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Featured this week

2006-03-09

FEATURES: Ayesha M Imam begins a series of articles on women's rights and Islam by considering women’s reproductive and sexual rights within Muslim Nigeria
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Marywam Uwais argues that Islam and women’s rights are compatible
- Dr. Muhammad Tawfiq Ladan states that a significant relationship exists between the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and Sharia
- Islam and women’s rights are not mutually exclusive, writes Karoline Kemp
- Nyaradzai Mugaragumbo-Gumbonzvanda pays tribute to the heroines of the African continent
LETTERS: China in Africa, Corruption in Kenya, elections in South Africa
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Everyday should be women’s day, says Tajudeen Abdul Raheem
OBITUARY: Remembering John la Rose
BLOGGING AFRICA: African bloggers honour women
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Behind the numbers in the DRC
HUMAN RIGHTS: Truth, reconciliation and an end to impunity in Liberia
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Searching for opportunities at home and abroad in Ghana
WOMEN AND GENDER: Lowly news status of women continues, study shows
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Besigye acquitted in Uganda, vows to fight on
DEVELOPMENT: A critique of the MDGs from the South
CORRUPTION: The cancer of corruption in Africa
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Ignore the World Bank, government minister says
EDUCATION: West African cities jammed with jobless graduates
ENVIRONMENT: Africa can’t afford more bad hydro
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Activists condemn North African curbs on the internet
PLUS…News from the Diaspora, Advocacy and Campaigns, Internet and Technology, e-Newsletters and Mailing lists, Fundraising, Courses and Books and Arts.

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TSOTSI SCREENING IN OXFORD

Come to an exclusive preview of this year’s most critically-acclaimed film, Tsotsi, in the Magdalen College Auditorium (Longwall St entrance) in Oxford at 8.00pm on Friday 10 March, a week before the film goes on general release across the UK on 17 March.

ABOUT THE FILM
Set amidst the sprawling, crime-ridden streets of Johannesburg - where survival is the primary objective - this award-winning film traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader, who ends up caring for a baby he accidentally kidnaps during a car-jacking. With the baby’s welfare at stake, he is compelled to confront his own brutal nature and face the consequences of his actions, if he ever wishes to find redemption in his life.

Nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and two BAFTA Awards, Tsotsi is an epic and uplifting drama about the ultimate triumph of love over rage.

Tsotsi is in cinemas nationwide from 17 March (certificate 15). For more information, go to www.tsotsimovie.com

In addition to its Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe nominations, Tsotsi has already won numerous awards including: Audience Award, LA Art Film Festival; People’s Choice Award, Toronto International Film Festival; Audience Award, Edinburgh International Film Festival; Audience Award, Denver International Film Festival; Greek Parliament Award, Thessaloniki Film Festival.

Screening takes place on Friday 10th March at 8pm
At Magdalen College Auditorium (Longwall St entrance), Oxford
Entry £5 (£3 concessions)
Proceeds to Fahamu’s programme in South Africa

The winners of tickets to the screening of Tsotsi are:

Isaria Mwende
Philip Jusu
Musukoroh Kandeh
Mohamed Berray

Women’s reproductive and sexual rights and the offence of Zina in Muslim laws in Nigeria

2006-03-09

Ayesha M Imam

To mark International Women's Day, we publish today a number of articles on Islam and human rights. In this compelling article by Ayesha Imam, women’s reproductive and sexual rights within Muslim Nigeria are considered. With the recent “Sharianization” of parts of the country, new offences have been created, mostly surrounding sexuality, which has had a negative effect on women’s rights. Imam argues that while Sharia (Muslim laws) are neither uniform nor God given, the opposition between conservative and liberal jurisprudence has prevented progressive scholars and activists from establishing Muslim laws that ensure and protects the rights of women. She highlights what can be done to oppose these forces, and argues that one of the most important aspects of this task involves a “demystification” of Sharia for the Muslim communities of Nigeria (and elsewhere).


Amina Lawal was convicted of adultery in March 2002 and sentenced to stoning to death. In the wake of a new Sharia Penal Code in Katsina State, religious right vigilantes instigated a case against her for having a child after divorce without remarrying. The alleged father swore that he had not had sexual relations with her and was released. These events occurred during a heated controversy in Nigeria about the nature and desirability of Sharia (Muslim laws), rights in Muslim laws, constitutional rights, international human rights and their relationship(s) to each other. Ms. Lawal’s case was immediately adopted by a coalition of Nigerian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provided her with lawyers, safe houses, medical care, and emotional support over the eighteen-month ordeal. She also became the object of world attention, media and protest campaigns, many of which excoriated “Islamic law” as brutal and called on Nigeria’s president to pardon her and repeal the Sharia Acts. In September 2003, Amina Lawal won her appeal in the state Sharia Court of Appeal and was acquitted (Lawal Kurami v. the State).

This case is perhaps one of the best known concerning the introduction of Sharia Penal Codes in several Nigerian states in 2000. Zina, or unlawful sexual intercourse, includes adultery, punished by stoning to death, and fornication, penalized by whipping. In some of the states, men may be imprisoned in addition. These cases have been integral to the opening up of issues relevant to ensuring and developing women’s reproductive and sexual rights, and to understanding them in ways that recognises and respects both local cultures and contexts, as well as international rights agreements. The tensions between conservative religious politics and crude antiterrorism policies which are often blatantly Islamphobic must be considered in this discussion, which also involves local cultures containing a complicated mixture of ideologies and social practices, structured by power relations.

International human rights treaties and agreements, like local cultures, must thus require a “claim and critique” strategy – being aware of both local cultures and international human rights discourse, while at the same time not privileging either as superior, and thus being able to critique both. This is important so that human rights principles actually guarantee people their rights in their day to day lives; this requires that they are claimed and respected by local cultures, and are not merely written texts, so that they are seen as social and historical products, affected by the power politics and of the cultural traditions of the dominant groups in their own contexts.

Understanding that human rights constructions are themselves subject to power structures makes it possible to recognise the Western European influences on the construction of rights today. But it is also possible to accept the universality of the notion of rights, which are not static and are constantly reconstructed by those whose lives are impacted by them.

Approaches to human rights must also be constantly reconstructed. It is important that local cultural-religious norms and traditions, as well as formal national and international rights regimes must be simultaneously drawn from and negotiated with. Women’s rights groups have been integral to this process. Even though many of these groups are often regarded as in opposition to family, religious or ethnic community, they are in fact challenging not the communities themselves, but the current definitions of culture and norms of that community, and the powers of the cultural gatekeepers to maintain those definitions. It is with this background in mind that this article looks at the politics and activities surrounding zina cases under the Sharia Penal Codes in Nigeria.

Nigeria has seen a growth in religious essentialism and conservatism. However, the introduction of Sharia in Nigeria has had more to do with emotional political appeal, especially due to economic and educational issues, rather than religious sentiment.

Reactions to Sharianization were many. Christian and non-Muslims feared the imposition of Muslim religious laws on them. Human rights and other NGOs activists (including Muslims) were concerned about the religious rights of non-Muslims and the violation of constitutional provisions of secularity. Both Muslim and non-Muslim women’s rights activists were concerned that Sharia would be used as a rationale to discriminate against women and restrict their rights.

Muslim communities reactions to Sharianization were also varied – Ibrahim el-Zakzaky of the Muslim Brothers, who had previously called for the Islamization of Nigeria, opposed Sharianization on the grounds that passing and implementing harsh punishments without first ensuring just socioeconomic relations was not Islamic. Others were afraid of political abuse by those with power; as Muslims they did not want to oppose Sharia, but they did not feel they had the skills to criticize potential corruption without the ability to read Arabic or years of study of Islamic jurisprudence. Thus, there was an “uneasy public silence.” However, upon the passing of the laws there was much celebration, as many associated Sharia with morality. Morality was seen not only as sexuality, but also in terms of safety and anti-corruption, which the poor suffer most from.

