This is the acceptance speech given on 25 November 2011 by Jenni Williams founder and national coordinator of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) on the occasion of the Government of France National Order of Merit Award. Salutations – I wish to thank you for the for the recognition given to Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and myself. WOZA has 80 000 members and over 500 leaders and as I stand here I am humbled. I know that my presence here today is not because of status or cleverness; it is because of the blood, sweat and tears of real people fighting for respect as citizens of Zimbabwe. And so I salute the members of WOZA who decided enough is enough, signed up and became activists. … Read more
Welcome to the 22nd edition of the Roadmap to Equality! Tracking progress towards the implementation and ratification of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.
As the curtain comes down on the Seventeen United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP 17) on climate change, while the developed countries may refuse to commit to the second period of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012, there is some reason to celebrate. Gender featured much higher on the agenda of the negotiations than in previous COPs according to reports from those closely associated with the process. Several sections of the text in the outcomes document have references to gender.
This could be attributed to the fact that there were high-powered women at the top – a testimony that women do bringtransformation when they occupy high levels of decision-making positions.
As South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation as incumbent President of COP 17, Maite Nkoane Mashabane put it “sometimes it is not the numbers of women in the high positions that are needed (though numbers are important), it is the quality.”… Read more
Mauritius: A giant step, local government bill which guarantees a gender quota goes through parliament The presentation of the New Local Government (LGB) Bill marks a revolutionary step in the history of the Mauritius. In order to push the Bill through, the Constitution has had to be amended to allow for positive discrimination, as advocated in the New Local Government Bill. Parliament reached a consensus after the opposition supported the amendment of the Constitution. … Read more
Daily Links on gender and climate justice Gender Links and Africa Women and Child Feature Services produced a daily e-Newsletter on gender and climate change during the Sixteen Days of activism against gender based violence period, which coincided with 17th United Nations Conference Of the Parties (COP 17). … Read more
Regional: Gender and climate justice campaign launched The Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance coordinated by Gender Links has launched a petition campaign calling on SADC governments to adopt as matter of urgency, the principle of an Addendum or amendments to the 2008 Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development to include provisions on climate change, sustainable development and disaster risk management…. Read more
Africa: Saving African women from Climate Change Rita is a farmer in a village in the northern part of Ghana in West Africa where she grows food crops to feed herself and her six children. She started farming four decades ago when she inherited her farm from her father at age 15…. Read more
16 Days Campaign Highlights: 20 years of 16 days of Activism, how far are we? This year marks the 20th anniversary of the global Sixteen Days of Activism on gender violence campaign, and 10 years of the annual commemoration in Southern Africa. Each year during Sixteen Days, we stop and ponder achievements and accomplishments, and assess how much further still to go. … Read more
16 Days Campaign Highlights: Making IT work for gender justice Gender Links working with local government councils, local government associations, NGO partners and communities in the SADC region carried out several events aimed at raising awareness, influencing behaviour change and securing high level political commitment to end gender violence during the Sixteen campaign…. Read more
Constitutional and Legal Rights Theme Cluster A 20-memberexperts committee to serve as advisors to the review process of the Constitution of Zambia has been appointed. The last month has been spent on lobbying the government to include women from the women’s movement. Members of the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance even went to State House unannounced but failed to meet the President…. Read more
Knowledge and Learning Manager Gender Links, a dynamic Southern African NGO based in Johannesburg seeks to fill the post of Knowledge and Learning Manager. All applications must be received by close of business on Friday 16 December. Late applications will not be considered. … Read more
Zimbabwe: Women whose names do not appear on title deeds face hardships Women in Law Southern Africa – Zimbabwe and the Property and Inheritance Rights Network of Zimbabwe have prepared a position paper for submission to the Law Development Commission to address women’s rights to property. Women whose names do not appear on title deeds face hardships in Zimbabwe…. Read more
Lesotho: A step back in women’s representation in local government, but still an acceptable result Preliminary results shared by the Independent Electoral Commission of the recent local government elections in Lesotho held in November 2011 show that women’s representation in councils has reduced to 47% from 58% in the previous election. … Read more
DRC: Beaucoup d’électeurs, pourtant enregistrés, n’ont pas trouvé leurs noms sur les listes pour voter Les élections se sont-elles bien passée en RDC, pays grand comme quatre fois la France ? Si la Ceni se déclare “satisfaite” du scrutin, les Voters at a polling station in DRC. Problèmes logistiques et les violences meurtrières incitent les observateurs Á réserver leur jugement. D’autant que le pire est peut-être Á venir, après la proclamation des résultats de la présidentielle. … Read more
Zambia: Local government Minister directs councils to conform to provisions of the SADC Protocol Local government minister Professor Nkandu Luo says councils have a major role to play in the enhancement of economic development. Luo has hinted that if the local authorities got their planning right and involved more women in the planning and running of councils, the nation would economically improve. … Read more
Transforming Gender Inequality through the budget Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Xavier Luc Duval presented his budget for the year 2012 at the National Assembly on Friday 4th November 2011. In this world economic crisis, Duval managed to propose action to transform gender inequality. The 2012 budget is in line with the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development targets as well as the Millennium Development Goals. … Read more
Celebrating a new generation of rights aware girls It is almost the end of the day when, chatting with my work colleague Shuvai, she reminds me about an exciting debate the Gender Links’ Justice Programme is hosting the following day, 1 December, to commemorate World AIDS Day. With so much to do during this period, to be honest the only reason why I agree to attend is that out of desperation for stories for my programme’s e-newsletter, the Roadmap to Equality. … Read more
