The battle for women’s rights is not yet over

Mar 08, 2006

Yesterday was International Women’s day. It is a day that has been celebrated for almost a century (the first being March 8, 1911) to honour women, celebrate their achievements and focus attention on the continuing challenges facing the realisation of the fullest potential of women as equal citize

Yesterday was International Women’s day. It is a day that has been celebrated for almost a century (the first being March 8, 1911) to honour women, celebrate their achievements and focus attention on the continuing challenges facing the realisation of the fullest potential of women as equal citizens with equal rights as men. It is a day to recommit everyone to the motto “women’s rights are human rights”.
It is not just a “women’s day” per se even if that is how it is popularly celebrated. It is about gender awareness and democratic struggles to make the world a better place.
There is no denying the fact that women have made tremendous advances globally and in Africa in the past few years. There are many visible pointers in the growing numbers of women in top political positions including ministers, chairs of parastatals, Members of Parliament and the Judiciary.
And last year, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia finally broke through the ceiling by becoming the first popularly elected female head of state in Africa. That victory means women no longer have to rely on the goodwill of men in order to hold or aspire to political offices. The truth is that most of the women who have been Vice-Presidents on this continent have largely been “appointed” by the “kind” male presidents. An unwritten convention in such patronage is to go for women “who will not cause trouble” and “who will be forever grateful” to the “appointing authority”.
Mama Ellen has now put paid to that. No longer would an African woman’s political ambition be limited to the second position as a kind of political accessory for presidents and political parties seeking political correctness and looking for women’s crucial votes. They should go for the topmost jobs in their own rights rather than as someone’s widow, spouse, partner, daughter or “good girl”. It is not just in politics that African women are making giant strides. Just look around in the other fields: economy, community, civil society groups and NGOs, education, academia and the professions.
These achievements are not due to magnanimity on the side of the men who are still very much in charge of the largely patriarchal power structures in the society but the outcome of wider struggles, sometimes provoking incremental reforms and sometimes the result of prolonged conflicts and smashing of old prejudices and social attitudes.
Women have won and continue to struggle for more victories on new frontiers. No doubt a changing consciousness and awareness is improving men’s attitudes and creating men who are not as hostile to the advancement of women as their fathers or grandfathers. But the fact that we can still point at women in top places means it is not yet commonplace.
There are many challenges ahead. One, in some countries where women have made giant strides politically like Uganda or Rwanda, for instance, there is a tendency to see their progress as the gift of the president, thereby promoting a certain level of political gratitude that encourages political cronyism to the detriment of the wider interests of women’s struggles. Even in countries like South Africa where it is seen as the result of a progressive Movement (ANC in this case), there is a tendency to make women feel grateful to the party!
Two, as with all oppressed people, women may be oppressed because they are women but they are not of the same class, colour or creed and they suffer the oppression differently. Some women may become economically and politically liberated and acquire more choices at the expense of fellow women. For instance middle-class women are able to make the choices they make because other women (nannies, house girls) have taken over their chores.
Three, a high number of women in public office may be important symbolically and certainly necessary but may not translate into gender-aware policies and politics. There is a challenge of making sure that as the representation increases so be the quality of life for the vast majority of women and poor men, too.
Four, while principles like “positive discrimination” in favour of disadvantaged people including women and other groups of marginalised people are good, extreme care has to be taken to ensure that this does not lead to a permanent quota ghetto for a few while the power structures remain the same. This limited approach is mainly incorporating women into an exploitative and oppressive system, not tearing the system down. The men who control and benefit from that system can live with tinkering with the system that way. What they cannot accept and that which must be done is to remove the socio-economic and political system that puts profit before people and penalises the majority of the population (by definition women).
The undeniable progress in many areas should not close our eyes to the enormous challenges ahead to change the iniquities of the world that are disproportionately borne by women: poverty and hunger, illiteracy, marginalisation, HIV/AIDS, violence and violent conflicts in general, political and economic disempowerment and denial of full participation. It is impossible to create a better world without bettering the lot of women. The opposite is also true: the world cannot be a better place if women’s conditions are not better.
On the occasion of Women’s Day we must ask ourselves how just and fair it is that only 1% of all titles to land in the whole world are owned by women. And it is not only in land ownership that women are so treated.
While we ask this and other questions on Women’s Day, we should spend the rest of the 364 days of every year taking action locally while thinking globally on how to right these wrongs.
Ends

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