The Sharia Penal Codes have created some new offences in Nigerian law, mostly around sexuality. They also recognise stoning, retributive punishments and blood fines. In theory, these laws apply to Muslims only, but it remains an open question whether Muslims have the right to choose to be governed by general Nigerian law, without having to renounce their religious identity.

Also still unresolved and ambiguous is that of the contradictions and gaps between the new Sharia Penal Codes and the Criminal Procedure Codes that determine procedures and evidence: What counts as evidence? What are the procedures? How are offenses actually defined? Further, whether the Sharia acts themselves or the nature of the punishments are subject to international human rights law has been debated. Nigeria is in fact a state party to several international human rights covenants. However, although such agreements may give rise to obligations under international law, unless they have been specifically incorporated into domestic law, they give no basis for claims in national courts. The interplay between domestic Nigerian multiple and parallel legal systems of secular, Muslim and customary laws is also problematic as they give differential rights on different issues, and jurisdiction can be contentious. Whose version of Sharia is to be upheld is another area that requires further definition.

Sharia is neither directly God given, nor uniform through Muslim history or different communities. In principle, Muslim laws are to be developed by reliance on the Qu’ran. The second source is the sunnah – traditions of the Prophet. Next is ijma, consensus about what that law is, by qiyas (analogy) and ijtihad (interpretive reasoning). At each stage there are disagreements that have led to diversities – thus, Muslim laws are and always have been subject to discussion or controversy.

Further, there are four main schools of Islamic jurisprudence among Sunni Muslims (who constitute about 80% of all Muslims). There are many similarities, as well as wide divergences. However, the scholars behind these schools did not see themselves as setting down a God-given legal code to be obeyed by all Muslims for all time. On the contrary, they were quite categorical that Muslims were not obliged to follow them if they did not believe that their reasoning from the Qu’ran and the sunnah were right. They had no intention of making their views final and binding on all Muslims. The stereotype of a single, uniform or divinely revealed Islamic law is false. However, this myth has been useful for Muslim conservatives and this can indeed by seen in Nigeria regarding reproductive and sexual rights.

In terms of zina, there are three main possibilities: zina can be seen as a sin that Allah will punish directly, except where there are voluntary or repeated confessions; the law can be seen as a deterrent but which requires high standards of proof and evidence which result in few prosecutions and rare convictions; and the politically motivated aggressive enforcing of morality through restrictive legislation and enthusiastic prosecutions. This latter case is what has been happening in Nigeria. In terms of reproductive rights for women, Sharia is equally diverse. Most Muslim jurists agree that fertility management is permissible, and that pleasure in sexual intercourse is a right for both men and women. Most also agree that Islam does not sanction female genital mutilation. Despite this, the religious right in Nigeria have described fertility management as promoting immorality and zina, and have thus attempted to prevent it.

This opposition between conservative and liberal constructions of Muslim laws, and the myth of a single uniform (conservative) Sharia, has enabled the Muslim religious rightwing to prevent progressive Muslim scholars and rights activists from establishing the legitimacy of their positions in fiqh (jurisprudence), Sharia, or non-religious laws. Ironically, many progressives and leftists in the West do the same, dismissing critical voices from within the Muslim world as “Westernized” and inauthentic. It is important to recognize dissenters as equally authentic members of the community.

Many groups are actively organising in Nigeria to establish protection for women’s rights under this new Sharianization. The primary strategy of these organisations is defending those convicted by focusing on appeals in the Sharia courts, thus buying much needed time as well as getting closer to the higher courts, which have been historically more fair to women. Appealing, with the use of arguments in fiqh, deficiencies in the acts and the bias against women in their implementation could be recognised. Alternative Muslim juristic views can also be cited. Gaining an acquittal also serves to indicate that no conviction should have been made, and is thus a vindication of the person wrongly convicted. Pursuing appeals also serves to demonstrate that people have the right to appeal and challenge injustice, including those perpetuated in the name of religion. The success of those appeals shows that it does make a difference – far fewer women and men have been charged with zina or sentenced to stoning since Amina’s case, and the two that were, have successfully appealed and were discharged within three months.

These same women’s and rights groups have also sought to demystify Sharia to the general public, through seminars, workshops, training, public discussion, lectures, articles, pamphlets, books and radio and television talk shows. This includes groups like the Constitutional Rights Project, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, the Women’s Action Collective with Women’s Action Research and Documentation, and the Nigerian office of the International Human Rights Law Group.

Demystifying Sharianization in Nigeria also involves critiques of the current class- and gender-bias in content and implementation. The poor have been the most subjected to harsh punishments. There have been fewer convictions of men than of women for adultery or fornication. Moreover, men convicted of violent sexual offences, like rape and sexual assault, have received less severe punishments (usually fines, imprisonment, or acceptance of pleas of illness and insanity), despite the stronger punishments available in the Sharia Penal Codes that are routinely meted out for consensual sex outside marriage. Women have clearly been discriminated against. Judges have ignored or dismissed women’s allegations of rape and coercion in zina cases. Before Amina Lawal’s acquittal, convictions of adultery/fornication brought against women used different and discriminatory standards of evidence than those used for men – that of pregnancy outside marriage.

The task at hand is therefore much larger than simply working to make Sharia work for women – it includes reeducation and awareness raising to change age old attitudes, while at the same time valuing local traditions and culture.

International media coverage of these cases, and of the Amina Lawal case in particular, has been staggering, relatively speaking. News reporting and petitions that have appealed to human rights have had conflicting results. While a growing awareness of rights abuses has been gained, a certain amount of hypocritical action is identified: the response of many Nigerians has frequently been to ask why people in the West are apparently so concerned about the life of one Muslim woman in Nigeria, when they have been killing large numbers of Muslim men, women, and children and are responsible for the horrors of war and its aftermath in Iraq.

While international solidarity is important to local rights struggles, and campaigns and petitions have the potential to be successful, it must be done in a way that does not portray stereotypes, nor hinder the actual protection and defense of women’s and human rights. Further, the international media and protests have largely ignored the existence of dissent among Muslims, and have downplayed the existence of protests and campaigns enacted within Nigeria. The tendency to treat the Muslim world as uniform only helps to legitimize the religious right’s monopolistic claim to speak for all Muslims and to de-legitimize the assertions of progressive scholars and rights activists. Downplaying local organizing has the clear implication that it is the pressure and power of external foreign interests that is important and not the strengthening of local cultures of rights.

In order to move forward, using local structures and mechanisms (judicial appeals, informal dispute resolution, mock tribunals organized by local NGOs, networks of sympathizers and campaigns) to resist retrogressive laws or interpretations of laws and the forces behind them is the priority. Doing so strengthens local counter-discourses and often carries greater legitimacy than outside pressure. Further, using local structures and discourses can really address the local political power struggles that are behind the political use of religions and ethnicities.

Reforming laws is of utmost importance, and will require expanding public education on Muslim laws, juristic opinions and debate on the contents of laws. This task also necessitates building solidarity among a variety of stakeholders to develop shared understanding and common strategies and platforms for women’s and human rights. Local groups must find ways to interact with and influence mass international media, to make it more accurate and nuanced. These groups must also negotiate with and influence the policies of international agencies to create informed and respectful solidarity. Campaigning for governments and media to support international policies that sustain economic justice and rights would give hope worldwide so that poverty and uncertainty do not continue to be conditions in which religious right sentiments and actors find support for discourses and laws that violate rights.

