African States Appraising Gender Parity Performance

Addis Ababa  October  31  /2019 Some forty eight African states are appraising their respective national reports on gender equality and women’s empowerment at a two-day meeting that began here today. 

The countries are presenting their reports at the 4^th Specialized Technical Committee Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment to review the 25^th Anniversary of Beijing Declaration and Platform Action.

They will scrutinize the implementations, priorities, achievements, challenges and future concerns on gender equality and women’s empowerment since the Beijing Declaration and Platform Action was adopted in 1995, it was learned.

In her opening speech, Semegne Wube, Women, Children and Youth State Minister said  Ethiopia has adopted and ratified different international instruments to address gender inequality.

The country has also designed a national policy on Ethiopian Women, among others; and the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia enshrined affirmative action to realize that women have equal rights with men in all spheres.

Owing to these efforts, “the status of Ethiopian women has improved significantly in the social, economic and political arena,” she noted.

Regarding the implementation of Beijing Declaration, 38 percent of parliament members in Ethiopia are women and half of the cabinet members female. Above all, the president of the country is female.

Deputy Executive Director at UNWOMEN, Anita Bhatia said on her part the world is far short of gender balance, women making only 24.3 percent of the world parliament, and 5.9 percent and 6.2 percent of heads of state and government, respectively.

Thirteen countries, including Ethiopia, had reached the target of 30 percent of women in national parliament, a target that was set in the Beijing Declaration, she revealed.

Bhatia stated that negative cultural attitudes, lack of quota for women and lack of capacity building of potential candidates are the main challenges in realizing gender equality.

Achieving the vision of Beijing Declaration would help to strengthen women’s participation and enhance the quality of democratic institutions, she stressed.

The African Union Commission (AUC), in collaboration with United Nations Entities for Gender and Women’s Empowerment and Economic Commission for Africa, organized the   meeting under the theme “Realizing Women’s Rights for an Equal Future.”