asks Aislinn Laing.
Any country or company that wants to succeed in today’s economy must unlock the power of women’s potential. This was the message of the far-reaching speech that Hillary Clinton delivered to a rapt audience at APEC on Friday.
Source: IRIN
Mortality rates in Guinea have dropped significantly over the past two decades, but efforts to speed up progress on the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015 through a ban on childbirth fees, including for Caesarean sections, are stalling due to poor planning and lack of resources, say critics.
No sustainable costing plan has been put in place to cover the fees. A health insurance scheme has been set up, but functions on a very small scale.
“You can’t just say something is free - you have to plan. Making maternal delivery free burdens health structures, which have not been given enough new money to cover it… for the most part delivery is free now, but the money will soon run out and they will have to find new sources,” the National director of community health and disease prevention, Hawa Touré, told IRIN.
In Guinea, 680 women die out of 100,000 live births, down from 1,200 in 1990, according to the UN.
Health not prioritized
In 2010 just 2.5 percent of the annual national budget was allocated to the Ministry of Health, according to the Health and Public Hygiene Minister, Naman Kéita. This rose to between 4 and 5 percent in 2011 - a marked improvement - but still far lower than the goal of 15 percent set in the Abuja Declaration.
As a result, the bulk of the health budget is covered by donors such as the Global Fund, GAVI, which promotes vaccination, the World Bank and the World Health Organization; and individual donors such as France, Japan and Spain.
Abolishing user fees works when there is a plan in place to boost the number of medical staff and equipment available to address expected higher demand; and a financial strategy to cover the care costs, according to lessons learned from similar schemes in Sierra Leone, Burundi and Mozambique.
Fatou Sikhé Camara, Director General of Guinea’s largest public hospital, Donka, in the capital Conakry, told IRIN the government had given the hospital a subsidy to cover costs, but she could not specify the amount, or how it had been used.
Asha Camara, 21, said she stayed overnight at the hospital but had not paid to give birth. “I paid for food - not much else,” she told IRIN on leaving Donka with her newborn baby.
“Too medicalised”
The scheme would have more impact on maternal mortality if ante-natal and post-natal care visits were also covered, said Julien Harneis head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Guinea. “The approach is too medicalised - covering ante-natal consultations would identify at-risk women and highlight in advance those who require more assistance.”
Ifonou Estelle Montserey, who is eight months pregnant, waited for her prescription on a bench outside the ante-natal unit at Donka Hospital. She showed IRIN separate bills of US$10 for her monthly scan and a $3 consultation fee. “Last month I paid $7.40 [for the scan]. Nothing is consistent here… and nothing is free in Guinea.”
The effect of the fee abolishment is as yet unknown: a countrywide district health survey addressing maternal mortality rates, among other issues, is underway and the results will be published in 2012.
But a prominent development specialist told IRIN she expected the strategy to have little added impact, given the way it’s been delivered. “On the plus side, it’s good that the government proposed it, but they now need to finance it,” she said.
Minister Kéita told IRIN he hopes the health budget will be increased in 2012, and if it is the government will set aside funds to finance the plan. “Maternal mortality is one of our priority areas. But we lack resources. We need more personnel, more money, and more equipment to make this work.”
Recruitment drive
The number of medical staff per capita remains very low in Guinea: 401 midwives are thought to be practicing in the country, according to the UN Population Fund. To reach the MDG target of 95 percent of births covered by a skilled birth attendant, a further 2,294 personnel are needed.
Kéita said the government had launched a drive to recruit some 1,800 midwives and nurses earlier this year, the first such campaign in five years. According to UNFPA there is just one private school with a three-year midwifery programme.
Funding is often drained through widespread corruption according to medical staff at Donka.
“Maternal mortality needs more work, here,” said Harneis. “Progress on reducing maternal mortality is taking too long. Donors and the government need to come up with a joint vision to fight it… we are not where we need to be.”
Acknowledging the challenge, he noted that “You can’t vaccinate against all the risks associated with pregnancy - while polio or measles can be tackled with once-a-year campaigns, the response to maternal mortality is oriented around the quality of the healthcare structure, which in Guinea is consistently poor.”
The EU's foreign affairs chief called on Saturday for Libya to ensure gender equality is protected in law and deed as the country transitions towards democracy, and said the European Union would continue to support that goal.
The Business and Professional Women of Nigeria has concluded plans to hold a national conference for about 250 active participants of the group, who are expected to come from all over Nigeria and Africa.
A non-governmental organisation, Awesome Treasure Foundation (ATF) has trained over 5000 women in such skills as baking, bead-making and several other low-capital jobs.
FATMA ANYANZWA, 64, made it to the headlines in the early 1990s for her tenacious fight against rape. She founded the first anti-rape organisation in Kenya and bore the brunt of standing in the frontline against rape and assault. She spoke to NJOKI CHEGE.
Source: IPS
Dedicated efforts by women's rights advocates are bearing fruit, UN Women says: for example, two-thirds of the world's countries now have legal provisions to stop domestic violence.
Source: Joy Online
An educationist is encouraging Ghanaians, especially, police to pay more attention to tackling sexual abuse and other domestic violence issues.
Source: IPS
The 11 candidates contesting presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo all pledge to improve peace and security in the country - promises received with varying degrees of scepticism by Congolese voters.
Source: allAfrica.com
Girls who complete their education are likely to have fewer children than their girls who leave during primary school, according to various studies. "When you educate a woman, you educate a nation," says Kalunde, whose foster child was thrown out of her rural school and her home after becoming pregnant.
Deteriorating security, a culture of impunity and an increase in attacks on internally displaced people (IDPs) in the central Somali town of Galkayo, Mudug region, have resulted in a sharp increase in rape cases, gender activists told IRIN.
The Maputo Protocol is a ground-breaking women’s rights legal instrument that expands and reinforces the rights provided in other human rights instruments. The Protocol provides a broad range of economic and social welfare rights for women. Importantly it was produced by Africans and pays attention to the concerns of African women.
Global efforts to attain gender equality and empower women seem to be failing, with a new study indicating that more people in developing countries approve the beating of women.
The President of World Bank, Bob Zoellick, has praised Rwanda's efforts to economically empower women.