* This up-dated paper contains both summary and extracts from a longer paper, which is an edited version of a paper published in “Where Human Rights Begin—Health, Sexuality, and Women in the New Millennium,” edited by Wendy Chavkin and Ellen Chesler, Rutgers University Press, November 2005.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

The Protocol on The Rights of Women in Africa and its compatibility with Islamic legal principles

2006-03-09

Maryam Uwais

In this article, Marywam Uwais, barrister and human rights advocate, argues that Islam and women’s rights are compatible. Using a framework of Islamic law, as well as the newly ratified Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, Uwais takes an in depth look at a number of factors affecting African Muslim women. With her background in law, Uwais has provided an extremely important tool for women’s rights advocates in Muslim Africa, linking issues facing women to concrete support for their rights within both the Quran and Islamic law.


Introduction

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa was adopted in July 2003 during the 2nd Ordinary Session of the African Heads of States in Maputo, Mozambique. It was considered by women all over the world, as a decisive step towards securing a legal framework for the protection and advancement of women’s rights in Africa. Its swift ratification enabled it to come into force in November, 2005 and underscored the importance and the concern Member States attach to the injustices suffered daily by African women. These injustices take the form of physical and mental violence, social, economic and cultural rights abuses, exploitation of vulnerabilities, and the discrimination and disadvantages arising as a consequence thereof.

This paper attempts to draw comparisons between the contents of the Protocol and the rights of women within the Islamic legal framework, with a view to highlighting areas of common concern, and especially those Islamic concepts and legal principles that lend credence to the provisions adopted by the African Union, for the protection of Muslim African women, in particular.

One of the major concerns is the harsh, dogmatic and rigid interpretations of the Qur’an and the Hadith, adopted and conveyed by many scholars and in territories where the Shari’ah prevails (Shari’ah jurisdictions). These interpretations provide cover for many injustices, which cannot be justified under a religion that professes universal and substantive justice for all, and especially the vulnerable within the society. Close study demonstrates, however, that many of these interpretations/beliefs arise from ignorance of the true precepts of the faith, deriving from patriarchal cultures and traditions, rather than benevolent interpretations of the primary sources of the Shari’ah, in line with the spirit of the Qur’an and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

This article will thus consider several of the issues important to Muslim women in Africa, including access to justice, polygamy, economic rights and the right to political participation. An attempt will be made to connect these issues to the Muslim context, international rights treaties and potential solutions to each topic.

Access to Justice

Islam, being a faith that commands the doing of substantive justice to all, also stresses equality of all before the law, irrespective of social standing, gender, religious inclination and other similar considerations. One of the chief mandates for human rights within the Muslim context comes from the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, pronounced by the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). Thus, Article 19 of the OIC Declaration provides that:

(a) All Individuals are equal before the law, without distinction between ruler and the ruled; and
(b) The right to resort to justice is guaranteed to everyone.

Moreover, Article 8 of same states;

Every human being has the right to enjoy his legal capacity in terms of both obligation and commitment, should this capacity be lost or impaired, he shall be represented by a guardian.

Much, however, needs to be done by Member States to overcome barriers to securing the protections afforded to women under the law, as many of such structures and mechanisms are not in place, and the overwhelming circumstances of poverty and ignorance serve as formidable obstacles to the realization of women’s rights. While comprehensive codification is advocated for in many areas (especially in the vast and interrelated field of family law) care should be taken to ensure that the laws under contemplation, though seemingly positive, do not have an adverse effect on women in practical terms. For instance, experience has shown that in some cases, efforts at enforcing strict regulation have merely had the effect of rendering such negative practices ‘invisible’. Regulation should, therefore, not be so strict as to further aggravate the circumstances unfortunate women find themselves in, nor remove all avenues for the ability to exercise just and compassionate discretion.

In addition, law reform and regulation must be accompanied by wider efforts at social change, such as the empowerment of men and women with the essential knowledge of the rights available to women under the Shari’ah, (including the necessary financial wherewithal), as many of the positive, beneficial decisions taken (even under the common law) can hardly be enforced due to the fact that too many violations go unnoticed and undocumented (and are thus considered the norm) and that the circumstances of poverty, ignorance and illiteracy are all-pervasive, especially in the rural areas.

Polygamy

Muslim scholars argue that polygamy is permitted as a remedy for certain social diseases, under certain strict conditions. Without delving into the arguments on the justification for polygamy in today’s context (especially since the practice is deeply entrenched and accepted as the norm, even by women, in many African jurisdictions), it would only suffice to point out that the ability to treat co-wives justly is a strict precondition to the practice, following the verses in the Qur’an;

‘…marry women of your choice, two, three or four; but if you feel you may not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one . . .That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice.’

' . . . you will never be able to do perfect justice between wives even if it is your ardent desire . . .'

Obviously, these verses do not convey an unrestrained license to men, for the multiplication of wives and monogamy seems to be the preferred option. Unfortunately, polygamy has attained the status of an abiding culture in our own jurisdictions, without regard to the underlying necessity for fairness and justice between wives, being the normative values embedded intrinsically therein.

Since Muslims accept that cohesion of the family unit is the objective of the Shari’ah, surely where blatant abuse of a permission granted in good faith has become the norm (to the extent that disarray has become the consequence of a practice that typifies the letter, but not the essence of the Shari’ah) time has come for the Courts, and the Shari’ah jurisdictions to intervene for the purposes of protecting the vulnerable. The Shari’ah jurisdictions are under a duty to protect all, including women, so it would be appropriate for a regulatory law to be passed that reinforces controls and checks the abuse of the Qur’anic verses.

Thus, Courts should be empowered to enquire into the circumstances of all men who wish to marry subsequent wives, in respect of issues such as capacity and the discharge of their basic obligations as they exist or are stipulated in the marriage contract, as is happening in several Shari’ah jurisdictions across the world. Justification and proof should be demanded from, and given by, men for contemplated subsequent wives, on issues such as whether they can afford to maintain them, accommodate them with some measure of privacy (privacy being a major right under the Shari’ah), whether the existing wife consents to such addition (in emulation of the conduct of the Prophet when Ali, his daughter’s husband, sought for advice for a subsequent marriage), otherwise the woman would be compensated on agreeable terms. The State must step in, as the Authority responsible for protecting the weak in their respective spheres of authority.

Moreover, it is clear that Islam permitted polygamy as a social remedy under certain strict conditions (without which the plurality of wives is prohibited). Some Muslim countries have accordingly advocated for an outright prohibition, or introduced legislation that empowers the judiciary to refuse permission for the taking of a subsequent wife, because the man is found not to be in a position to sustain both wives, satisfactorily (in terms of maintenance, etc). While this approach has been criticized as restrictive (in that it takes away the man’s discretion and certain perceived rights), it could serve as the procedural means of ensuring that the ability to do justice is not subjective, and authorizes the intervention of an impartial third party, thereby ensuring justice in the true spirit of the Qur’an. This is especially because the condition of doing justice between co-wives is seldom given any consideration by men where polygamy is practiced.

Economic Rights

In Islamic law, women are entitled to hold property of their own, in their name and within and after marriage, as the case may be. This includes the right to earn, acquire, access and dispose of her property. Although the law provides that she may not be forcefully dispossessed of the same, these rights appear to exist more in theory. Muslim women in Africa remain largely economically dependent on their male counterparts, especially since the control of her property, if any, is invariably in the hands of male relations.

