African Women unite for gender equity

Women’s organizations, under the banner of the African Women’s Forum, held a consultative meeting on the sidelines to discuss women empowerment, as the World Social Forum progresses in earnest in the Senegalese city of Dakar.

The meeting was attended by women organisations, including the African Women Development and Communication Network (Femnet), Forum for Women in Democracy (Fowode) and Daughters of Mumbai.

Uganda’s Carlyn Hambuba of Femnet said some of the organisations at the World Social Forum and the activities they are involved in are very important.

According to her, their aim is to mobilise women from all over Africa to speak with one voice on gender issues and to ensure they are heard.

Femnet is committed to ensuring that African leaders adhere to the African Women Decade 2010-2020 declared in October last year in Nairobi.

Elaborating on the African Women Decade, she said it was a decade declared by AU to try and push African governments towards promoting women’s rights.

Ms Hambuba said they are pushing African governments to implement declared protocols on women such as the AU Protocol on Women’s Rights and the Beijing Platform for Action.

The African Women Decade targets ten main areas: fighting poverty and promoting economic empowerment of women entrepreneurship, agriculture and food security, health, maternal mortality and HIV and AIDs, security and violence against women, governance and legal protection, finance and gender budgeting, women and decision-making, and mentoring youth.

Femnet’s main agenda is to promote gender equity, she reiterated.