Roadmap to Equality, Issue 26, June 2012

Editor’s Note

Highlights
–  Lesotho: Women representation in parliament set to decrease as 5050 by 2015 deadline looms
–  Africa: AU election test of Africa’s unity and commitment to equality
–  Regional: Time for new voices in the media
–  Regional: Summit affirms good practices of the SADC Gender Protocol at work at local level
–  Regional: SADC GU holds key stakeholder meeting to discuss business plan

International News
–  Fifth world conference for women brewing for 2015
–  UN Secretary-General issues recommendations to bolster AIDS response in order to meet 2015 targets

Alliance News
–  Regional: Updating the 2012 SADC Gender Protocol Barometer underway
–  Seychelles – Costing of the national gender action plan at an advanced stage, more countries to join
–  Regional: Gender not an issue in the run up to the elections, Alliance elections observer in Lesotho says
–  Regional: Alliance Think tank meeting holds its inaugural meeting

Constitutional and Legal Rights
–  South Africa: Minister condemns silencing of women during Traditional Courts Bill hearings

Governance
–  Regional: SADC GU, Member States strategise on implementation of the 5050 framework
–  Malawi: President Joyce Banda shows that having women in key decision-making positions makes a difference

Economic Justice, Education and Training
–  South Africa: NCA, PASCA and GL collaborate in gender training of church leaders
–  Zimbabwe: Investing in young girls is smart economics
–  Regional: Alliance represented as the SADC Regional Poverty Observatory meet
–  South Africa: Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa set to release women in leadership census

Productive Resources and Employment
–  Regional: The time is now for the inclusion of climate change in the SADC Gender Protocol
–  Zimbabwe ill-prepared for climate change challenges – experts

Gender-based Violence
–  South Africa: Sexual Offences Bill flaws; TLAC calls for endorsement of submission to review committee
–  Southern Africa: Violence against women at ‘crisis’ levels, South African Minister says

Health, HIV and AIDS
–  Mauritius: Amendment of Criminal Law to make provision for Abortion
–  Harare Call to Action drafted as UNAIDS Director attends global HIV, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Summit
–  Malawi: Cash payments help cut HIV infection rate in young women, study finds

Media, Information and Communications
–  Southern Africa: Agony of women in newsrooms

Tracking and Ratification
–  Tracking the SADC Gender Protocol

SADC Protocol @ Work
–  Mauritius may be on the way to signing the SADC Gender Protocol

The War at Home – GBV Indicators Project
SADC Gender Protocol 2011 Barometer
Policy Brief: Gender, climate change and sustainable development
Giant Footprints: GL@10

Evelyn Kgodumo is a council chairperson and her job involves working in the health, education, social and development committees in the council and she is the head of these entire departments. She started working at BCL as a secretary and she decided that she wanted to be a leader so she joined the Botswana Congress party (BCP) in 1998, and I became active in 2001 and she left her job in 2004 when she became the first woman in BCP to win the elections…. Read more

Africa: AU election test of Africa’s unity and commitment to equality
Africa Day 2012 was celebrated under the theme “Towards the Realisation of a united and integrated Africa and its diaspora.” The theme is particularly significant as the election of the AU Chairperson in draws closer with a strong female contender, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Minister of Home Affairs in South Africa…. Read more

Regional: Time for new voices in the media
This year’s World Press Freedom Day on 3 May marked 21 years of the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the United Nations General Assembly endorsed the Windhoek Declaration in 1991. … Read more

Regional: Summit affirms good practices of the SADC Gender Protocol at work at local level
“Local Government is one efficient mechanism and structure that can facilitate implementation and ensure that the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development signed and adopted by the SADC Heads of State and government in August 2008 is a reality in the lives of the citizens of this region especially at community level”. … Read more

Regional: SADC GU holds key stakeholder meeting to discuss business plan
Representatives from the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance attended the SADC Gender Unit key stakeholder meeting held from 7- 8 May 2012. The meeting aimed at holding consultations with development and implementing partners to get commitment from them around implementation of the business plan… Read more

UN Secretary-General issues recommendations to bolster AIDS response in order to meet 2015 targets
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued his first report on HIV to the UN General Assembly since the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS. In the report, he highlights the urgent need to achieve immediate, tangible results… Read more

Seychelles – Costing of the national gender action plan at an advanced stage, more countries to join
Costing of the Seychelles national gender action plan is at an advanced stage following a workshop held from 11 – 12 April 2012. Gender Links is providing technical assistance to the country process that is led by the Gender Secretariat. The action plan provides a framework for the operationalisation of the national gender policy … Read more