Access to credit, bank loans, mortgages and the like is still heavily skewed in favour of men and many socio-cultural and economic barriers militate against women enjoying financial independence. Indeed, although there are no categorical religious injunctions against women owning property, even the policies of Member States fail to acknowledge the current statistics that disclose that women are increasingly becoming the breadwinners of their households. Age-long prejudices, attitudes and behaviour need also to alter, to effectively take into account the peculiar problems women face in trying to assert their rights.

The Right to Political Participation

With respect to political leadership, Shari’ah places utmost emphasis on good governance, founded on justice, equity and responsibility. The Qur’an states clearly that sovereignty of the heavens and the earth belong to God, it also provides that God has made human beings His agents and representatives, without distinction as to gender. Arising from these verses and the traditions of the Prophet in support thereof, there is a consensus that every Muslim has the right and opportunity to participate directly or indirectly in the country’s public affairs and electoral processes, and the prerequisites of leadership are regarded as the capacity to exercise righteousness and to uphold justice for all.

Nowhere in the Qur’an or the Hadith is there any prohibition of participation of a woman in her country’s affairs. The Hadith that is often utilized as authority to deny such participation (where the Prophet was reported to have said that a Nation that leaves its affairs in the hands of a woman would not prosper) is said to be of doubtful authenticity by several Scholars. The historical context of that tradition is said to have been the event when the Prophet received news that Khusro’s daughter, who was widely perceived as authoritarian, had succeeded the throne. The comment was considered to be in specific relation to her person. Indeed, in contrast to this position, verses 32-34 of the Chapter on Ants (Naml) in the Qur’an extol Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba, as a ruler enjoying great wealth, dignity and the full confidence of her subjects. If it were an aberration to have a female ruler, Sheba would not have been worthy of such honour, as to be mentioned so commendably by God. Moreover, women as a group are known to have participated in the initial pledge of allegiance (bay’a) extended to the Prophet, by Muslims, which is a significant pointer to the fact that even in those days, women were considered an integral part of the Muslim community, participating in the political activities of their society. It is also reported that Aisha, the widow of the Prophet, led and commanded the Battle of the Camel, with many of the companions of the Prophet in her army, and none of them disclaimed her authority to lead.

Conclusion

Today’s realities make it imperative that mechanisms and in-built structures within Islamic Law (such as doctrines for the development of the Shari’ah) must be activated by our own Scholars and Jurists. This is for the benefit of the female gender, if only to enable constructive, contextual interpretations of the primary sources of the Shari’ah, as was done many centuries ago by Islamic jurists and scholars of repute in their own times within the Islamic world. As has been shown, there is ample room within Islamic law for Muslim States to remedy the problems and seeming contradictions between the position of women in Shari’ah and the provisions of the Protocol, utilising an open mind that views the issues as complementary, rather than incongruous. Good faith, backed by political and humanitarian will, are capable of ensuring the flexibility required to resolve the apparent ‘conflicts’ between Islamic Law and the contents of the African Protocol, thereby creating the understanding that would lead to the harmonisation and realisation of common standards of universalism, irrespective of gender and other similar considerations, in Africa and the world, at large. A positive attitude for managing variations through the synergising of rights norms (as replete in the Protocol) with Islamic legal principles is necessary and imperative, for formidable and comprehensive protections to be afforded women in developing countries, of which African Muslim women form a significant portion.

* This article is comprised of extracts from a longer paper by Maryam Uwais, who is Principal Barrister at Wali-Uwais & Co. in Nigeria. She is also involved in the National Human Rights Commission.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Islamic perspective on gender equality and justice

2006-03-09

Dr. Muhammad Tawfiq Ladan

Providing Pambazuka News readers with a clear linkage between women’s rights and Islamic law, Dr. Muhammad Tawfiq Ladan argues that a significant relationship exists between what the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and Sharia have to offer to Muslim communities in Africa. Detailing the basis for women’s equality as provided for within the Quran and Islamic law, this article argues that Islam recognises that while men and women are not the same, they are certainly not unequal. The article concludes with a number of important recommendations for advocates working in African Muslim countries to ensure the rights of women.


This paper argues that the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa provides a strategic platform for advocates seeking to bring women’s human rights to the attention of citizens, organizations, governments and policymakers throughout Africa. It further argues that there is a significant relationship between the Protocol and the Sharia in terms of the objective, nature and scope of women’s rights.

Hence this paper seeks to realize the following objectives:

1. To provide an overview of the Protocol with special emphasis on the key survival, development, protection and participation rights of women in Africa;
2. To establish a significant relationship between the Protocol’s core provisions and the Islamic perspective on gender equality.
3. To conclude with some viable options for effective strategies in promoting and protecting women’s rights in Africa.

The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa

This part of the paper seeks to highlight the significance and potential of, and the rationale behind the Protocol and to examine the key provisions of the protocol relating to women’s rights in Africa.

Significance and Potential of the Protocol

The African Union adopted on July 11, 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique, a landmark treaty known as the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (the protocol) to supplement the regional human rights charter, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (the African Charter). The protocol, which entered into force on 25 November 2005 after securing 15 ratifications by African governments, provides broad protection for women’s human rights, including gender equality and justice.

The significance and potential of the protocol go well beyond Africa. The treaty contains a number of global firsts. For example, it represents the first time that an international human rights instrument has explicitly articulated a women’s right to abortion when pregnancy results from sexual assault, rape, or incest; when continuation of the pregnancy endangers the life or health of the pregnant woman; and in cases of grave fetal defects that are incompatible with life. Another first is the protocol’s call for the prohibition of harmful practices such as female circumcision/female genital mutilation (FC/FGM), which have ravaged the lives of countless young women in Africa.

The protocol can help advocates pressure governments to address the underlying social, economic, political, and health-care issues that contribute to the dismal states of women’s conditions throughout Africa, and through the reliance on the Quranically dictated values on gender equality, links to the protocol can be established in order to strengthen the rights of Muslim women throughout the continent.

Gender Equality and Justice under the Sharia

The Sharia, technically referred to as a ‘believer’s law’ in Islam, has two components. The divine component is founded on the provisions of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet of Islam. The human component of the Sharia is largely rooted in the exercise of ijtihad, technically referred to as the human initiatives to embark on research, provide judicial interpretations of the provisions of the divine component of the Sharia, resort to legal opinions or fatwa, juristic analysis, discourse or interpretations, as well as analogical deductions of rule by qualified mujtahids or scholars from the letter and spirit of the Holy Quran. Hence while the divine component is immutable, the human aspect of the Sharia is liable to err.

It is generally thought that the Sharia treats women unfairly and gender equality and justice are not possible within the Islamic legal system. This assertion is partly true and partly untrue.

Partly true as far as the resort to the process of ijtihad, the outcome and application of this process is not reflective of the changing needs and circumstances of the Muslim Ummah and not consistent with the values that the Quran repeatedly asserts in four words: ‘adl (Justice), ihsan (Benevolence), rahmah (Compassion) and hikmah (Wisdom). These Quranic values are very close to, and in fact, are the essence of human rights. One cannot think of human rights of any individual or group in the modern world without these values. Justice is as fundamental to human rights as benevolence, compassion and wisdom are. One cannot have a humane society without it being a just society.

The notion is partly untrue as far as the concept and respect for human rights are quite integral to the teachings of the Quran and the practice of the Prophet. Both the Quran and the Sunnah have remained for Muslims the framework within which to promote and protect these individual/group human rights. And the Quran has recognized and supported women’s rights in particular to: independent ownership of property, education, inheritance, free consent in marriage, divorce, child custody, voting rights, and to full legal capacity. However, there is the need to improve on women’s access to justice and to practically enhance gender equality in Muslim societies.

