In the political and ideological dimension, narrowing the gender gap implies increasing women’s participation in the democratic process. The democratic process addresses the entire body of the political, economic, social and cultural dimensions of human endeavour; democratic values embody participatory principles within society. It is this participatory aspect of the democratic culture that is gaining momentum in Africa and which needs to be sustained with emphasis on women’s participation.
Democracy has been defined in various ways as:
-a rotation of power;
-the change from dictatorship to a plural system;
-the change from a totalitarian State to a State where rights prevail;
The French dictionary Larousse defines democracy as
“a political system in which people exercise their own sovereignty without the intermediary of a representative (direct democracy) or through their elected representatives (indirect democracy).”
One or the combination of the above definitions may exist in many democracies but the positive aspects of democracy are present in many African countries. These include:
· The right to vote for all;
· The correct institution of human rights;
· The right of association with a view to defining interests;
· Freedom of the press;
· The right to work;
· The right to health and social services;
· Freedom of movement.
Women in Sierra Leone are demanding that their voices be heard and that their gender-based interests be included in the national constitution and on the new democratic agenda. They have tried to participate on an equal footing with men in the democratic process.
Equal participation in the democratization process, however, has not been fully realized because of cultural impediments, illiteracy and other political structures that tend to lower the status of women. Local customs and ignorance of their rights are also an obstacle to women’s participation the democratic process.
Democracy implies the right and duty of all men and women to take part, on an equal footing in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the people. There can be no democracy if women are not able to take part in it on an equal basis. Women must fight to increase their role in development and promote their total and legitimate participation in association with men as active workers and beneficiaries in all development and, in particular, at all decision making levels.
If women are to continue on the road to democratization both as contributors and beneficiaries, it is necessary to strengthen their activities which are aimed at participating effectively in all spheres of human development. The best way to accomplish this is through their empowerment. In this respect the two most important areas for women’s empowerment are in the political and economic spheres.
Political Empowerment of Women
Reference has already been made to the National Policy on the Advancement of Women adopted by Government in 2000. It regards the Political Empowerment of Women as a strategy for facilitating the full participation of women in the decision-making process. In this regard it states:
1. “Government shall review laws and constitutional guaranties that may adversely affect women, particularly in the areas of:
· Equality before the law;
· Marriage and divorce;
· Inheritance;
· Ownership of land;
· Citizenship;
· Rape and sexual abuse
· Violence, including Domestic violence
2. “Government shall redouble efforts to implement the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the Vienna Declaration on Women’s Rights.
3. Government shall increase women’s participation in decision-making opportunities through the adoption of affirmative action, i.e
· Quota system
· Setting specific goals, time-tables, targets and numbers.
4. Government shall increase the number of women in leadership positions in the public and private sectors to at least 40% by the year 2005 with a view of achieving parity.
5. Government shall promote legal literacy and peace education programmes in schools underscoring women’s plight as victims and their potential as peace makers.
6. Government shall ensure the practice of participatory democracy in all institutions as participatory democracy is a necessary mechanism for equal treatment and participation for all members of society.
Economic Empowerment of Women
One of the main constraints most women face in participating in politics, particularly electioneering, is the lack of financial means. Because of their low economic status most women cannot effectively compete with their male counterparts in political campaigns that precede elections.
It is therefore easy to see that for women to participate effectively on an equal footing with men in the development processes, including the decision-making processes, they need to be economically empowered. An important requisite of economic independence is employment.
According to an ILO/JASPA, 1990, paper, employment in the classical sense does not take account unremunerated activities which constitute the daily lot of many women and form part of their social functions as mothers, and guardians of the socio-cultural values of their communities. Access to employment generally refers to recruitment and selection procedures which in turn depends on a number of factors including selection criteria, tests, interview access to information and the processing of candidatures by government and private sector employment agencies.
These factors only apply to the modern public and private sector which employ a marginal portion of female manpower in Africa. Owing to this, it excludes working women in the informal, agricultural and rural sectors which engage a clear majority of women. For these categories of working women, access to employment mostly depends on access to factors of production, credit, technology, training and the market.
The major obstacles to women’s access to employment on an equal footing with men is also attributable to unequal access to education and training, socio-cultural stereotypes and the absence of sharing responsibilities at the family level. The lack of education in young girls and women inhibits their access to inputs and markets and prevents them from having access to credit.
Women’s economic empowerment covers the question of their employment in the formal as well as the informal sector where they predominate. Women’s employment includes their activities in agriculture where, in Sierra Leone, they provide 80% of farm labour for food production, processing, distribution and food preparation.
