At the opening, Ms. Salama Njie, coordinator of West Africa Network for Peace Building -The Gambia (WANEP), indicated that the overall women participation in politics is low, and this could be associated with societal discrimination and stigma.
“Women are curtailed by the patriarchal nature of the society and the cultural misconceptions that women cannot lead men. Women participation in politics is also limited by low self confidence and discriminative factors such as not being nominated by political parties, low literacy level, and lack of funds to support their political activities.” she said.
She highlighted on the need to explore the potentials of women to be able play significant roles in consolidation of democracy and peace building.
She equally urged political parties to provide equal participation space, involvement of women in their decision making and political activities.
For his part, Ba Jabbie, Co-chairperson of Inter Party Committee (IPC), said his organisation has put in policy guidelines to ensure that there is greater opportunity for women to be elected as councilors and mayors in the upcoming elections.
“The women branch of the Inter Party Committee has been l dunched as platform to give women the necessary tools and to advocate for their involvement at the table, because we know women have the potential and resources to either join the table or create their own to ensure greater political participation in the democratic process in the country.” he explained.
He thus urged all stakeholders to join hands and fight for more women participation in the decision making levels.
Dr Tommy, chairperson of the National Election Response Group (NERG), pointed out that as the country reached its final state of election, involvement of women in politics should be moved from books to actual participation.