Quranic Perspectives on Gender Equality

The expression “Quranic perspective on Gender Equality” was judged to be the most suitable title for it orients us towards discovering those core principles in the Quran itself which form the understanding framework for our societies throughout the Muslim world. It is a society based on Quranic principles which is the goal of all Muslims, even though we may unknowingly deviate from time to time from those principles. It is the conference to a Quran-based society for which we must all work if the Muslim peoples are to enjoy a felicitous future. It is not an Indonesian, Pakistani, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Sudanese or Nigerian version of that society that we should regard as the indisputable norm, but one firmly based on the teachings of the Holy Quran. Only therein can we find a proper definition of women’s role in society. Since it is these teachings which are the subject of this sub-heading, the above seemed the most proper title.

By this choice of title one needs to emphasize that Muslims should regard the Holy Quran as our guide in all aspects of our lives. It is not only the prime source of knowledge about religious beliefs, obligations, and practices, it is also the guide, whether specific or implied, for every aspect of Islamic civilization.

As a step in this direction, let us consider what the Quran has to teach us about gender equality in the society towards which we should be striving, and ponder its effect on the position of women. What are the basic characteristics of a Quranic society which particularly affect women?

Five characteristics, which seem basic, crucial and incontrovertible of Quranic society are to be considered. Although they are presented in a series, each one rests upon the others and affects them. The interdependence of these five characteristics makes it difficult to speak of any one of them without mention of the others, and of course they do not and cannot exist in isolation from one another.

The characteristics include the following:

The Quran acknowledges the equal status and worth of the sexes, and the first of these Quranic confirmations of male-female equality are contained in statements pertaining to such religious matters as the origins of humanity, or to religious obligations and rewards.

Secondly, Muslims abide by a dual sex society rather than a unisex society. While maintaining the validity of the equal worth of men and women, the Quran does not judge this equality to mean equivalence or identity of the sexes. The society based on the Quran is, in contrast, a dual-sex society in which both sexes are assigned their special responsibilities. This assures the healthy functioning of the society for the benefit of all its members.

Third, of utmost importance is the interdependence of all members of society. Contrary to the contemporary trend to emphasize the rights of the individual at the expense of society, we find the Quran repeatedly emphasizing the interdependence of the male and female, as well as of all members of society.

Fourth, the value of the extended family is synonymous with Islam, as it serves to improve male-female relations. Thus, family connections reaching far beyond the nuclear unit are evident in strong psychological, social, economic and even political ties.

The fifth basic characteristic of a Quranic society is that of patriarchy. In order to acquire stability and cohesiveness, within Islam, patriarchy dominates, with men assuming responsibility for maintaining society.

The above analysis thus demonstrates that while women and men may be different, they are still equal, and as such, deserve equal treatment. The Quran thus provides the basis from which women are to be seen within Muslim communities, while the protocol offers the legal protection for all African women, including those living within an Islamic context.

Conclusions and Recommendations

It is evident from the above analysis that, both the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and Islamic law recognize the crucial role of women in the preservation of family and societal values and seek to promote and protect women’s rights as human beings, then as citizens of their respective states, and finally as members of a vulnerable group that are largely abused, disadvantaged, marginalized and discriminated against in every human society.

Further, how men and women (especially political and public office holders, religious and community leaders, gender insensitive scholars, policy formulators and implementers) perceive women’s rights and to what extent their decisions and behaviour reflect a concern over such rights, are questions that require: continuing human rights education; aggressive public enlightenment campaigns; multidisciplinary research and a cross-cultural approach to the understanding, articulation and promotion of women’s rights as human rights in the civil, political, social, economic, cultural, environmental and development contexts.

At the same time, because legal and policy reforms and ideas about human rights can only provide a receptive context for changes in behaviour and do not by themselves produce these changes, it is important also to devote our attention to the practical realities that would support or hinder these reforms. These range from the economic and health infrastructure, to patterns of family formation and dissolution, and the diffusion of ideas through education and exchange. In other words, to all those conditions that are prerequisite to the effective protection of women’s human rights and the promotion of gender equality and gender justice.

Viable Options for Advocates

First, advocates in countries that have not yet ratified the protocol should press their governments to ratify.

Second, there is the need to uphold the protocol’s objectives. Any state that ratifies the treaty immediately assumes an obligation to uphold its stated objectives: to ensure the promotion and protection of women’s human rights; to ensure the implementation of the protocol at national level; and to submit periodic reports to the African Human Rights Commission, as well as provide appropriate legal remedies to any woman whose rights are violated. The adoption and repeal of legislations, implementation of policies and programmes, and enforcement by national-level courts and other mechanisms of existing legal standards can fulfill the obligations outlined in the protocol.

Third, advocates can lobby governments to reform national laws and policies that hinder women’s human rights under the protocol. Fourth, advocates need to push national and local policymakers to enact policies and programmes that seek to fulfill women’s human rights: - e.g., violence against women; sexual discrimination against women; a woman’s right to sustainable development and to participate in governance, decision-making process at all levels and in politics. Fifth, advocates can bring cases before national courts to help address violations of women’s sexual and reproductive rights, rights to a healthy and sustainable environment etc. Sixth, treaties help advocates articulate the nature and content of women’s human rights. The language of the protocol, therefore, may be used to educate women and men, policymakers, and advocates on the meaning and significance of legal standards, entitlements, and obligations as they apply to women’ rights in Africa. Seventh, conduct trainings for those who protect, promote and advance women’s rights in Africa on the African Human Rights System and the role of the protocol.

Finally, advocates need to lobby member states of the African Union to ensure that the African Human Rights Enforcement mechanisms are effective.

*This article is comprised of extracts as well as summary from a longer paper presented at a symposium co-convened by the Babiker Badri Scientific Association of Women, Afhad University for Women, which was organised by the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) Coalition during the 6th African Union Summit in January of 2006 in Sudan.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

The rights accorded to women within Islam

2006-03-09

Karoline Kemp

This article, meant to be a basic introduction to the topic of Islamic women’s rights in Africa, argues that the two are not mutually exclusive and that women’s rights are in fact provided for within the main frameworks of Islam. While this has been largely little or misunderstood, there is a growing awareness of the fact that neither Islam nor women’s lives are static, and the movement to increase the rights of women is growing within a framework that does not harm the positive and strengthening aspects of Muslim culture.


Issues of human rights for women in African Muslim regions are usually highly contested, though more often they are little understood. Too frequently the discourse surrounding Muslim women’s rights in Africa centers on their lack of empowerment, which can be seen as ironic, considering that Islam is in fact a highly egalitarian religion at its core. Devastated by colonialism, war and poverty, many Muslim African countries are challenged with the task of rebuilding societies based on religious beliefs and cultural identities. At the same time, the recognition of the legitimate and Quranically provided for rights of women must be taken into account, taking also into account the international treaties and global pressures of democracy and rights.

Islam and women’s rights are not mutually exclusive, in spite of the fact that Islamic laws are often disconnected between how they are enacted in practice and what they officially state in writing. The allowance of custom into the legal system and the right to freedom of conscience (interpretation) are two of the ways in which the laws or Shariah of Islam have been narrowed, among numerous others. Further, it is difficult to interpret or critically assess Islamic law without Islamic education, which has been denied to many Muslims across the globe (due to colonialism and political control, among other reasons). Thus, there is widespread misunderstanding as to what the Qur’an actually says.