The economic empowerment of women is not just to make them economically independent but to enable them to participate equally in macro-economic decision-making and national development programmes.
The National Policy on the Advancement of Women outlines specific objectives, strategies and activities for enhancing women’s effective participation in the economic and social development of their country particularly in the sectors on Agriculture and Employment. Even in the sector on Education, the Policy calls for:
“Strengthening and restructuring of the education system geared towards providing women who are fully prepared to take advantage of various opportunities for gainful employment in the national economic system.”
In the sector on Decision Making, the Policy states that one strategy to be adopted for achieving the objectives for enabling women to effectively participate in decision making is their economic empowerment. This empowerment is to be achieved through:
· Job creation particularly in food for work programmes involving the rehabilitation of the environment and those programmes which include training opportunities for women;
· Income generating projects;
· Establishment of women’s revolving loan schemes (micro credit) as well as self-help schemes;
· Promotion of self-reliance among women especially the direct victims of war;
· Encouragement of entrepreneurship among women;
· Promotion of functional literacy;
· Elimination of socio-cultural obstacles to women’s advancement5 through the provision of education and training in life skills; remedial education; accelerated vocational training; technical training and adult literacy.
In addition to the task the government has set for itself, as mentioned above, there are other facets of economic empowerment to complement them. These include,
Facilitating:
· Access to factors of production;
· Access to markets and marketing;
· Access to channels of marketing
· Access to technologies and
· Access to land
The economic empowerment of women must not be left to Government. Non-state partners are required to contribute to this all important endeavour in their respective fields of competence. Empowerment must be a concerted effort between the empowerer and the empowered.
Comment
This and the preceding articles do not imply in any way that women’s issues or gender concerns in the country are a new phenomenon. In fact many people are familiar with the contents of the articles and some are applying them while others are facilitating their application. Definite steps have been taken by various groups, including the 50/50 Group, the Women’s Forum, the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs and various gender-sensitive organizations to ensure that women’s empowerment, both political and economic, is being pursued.
Proposals have been sent to the Law Reform Commission for repealing laws and for the removal of constitutional provisions that adversely affect women’ status. There is indeed a Parliamentary Committee working with groups of women to change certain laws. The Women’s Forum, the 50/50 Group and other women’s organizations are pressuring and lobbying government for the domestication of CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women), an International Bill of Rights for Women which Sierra Leone signed since 1988. Women are also pushing for their share of decision-making positions in all facets of national development.
These articles are meant to serve as a constant reminder of what can be done and needs to be done.
Mention has been made many times to the National Policy on the Advancement of women in these articles. The Policy, adopted in April, 2000, is a women-specific/women-centered Policy. It is meant to serve as a bridging mechanism for bringing women at par with men. It addresses all the issues needed to empower women in order to bring them into the mainstream of development.
The other policy, the National Policy on Gender Mainstreaming calls for making gender an integral part of mainstream development and for addressing issues of gender equality in all programmes. The aim of the Policy is to guide and direct at all levels, the planning, resource allocation and implementation of development programmes with a gender perspective.
In Beijing, 1995, at the Fourth World Conference on Women, the Commonwealth Secretary- General had this to say about Gender Mainstreaming:
“It is through systematic integration of gender concerns into the mainstream activities of Governments and their bureaucracies that we will have a more equitable distribution of resources and sharing of power between women and men.”
According to the Commonwealth Plan of Action endorsed by the Heads of State of Government in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 1995, the Commonwealth works towards:
“A world in which men and women have equal rights and opportunities in all stages of their lives to express their creativity in all fields of endeavour, and in which women are respected and valued as equal and able partners in establishing the values of social justice, equity, democracy and respect for human rights. With such a framework of values, women and men will work in collaboration and partnership to ensure sustainable economic and social development for all nations.”
Unfortunately very little is heard about the Policies in Sierra Leone development circles, this in spite of the nation-wide sensitization workshops organized for all segments of society, for example, Parliamentarians, Ministers and the Judiciary, Religious and traditional Leaders, Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Government Institutions, the Women’s Forum, Women’s Associations and NGOs etc.
I was closely associated with the preparation of the Sierra Leone Report on the implementation of CEDAW. I was pleasantly surprised to see that every consultancy paper on each of the articles of CEDAW mentioned the “twin Policies”. This shows that the policies in their various sectors address the provisions of the Convention.
I therefore feel that by effectively implementing and acting on the various areas addressed by the Policy on the advancement of Women, women would be sufficiently empowered to be working side by side on an equal footing with men in the mainstream development of the nation.
