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Pretoria, 20 September: SADC Member States will have to redouble their efforts in order to meet the 28 targets set for 2015 in the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. This is the key message in the findings of the 2012 Southern Africa Gender Protocol Barometer to be released in Pretoria today.
The Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance will be hosting a launch of the 2012 SADC Gender Protocol Barometer on the back of the South Africa and regional gender, peace and security cluster meetings. Click here for invite with directions.
With less than three years to go to the 2015 deadline for achieving key gender equality targets, the overall Southern African Gender and Development Index (SGDI) based on empirical data for 23 indicators rose by just two percentage points from 64% in 2011 to 66% in 2012. Women and men in Southern Africa gave their governments a score of 57% – two percentage points up from last year – using the Citizen Score Card (CSC) that went out to 2329 citizens: 1272 women and 1068 men. Unlike the SGDI, the CSC is based on perceptions, and captures nuances that are not incorporated in the empirical data.
Some key points from the 2012 Barometer on gender, peace and security:
– With improvements in availability of data compared to the last two years Southern Africa is making progress in the peace and security sector, though women’s representation and participation is increasing at a slow pace.
– SADC countries need to review legislation governing the security sector to ensure gender sensitivity.
– With 26% women in the defence force, 31% in the police force and 54% deployed peacekeepers; Namibia is showing the way for gender representation in the security sector.
– The SADC Gender Unit and SADC Organ, working with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) as lead of the Gender, Peace and Security cluster of the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance, developed a Framework to Mainstream Gender into the SADC Organ and a Strategy to Combat Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations.
– Women’s security remains at risk as violence against women continues at alarming rates in the region.
A key outcome is a South Africa national working group on gender, peace and security under the banner of the Alliance. The regional cluster led by Institute of Security Studies (ISS) and made up of the national working groups comprising civil society organisations and academia who work in the field will come up with a regional advocacy strategy and plan of action around gender peace and security.
To view the executive summary and excerpts from the Barometer in English and Portuguese, click here. For more information call: Colleen Lowe Morna on +27826516995
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