At the core of Islam is its creation story, which affirms that male and female were created equally, thus leaving no hierarchy in gender creation. Furthermore, Muslim women are independent legal entities, able to retain their own names, financial independence and property at all times. Women are also to be provided for in the instance of divorce. They are to be given a share of relative’s inheritance on the passing of a husband or father. Muslim women, in the Qur’an, are also given the opportunity to work, and to provide an income for themselves. At the same time, while housework and the raising of children is in many instances still prescribed along gender lines, children are to be brought up by both parents, with each consulting one another on important matters. These are just some of the examples of the rights accorded to women within Islam – according to the Qur’an, the hadiths and Sharia (Islamic law). This is obviously a cursory overview of a complicated and deeply historical issue, but it hopes to show simply that there is a side of Islam not often represented in mainstream media or discourse. Further, while many of these rules and ideas are recorded and guaranteed in writing, they are not always practiced. In reality, many Muslim women do not have access to any of these rights.

There are many issues important specifically to Muslim women in Africa, and these are in fact integral to a global perspective in terms of guaranteeing basic human rights. Women comprise over half of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa, including those countries where Islam is practiced. These nations include Mauritania (100% Islamic), the Francophone countries of Burkina Faso (50%), Chad (50%), Cameroon, Mali (90%), Niger (80%) and Senegal (92%) and the Anglophone countries of Ghana and Nigeria (which has a 50% Muslim population). In these places, Islam has a strong influence on women’s roles, access to information and rights. These issues are embedded, for African Muslim women, not only within their religious beliefs but also larger local culture, tradition, and customs.

In some places, the respect accorded to women within Islam is upheld; in other places, women struggle to gain access to these rights. This is the case because within Islam (and many other religions, for that matter), women symbolise a large part of tradition and cultural identity. Changing anything in regards to women’s rights is thus regarded as changing Islam. Those involved in the women’s movements of these countries struggle against this idea. Their protests are sometimes banned, or greeted with backlash – rarely welcomed by those in power. But their movement is growing – they are participating in debates, conferences, television and radio talk shows. Many of those involved are educated women – lawyers, social workers, and academics. This struggle against religious conservatives means that the criticism they receive is invoked through religious and theological means, whether valid or not. This, for many of these activists, means that the work they must do for women must be centered on civil rights, rather than religious ones, as efforts to reform Islam from within, keep failing. Women’s Islamic discourse cannot be discounted, however, as it is starting to provide counterpoints. This is limited at the highest level, however, by the fact that women lawyers are banned from representing women in the Sharia (Islamic law) courts.

A brief overview of some of the most pressing issues facing Muslim women in African nations shows that there is a lack of legal reform in areas traditionally governed by customary and religious laws. Women suffer discrimination in the areas of marriage and divorce laws, property and inheritance laws that favor men, societal norms that condone violence against women, lack of access to proper reproductive and sexual health and rights and lack of access to education. In some of these nations, women are still forced to undergo female genital mutilation. Further, on an everyday basis, women’s roles are confined to those traditionally performed along gender lines – transgressing these boundaries is not a choice for most, should they desire to live beyond these prescribed roles. Freedom of movement and lack of a public life or voice are also a reality for many.

The solutions to these complex and ingrained problems will not come easily. Women’s behavior and roles, in many ways, uphold the core of what Islam is. Changing the way women are valued and treated thus requires not only legal, political and cultural change, but also a shift in attitude. Accomplishing this task without harming the positive essence of Islamic culture and tradition will be difficult, but integral towards realizing women’s rights.

However, there are numerous groups in Africa working towards realizing the rights of Muslim women. Their political and community level participation is in fact an important part of Islam, and is a duty owed to their society. In many African nations there exist small groups of dedicated women working for little pay, in conditions which are sometimes dangerous, to promote the rights of Muslim women. They work to strengthen laws that protect women within customary, statutory and religious laws, lobbying at local, regional and national levels. These groups provide knowledge and awareness to rural and urban women regarding how to exercise and develop their rights and advocate on their behalf in social and legislative realms.

* Researched and written by Karoline Kemp, a Commonwealth of Learning Young Professional with Fahamu.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Sources:
http://hrw.org/women/overview-mena.html
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/genislam.htm
http://www.osiwa.org/en/programs/special/women
http://www.karamah.org/docs/JLRal-HibriFin.doc
http://www.baobabwomen.org

Further Reading for International Women’s Day:

Exercising Power for Change - Statement by Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM, on the occasion of International Women’s Day
http://www.unifemcis.org/index.html?id=114
International Women’s Day – Women in Decision Making: Meeting Challenges, Creating Change Tool Kit
http://www.un.org/events/women/iwd/2006/
Global: Millions of girls still out of school on International Women's Day
http://www.campaignforeducation.org
Inspiring Potential – Background and Tool Kit
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
Groups blast U.N. on gender parity
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32398
National efforts to achieve 1995 targets at Commission on the Status of Women not met
http://www.oneworld.net/link/gotoarticle/addhit/128671/66/67713
Sex worker rights group participating in national bus trip to stop violence against women and children
http://www.sweat.org.za
Red card to forced prostitution
http://www.hrea.org/feature-events/iwd.php
IWD - Aspiring decision makers do battle with tradition
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32423
UNHR's top women leaders reflect on gender equity issues on IWD
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&id=440eadbb4

Women in decision-making: Meeting challenges, creating change

A tribute to African heroines in communities

2006-03-09

Nyaradzai Mugaragumbo-Gumbonzvanda

Nyaradzai Mugaragumbo-Gumbonzvanda, Regional Programme Director for the United Nations Development Fund for Women in Eastern Africa, pays tribute to the everyday heroines of the African continent. It’s not only the women in parliament that need recognition, but also those in local authorities, in health boards, water boards, education committees, budget committees and in the home, she writes.


Rosemary called me five times this week encouraging me to write something for International Women’s Day, 2006. I was not sure what to write, say or dream about! Women in decision-making, public office, the numbers, the politics, the influence they have or do not have! I was not sure. I woke up inspired. Yes, I can indeed share my thoughts, dreams and give a eulogy to African heroines, and especially African women who continue to meet the challenges everyday, who are creating change and whose voices, views, energies and creativity is never recognized, counted or valued.

First a tribute is to my own mother, Rozaria, who gave birth to more than a dozen children, a 3rd grade graduate who sent us all to school, and lived as a widow for more than 27 years. She was never a parliamentarian or a councilor, but she was on 24-hour call in her community, supporting, contributing and advising. She sat in the local school board and was a leader in her local church. She met many, many, many challenges in life, but she also created change. She influenced the family, the community and the school. She died a leader and a queen of many hearts.

Through her work we continue to struggle for justice, for equality, for rights, for dignity and for a life free from want and fear.

Many women in Africa are like my own mother. They assert themselves within the space they have. They know what is good for their children, community and country and strive for the same. They are heroines whose names are inscribed in our hearts but whose leadership, wisdom and contribution is not counted nor recognized. We continue to wallow in the pain of the low numbers in parliament and in public office. If women are not in these public offices, they are in their houses and communities meeting the challenges and trying to make a difference. They are also trying to access public office! Just like every woman is a worker, every woman is a decision maker.

The question is how do we translate women’s skills, passion and commitment to public expression and presence in public office? Why do we have a fixation with the apex, instead of diffusing the power from the apex to the other and more important levels of governance?

Transformational leadership with women must equally be about changing the value base. It must be about the totality of women’s space and eulogizing every space in which women are making decisions. In public office, we must continue to struggle for gender parity, but not at the expense of celebrating where women are already trying to influence change and meeting many struggles.

On this international women’s day, I call on the recognition of women in decision-making beyond the numbers of women in parliament. I call on the world and Africa to measure where it matters most for women: women in local authorities, in health boards, water boards, education committees, budget committees. Since most women are the ministers of finance (some say “cashiers”) at home, why not in government, why not chair finance committees in parliament and in the local boards?

