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Historical move towards gender equality in Africa
Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN)
July 17, 2002

With the closing of the African Union summit in Durban this week, it is evident that among the improvements the African Union will enjoy over its predecessor, the OAU, is a significant commitment to the inclusion of women in the new pan-African body. Included in the provisions for the African Commission, one of 17 AU organs that will function as a secretariat, is a mandate that five out of ten of the Commissioners be women.

Reacting to this auspicious development, Nigerian President Obasanjo declared proudly, "We are doing better than Beijing!" referring to the 1995 UN Women’s Conference held in the Chinese city, where participants agreed to work towards increasing women’s representation in decision-making bodies in their respective countries to a targeted 30%.

This historical progress on the part of Africa’s leaders was clearly the outcome of work carried out by participants of the Consultation on Gender Mainstreaming and the Effective Participation of Women within the African Union, which took place 28-30 June in Durban, just prior to the opening of the AU Summit. The Consultation resulted in a set of recommendations that was forwarded to members of the AU to ensure that women’s issues and voices be included in AU policies, programmes, and structures, including NEPAD and the CSSDCA.

It is thanks to the Senegalese delegation to the AU, headed by President Abdulaye Wade, that these recommendations were brought to the attention of the Assembly of Heads of State. Upon his intervention advocating for the African Women, the President did not face any opposition from his peers on the gender parity proposal recommending 50 percent participation of women in all the AU organs.

Africa is now the only continent in the world to have made such a commitment in the mainstreaming of gender within its continent-wide body. Through their advocacy work, Consultation participants were able to ensure African women’s interests be adequately represented at all levels of the newly formed African Union.

The various organisations which partnered on this initiative were organised under the umbrella of the African Women Committee on Peace and Development (AWCPD) and include: Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), The African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD, The African Leadership Forum (ALF), the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), the Commission on Gender Equality, Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF), the African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET), Commission on Gender Equality- South Africa (CGE) .

The Consultation was fully funded by the Ministry for Development Corporation of the Netherlands.

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