Regional: Gender not an issue in the run up to the elections, Alliance elections observer in Lesotho says
The Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance played a key role in the Lesotho elections observer mission. Emma Kaliya who sits on the Alliance think tank and represents the Malawi Alliance focal network in her role as the Chair of the NGO Gender Coordinating Network was head of the civil society observer mission under the SADC Council of NGOs…. Read more

Regional: Alliance Think tank meeting holds its inaugural meeting
The Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance Think Tank held its inaugural meeting facilitated by the Secretariat on the 5th April 2012 in Johannesburg. The Alliance nominated the members of the think tank during its annual meeting in August 2011 to assist the secretariat with the day to day running of the Alliance…. Read more

Malawi: President Joyce Banda shows that having women in key decision-making positions makes a difference
Appointing women to key decision making positions can lead to a transformation in the lives of citizens particularly women. In just three weeks after appointment as President, Joyce Banda had undertaken the following initiatives towards women’s empowerment… Read more

Zimbabwe: Investing in young girls is smart economics
Eighteen-year-old Rangariroyashe Chipika is no ordinary young woman as she not only came out top of her Advanced Level class in the 2011 Cambridge Examinations but was also best student in her school. She had ‘A’s in all her science subjects…. Read more

Regional: Alliance represented as the SADC Regional Poverty Observatory meet
The Zimbabwe Women Resource Centre Network (ZWRCN), which is the focal point for the economic justice cluster, represented the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance when Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Member States and civil society groups met in Gaborone from 23 to 24 May to discuss the Regional Poverty Observatory (RPO). … Read more

South Africa: Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa set to release women in leadership census
Leading women’s organisation, the Business Women’s Association (BWA) is set to release the results of its 2012 edition of the annual South African Women in Leadership Census sponsored by Nedbank and the National Empowerment fund. The Census results are coming at a time when there are calls for gender diversity to become a pre-requisite for listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). … Read more

Zimbabwe ill-prepared for climate change challenges – experts
Zimbabwe’s lack of preparedness for the impact of climate change is coming under increasing scrutiny, as the nation faces another year of drought and the government admits it has done little to mitigate the crisis…. Read more

Southern Africa: Violence against women at ‘crisis’ levels, South African Minister says
The South African Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, called for Southern African countries to develop a comprehensive, holistic and integrated approach to end gender-based violence (GBV)…. Read more

Harare Call to Action drafted as UNAIDS Director attends global HIV, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Summit
Delegates from 45 African countries met from 24 – May 25 May in Harare for a high level HIV and AIDS, gender and women empowerment conference. The high level delegates that attended the meeting included the Executive Director of UNAIDS, … Read more

Malawi: Cash payments help cut HIV infection rate in young women, study finds
Research in Malawi finds girls who receive regular payments are able to resist attentions of older men and avoid infection, Regular small cash payments to girls and young women can enable them to resist the attentions of older men and avoid HIV infection, according to a new study…. Read more

Countries that have not signed
Botswana, Mauritius

… Read more

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.

– Support women’s legal organisations
– Support one stop shops and specialised services to reduce attrition in the justice chain
– Implement gender-sensitive law reform
– Use quotas to boost the number of women legislators
– Put women on the front line of law enforcement
– Train judges and monitor decisions
– Increase woman’s access to courts and truth commissions during and after conflict
– Implement gender -responsive reparations programmes
– Invest in women’s access top justice
– Put gender equality at the heart of the Millennium Development Goals

June 2012
GMDC Seminar on 50/50 campaign

13 -15 June
Rio + 20

16 June
Youth Day South Africa

9 – 10 July
AU Summit – Malawi

20 – 30 August 2012
Sonke Gender Justice Network, the MenEngage Africa Network and the Women’s Health Research Unit at the University of Cape Town are proud to host the first ever MenEngage Africa Training Initiative course: ‘Masculinities, Leadership and Gender Justice in Sub-Saharan Africa’, to be held at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Deadline for applications: June 25, 2012.

8 – 12 August
8th Civil Society Forum hosted by SADC CNGO

The Malawi Alliance Focal Network in partnership with Gender Links led Gender and Media Diversity Centre programme will this June host a seminar on the 5050 campaign for women in politics in Malawi. … Read more

Swaziland: Swazi women plan to document ‘herstory’

Gaining confidence from their participation in capacity building programmes rolled out in their country by Gender Links (GL), the Swazi women of the Lutsang oLwaka Ngwane cooperative will document the stories of women who paved the way for their empowerment…. Read more