I give a tribute to every woman today, as you continue to make decisions about your family, your life and posterity. This happens in the face of discrimination, poverty, wars, HIV & AIDS and even exclusion. Women are carrying even more than half the sky, today; especially in the part of the world we call Africa.

* The writer is the Regional Programme Director for United Nations Development Fund for Women in Eastern Africa.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Everyday should be a Woman's Day

2006-03-09

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

Nearly 100 years after the first International Women’s Day, the lot of women has improved, writes Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem in his weekly column. But there’s still much to be done before equality between the sexes becomes a reality. In the meantime, the world cannot be a better place if women's conditions are not better in it.


International Women's Day on March 8 has been marked for almost a century, the first being March 8, 1911. The day is meant to honour women, celebrate their achievements and focus attention on the continuing challenges facing the realisation of the fullest potential of women as equal citizens with equal rights to men. It is a day to recommit everyone to the motto: women's rights are human rights.

It is not just a 'women's day,' even if that is how it is popularly celebrated. It is about gender awareness and democratic struggle to make the world a better place for all its inhabitants, both men and women.

There is no denying the fact that women have made tremendous advances globally and in Africa in the past few years. There are many visible pointers to the growing numbers of women in top political positions. Last year, Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, of Liberia, finally broke through the ceiling by becoming the first popularly elected female head of state in Africa. That victory means that women no longer have to rely on the good will of men in order to hold or aspire to political offices.

The truth is that most of the women who have been vice presidents in Africa have largely been 'appointed' by the 'kind' male president. An unwritten convention in such patronage is to go for women 'who will not cause trouble' and who will be 'forever grateful' to the 'appointing authority'. Mama Ellen has now put an end to that. No longer will an African woman's political ambition be limited to the second position, as a kind of political accessory for Presidents and political parties seeking political correctness and looking for votes.

It is not just in politics that African women are making giant strides. Just look around at other fields, such as the economy, community, civil society groups and NGOs, education, academia, and the professions. These achievements are not due to magnanimity on the part of the men, who are still very much in charge of the largely patriarchal power structures in society. They are the outcome of wider struggles, sometimes provoking incremental reforms and sometimes the result of prolonged conflicts. Women as women and as part of the democratic struggle, together with men, have won and continue to struggle for more victories in new frontiers. No doubt a changing consciousness and awareness is improving men's attitudes and creating men who may not be as hostile to the advancement of women as their fathers or grandfathers. But the fact that we can still point to women in top places means that it is not yet commonplace.

There are many challenges ahead. One, in some countries where women have made giant strides in formal political institutions, like Uganda or Rwanda for instance, there is a tendency to see the progress as a 'gift' of the president, thereby inculcating a kind of political gratitude that promotes political cronyism to the detriment of the wider interests of women's struggles. In Uganda, Museveni and his party talk as if they own Ugandan women and the peasantry. Even in countries like South Africa, where the gender gains are part of a wider progressive movement, there is a tendency to make women feel perpetually grateful to the party.

Two, as with all oppressed peoples, women may be oppressed not because they are women, but because they are of a different class, colour or creed. Thus, they suffer the oppression differently. Some women may become economically and politically liberated and acquire more choices at the expense of fellow women. For instance, some middle class women are able to make the choices that they make because other women subsidise their existence.

Three, a high number of women in public offices may be important symbolically and certainly necessary, but this may not translate into gender-aware policies and politics. For instance, Mrs Ngonzi Iweala is Nigeria's Minister for Finance. Mrs Sirleaf-Johnson has appointed another woman as her finance minister, but they are both committed to the neo-liberal policies of their IMF/World Bank bosses. Therefore their policies will not benefit most women, who make up the majority of the poor.

Four, while principles like 'positive discrimination' in favour of disadvantaged peoples, including women and other groups of marginalised peoples, must be defended, there must also be vigilance in order to ensure that this does not lead to a permanent quota ghetto for a few, while the power structures remain the same. The limited quota approach is mainly incorporating women into the exploitative and oppressive system - not tearing the system down.

The relative progress in many areas should not close our eyes to the enormous tasks ahead to change the iniquities of the world. We must ask ourselves how just and how fair it is that only 1% of all titles to land in the world are owned by women. And it is not only in land ownership that women are so unfairly treated. The Independent of London, in its special edition for Women's Day displayed other shameful statistics about the condition of women, not just in Africa but around the whole world. These figures should make everyone wake up and stop being complacent about the fate of more than 50% of the population of the world.

Just imagine: 70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty are women and children; 85 million girls worldwide are unable to attend school, compared to 45 million boys; 67% of all illiterate adults are women; out of 191 heads of state/government who are members of the UN, only 12 are women.

While we quote these figures and raise questions about them on the occasion of International Women’s Day we should spend the rest of the 364 days of every year taking action locally while thinking globally on how to right these wrongs. It is impossible to create a better world without bettering the lot of women. The opposite is also true: the world cannot be a better place if women's conditions are not better in it. Everyday should be a Woman's Day.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

China in Africa

2006-03-07

Riaz Tayob

There is much I agree with in the paper on China. However, what is lacking is a balanced view of who created the conditions that make Africa ripe for exploitation, not just by the Chinese, but by any other country with money, skills and entrepeneurship to stake a claim.

The erosion of productive capacity in Africa, the devastating impact of subsidies on African agriculture, the opportunistic use of conditionalities by IMF, WB and Western governments all have contributed to the systemic decay in Africa.

Without undermining the necessity for Africans and African Civil Society to insist on equity, justice and the right to benefit from national wealth and opportunities, the analysis of China must also take into account their ability and willingness to take risks in the continent and harness some of the latent productive capacity.

Conditions that are exploited by China such as lax labour, environmental and developmental laws have been actively created by the Northern countries who insisted on these conditionalities and proceeded to not invest, not to provide meaningful aid, etc. It was the North that insisted that South Africa reduce its textiles tariffs (well before the expiration of the MFA), yet Chinese imports get the blame. What role does a country like South Africa play in this? If you live in a National Game Park and are forced by external forces to remove the fence around your house, do you then blame the lion for attacking your family?

Corruption - A convenient smokescreen?

2006-03-07

Alex Weir

John Githongo's recent revelations about corruption in Kenya are timely and welcome. What most people do not realize is that in most 3rd world countries corruption is top-down-bottom-up i.e. it originates from the president, and over 95% of acts of corruption (by value) result in a large (typically 80%) share of the proceeds going back up the ladder directly to the president. The 20% share stays with the perpetrator of the corruption; and the 80% guarantees that the perpetrator enjoys protection at the highest level. The illegal income of the average 3rd world president is usually composed of many many such scams, some very large and others comparatively small. I state the above based on personal experience while working on World Bank and EU Projects in Uganda and Tunisia in 2005.

As Githongo estimates, 7% of the GNP of Kenya disappears in corruption; this is probably a typical value throughout the 3rd world. The result of this is that the functions of government, ministries, police, armed forces etc are totally diverted from their stated purpose into the business of ensuring the required cash flow for the top man. No wonder that most 3rd world governments are ineffective in building their economies, but are remarkably effective in appearing to destroy these self-same economies; no wonder that so many important government functions end up being implemented by aid donors and NGOs. Indeed, because of a multiplier effect, 7% of GNP disappearing in corruption is probably equivalent to a 21 - 28% of GNP loss to the economy.

While we in the West are congratulating ourselves, we should consider the role of our oil companies (especially Shell), our mining companies, and of course the international diamond monopoly, de Beers. These people instigate and collaborate with corruption in order to make 3rd world presidents rich and their people poor; their top management of course benefit, and in some cases their shareholders.

