The town hall meeting brought together political party leaders, Ministry of Gender, Parliamentarians, Civil Society Organisations, women-led organisations, representatives from The Gambia Federation for the Disabled (GFD) and other key stakeholders pivotal to the promotion of women leadership.
The meeting also created a platform for discussion and experience sharing on the best mechanisms needed to enhance women’s representation from all spheres of development and also ensure discussions on transformative leadership through women empowerment, barriers to women political participation and how those barriers could be overcome through the active and reciprocal participation of women as members of constituencies and potential leaders in political processes, governance at local community and national levels.
Experts from various sectors directly or indirectly involved engaged in gender issues during the discussions. It is hoped that this would go a long way in providing strategic recommendations towards ensuring that women are equally represented in decision-making processes.
Salama Njie, National Network Coordinator for West Africa Network for Peace Building - The Gambia said out of 20, only 3 women were appointed as ministers.
“In the judiciary, from the Supreme Court down to the Lower Courts, women represent approximately 48% of the judges and magistrates,” she added.
She noted that, the low representation of women is not commensurate with the UN recommended quota of 30% for women seats in parliament, thus drastically affecting the consolidation.
“Women representing the highest demographic representation of about 51% of The Gambian population continue to have the lowest representation in key decision-making bodies in the country; out of this only 21% of women are employed in the workforce in the administrative position rather than managerial,” she stated.
Madam Njie added that in The Gambia, out of 58 members of the National Assembly, only 5 are women (3 elected and 2 nominated) during the last parliamentary election.
She noted that the General Objective of the project is to promote and increase women’s political participation and leadership from all sectors of development especially in the upcoming parliamentary election as well as to promote awareness and recognition of the importance of women’s participation in political processes at community, local, national and international levels.
Isatou Sawaneh-Dea, representative of the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare assured WANEP of their support and continuous collaboration in increasing women’s participation and leadership in national development is increased.
“To achieve the 2030 sustainable development goal, women must participate in every sector,” she emphasised.