Zimbabwe: Rural women banking by mobile phone Collecting the monthly subscriptions for her co-operative has always been a headache for Thelma Nare, 41. This is because Nare lives in Tshitshi, Plumtree in rural Zimbabwe, about 60 kilometres away from the humdrum of the nearest town centre where banks are located…. Read more
Climate Change: It is high time FBOs start representing women’s interests As world leaders and media descended upon Durban, civil society organisations were making their voices heard in the call for climate justice. Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) occupy a unique position as the moral and ethical backbone of society. This role has become increasingly prominent in the wake of global warming and climate change…. Read more
Climate Change: Training female journalists to work better On the sidelines of COP17 at the nearby University of KwaZulu-Natal, the South African-based Women’s Net is currently training female journalists to work better by using web 2.0 tools and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter when reporting climate change. Journalists play an important role in reporting information to communities…. Read more
South Africa: Announces new Council on Gender Based Violence South Africa has shown political will to address gender violence through the formation of a New Council on Gender Based Violence as highlighted by the Ministry of Women, Children and Persons with Disability during the Sixteen Days campaign…. Read more
Zambia: A diary from a gender activist during Sixteen Days It’s five am, the day before the International Day of No Violence Against Women that kicks off the Sixteen days of Activism campaign. My alarm rings barely six hours after I arrive in the Zambian capital and I am in a panic as I will be speaking in a few hours about why we need better ways to measure gender violence…. Read more
Seychelles: Gender policy aligned to SADC Gender Protocol at advanced stage The Seychelles Ministry of Social Development Gender Secretariat has undertaken to develop a National Gender Policy for the first time in the country’s history. This will enable all ministries to use the policy as a guide in mainstreaming gender in all its programming and budgeting processes…. Read more
The United Nations Secretary-General-Message on World Aids Day Heading into the fourth decade of AIDS, we are finally in a position to end the epidemic. The progress we have made so far is proof that we can realize our vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. The number of new HIV infections has fallen by more than 20 per cent since 1997. … Read more
Report from the Madagascar Peace Building Conference The women and peace building conference offered insight into the tools available for creating gender equality and improving gender representation in Madagascar’s security sector, peace negotiations and government. Currently there are 11.4% women in the police and only 37 women (as doctors) in the military. There are no women as gendarmerie and the officials were at pains to explain why this was the case and promised that next year’s intake would include women…. Read more
16 Days of Activism: Reporting gender violence still far from the mark In the past few months there seems to have been a drastic increase in media reports on gender-based violence with all manner of atrocities coming to light. We have heard reports of women being stabbed with kitchen knives, burnt with irons, and hacked with machetes. … Read more
Tracking the SADC Gender Protocol Countries that have signed Angola, DRC, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe Countries that have not signed Botswana, Mauritius … Read more
The Roadmap to Equality: Southern Africa Gender and Development Protocol Barometer is a regional e-news- letter that tracks the ratification and implementation of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. It is produced by Gender Links in partnership with the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance and the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network with support from DFID and UNIFEM.
The Barometer will enable both state and non-state actors to track progress whether governments are on the way to meeting set targets in the Gen- der Protocol which provides a road map for achieving gender equality in the region.
The new and updated Baro- meter will focus on the articles of the Protocol namely Consti- tutional and Legal Rights; Gender and Governance; Edu- cation and Training; Economic Justice; Gender Based Violence; Health; HIV and AIDS; Peace Building and Conflict Reso- lution; and Media, Infor- mation and Communication.
It is essential that gender and women’s rights activists and governments track the impact of their work in order to measure whether or not they are making a difference. The Barometer is a tool that can be used firstly, to track progress in advancing gender equality in the region and also to hold governments in Southern Africa accountable to the commitments they have made to address inequality through their obligations to international and regional in- struments and in particular the SADC Gender Protocol.
– Angola and Zambia bring the total to eleven SADC countries that have to adopted specific legislation on domestic violence; Zambia has developed a model Anti-Gender Based Violence Act, 2011. – The number of SADC countries with GBV legislation is set to rise to 14 with Lesotho, Seychelles and Swaziland next in line. – Only seven SADC countries currently have specific legislation that relates to sexual offences. Only one country, South Africa, has specific provisions for Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP). – Lesotho becomes the seventh SADC country after Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia to pass legislation on preventing human trafficking. – Three churches have adopted “the Zambian Church Declaration on Gender Injustice and Gender Based Violence”. – Thirteen SADC countries are at some stage of developing and or adopting a National Action Plan (NAP) to end Gender Violence. Only Angola and Madagascar have no NAPS. Four countries have draft NAPS; five have adopted NAPS; one – Mauritius – is at an advanced stage of implementation. Lesotho and Mauritius have both adopted and costed their NAPS. – The GBV Indicators Project is a regional research study that will provide baseline data for effectively measuring progress towards halving gender violence by 2015. – The SADC Gender Protocol does not carry any specific provisions against GBV towards lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered and intersexed (of LGBTI). This is a growing area of concern that requires action. Source: 2011 SADC Gender Protocol Barometer, Morna C. and Jambaya Nyakujarah, L
It is amazing that there has been an increase in the number of men participating in the 2011 French cyber dialogues. Nearly ten men participated in the cyber dialogue on gender and Information Technology (IT) in the French chat room…. Read more
Finally the big day 25 November 2011, had arrived for theTake back the Night march that Gender Links coordinates with partners on an annual basis…. Read more
Tanzania joined other countries around the world to launch the annual campaign to highlight issues around violence against women lt on 25 November 2011…. Read more
Speaker of the National Assembly, Patrick Matibini, has called on Members of Parliament (MPs) to help combat gender-based violence in Zambia…. Read more
Women for Peace in partnership with Zimbabwe Young Women Network have joined the world in commemorating 16 days of activism as part of the global campaign against gender-based violence…. Read more
Comment on Roadmap to Equality, Issue 22, December 2011