The solution to these problems? First of all, an exposure of this reality and an end to denial and cover-ups by western politicians, western leaders and western media. The populations and voters of western democracies must not turn their backs on their less fortunate fellow humans just because they themselves have money in their pockets. The truth will eventually set free the victims of this anything-but-victimless crime.

SA elections no indication of maturing democracy

2006-03-08

Percy Ngonyama

The recently held local government elections - held on March 01, 2006 - were neither an expression of the 'will' of the people nor a sign that 'our democracy is maturing' as Thabo Mbeki in collusion with the Independent Electoral commission [IEC] wants us to believe.

Instead, the elections should be viewed in the correct context: an unequivocal message to the ruling African National Congress [ANC] that the poor masses are 'gatvol'.

Unwittingly or wittingly, a substantial number of the electorate has rejected the top down neo-liberal policies that have exacerbated the country's poverty.

The government's apartheid era-style repressive response to civil society's organised 'election boycott' campaigns needs to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Just two days prior to the elections, the Durban City Council brutally attempted to prevent a legal march by the ever-growing movement of the shack dwellers 'Abahlali Base Mjondolo'.

Mainstream institutions and 'experts', who are always quick to remind us of how wonderful our 'democracy' is, are yet to condemn this horrific action and police repression in Khutsong, which, for many, undoubtedly, brought back memories of the 1980's, and the notorious 'State of Emergency'.

Despite the IEC's ambitious and extravagant 'Power of X' media campaign, less than 48% of the registered 22 million voters cast their vote. Of these, less than 11 million voted ANC. A large number did not even bother to register.

It is therefore puzzling that the ANC is "humbled" and "grateful" of this embarrassing situation.

What the ANC and government should be asking is why is the South African electorate so disillusioned with the electoral process, only twelve years since the first democratic election in 1994.

In the days leading up to the election, the public was bombarded with numerous clearly well calculated news items of how effectively government was 'delivering' on services. The evening news increasingly broadcast reports on government ministers and officials officially opening schools or clinics in indigent parts of the country.

'Kingpins' of this propaganda project should be made aware that there is absolutely nothing special with Manto Tshabalala Msimang opening a new clinic in KwaZulu-Natal or Naledi Pandoor opening a school in some rural area. It is simply their job for which they are handsomely remunerated.

And access to adequate education and health care are constitutionally guaranteed basic rights which, even after twelve years of so-called democracy, remain elusive for the majority.

The elections were also a further indictment to opposition parties, who had, in the midst of electioneering, portrayed themselves as an 'alternative' to the ANC, and pledged to fight corruption and poverty. Their failure to acknowledge that it is the top down capitalist policies of the ruling party that breed corruption and poverty grossly undermined their claims.

Whilst most progressive formations might be discouraged by the ANC's 66% victory, there is certainly an indication that the level of dissatisfaction with the current 'developmental' agenda is growing.

There is an urgent need to educate the poors on alternatives to neo-liberalism. The masses need to be made aware that there are alternatives to the current 'criminal' systerm that forces many to steal, lie, cheat, and even sell their bodies to survive.

Indeed, a systerm that seeks to commodify every aspects of our lives, with dire consequences for the poorest of the poor, must be condemned and fought with the same amount of vigour and rage that characterised the struggle against apartheid.

John La Rose (1927-2006)

2006-03-08

Jenny Bourne

1 March 2006 - A stalwart of Black struggle in Britain, John La Rose, has died. As a writer, publisher and political organiser, his contribution to the development of Black cultural expression in the UK cannot be rivalled. It is with great sadness that the staff of the Institute of Race Relations heard the news of John's death on 28 February from a heart attack. As a member of IRR's Council, and its Chairman in the early 1970s, he helped to guide the organisation during a particularly turbulent time in its history; its transformation from an establishment body into a radical think-tank.

John was born in Trinidad in 1927 and, after leaving school, became involved in the work of radical political, trade union and cultural organisations. Having joined a Marxist study group, he became an active member of the Federated Workers Trade Union and held meetings throughout the oil belt of southern Trinidad. In 1952 the FWTU, joined by other radicals, formed the West Indian Independence Party and John was appointed its General Secretary- contesting a seat in Arima, his home town, in the 1956 elections. In 1958 he left Trinidad for Venezuela, where he worked as a teacher and in 1961 left for Britain.

In 1966 John founded New Beacon Books, a bookshop, publishing house and international book service, (which, despite the demise of so many alternative bookshops in the UK, uniquely, remains to this day). The same year he also helped to found the Caribbean Artists Movement, which was to launch the careers of many of the greatest of West Indian artists, writers and film-makers.

During the 1960s, John became concerned about the poor education Black children were receiving in school and ran from his home the George Padmore supplementary school which went on, in 1975, to expand into a Black Parents' Movement.

There was hardly an important Black issue that John was not involved in, agitating over or bringing to public notice. His achievements read like a potted history of Black struggle itself. For example, in 1973 he made a short film on the Mangrove trial, in 1981 he joined the New Cross Massacre Action Committee, in 1990 he co-founded the European Action for Racial Equality and Justice. But John's greatest contribution was probably the unique Black book fairs from 1982 to 1995.

The International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books, of which New Beacon was a central co-organiser, would rock London's cultural world for three or four days each year, attracting audiences from Europe and farther afield. For these events, run in inner-London town halls with volunteer staff from bookshops and black organisations, did exactly what their description said. Contributors to the fairs' many public events of discussion, talks, films shows, plays, poetry, dance, were not just Black, but also Asian, not just First World, but also Third.

And the politics was never narrowly nationalist, but invariably incorporated a socialist perspective. In 1991, realising how important it was to record and chart the Black history that he and others had made in Britain, John, with Sarah White (his partner of over thirty-five years), founded the George Padmore Institute to act as an archive and education centre. And it is, no doubt, through its activities that the dynamism and commitment enshrined in his life's work will live on.

John gave of himself unstintingly. He was one of the most incorruptible of men. With his intellect, range of contacts, skills as an orator and gentle, easy-going style, he could have carved out a niche for himself anywhere - in the media, in academia, as 'a spokesman' or a cultural critic. But he was interested not in status or position, but service. And that's his legacy to us all.

* This article first appeared on the website of the Institute for Race Relations. Visit their website at http://www.irr.org.uk/

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Kenya: Oscars and Blinkers

2006-03-08

Shailja Patel

Is it fair to talk about a film I haven’t seen?

That depends. Is the film The Constant Gardener? Then one might argue that it fails, as every Western film set in Africa has failed, to treat the continent as anything other than backdrop to the main story. The main story, it goes without saying, is the drama of the white people.

A few years ago, I borrowed a set of rules from brilliant American cartoonist, Alison Bechdel. In one of her Dykes To Watch Out For cartoon strips, she has a character say:

"I don't go to a movie unless:

1) It has at least two women in it, who
2) Talk to each other, about
3) Something other than the man in the movie."

I tweaked that for my Africa-films filter. Any film set in, and ostensibly about, Africa has to:

1) Have at least 2 African characters in it.
That's characters. Servants, waiters, extras, are not characters.
2) The two African characters have to talk to each other, about
3) Something other than the white protagonist(s) in the film

I avoided seeing The Constant Gardener because none of my friends who saw it could vouch that it met my 3 rules. Each snippet I came across about it fed my conviction that it would only irritate me beyond belief. Like hearing how the Western actors had been “shocked beyond belief” by the poverty of Nairobi slums. Like actress Rachel Weisz, describing the beauty of “Lake Magadi covered with flamingos.” There are no flamingos at Lake Magadi, Rachel. That’s Lake Nakuru.

Last Sunday night, Rachel Weisz won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Constant Gardener. In her speech, she paid tribute to the brilliance of her director, the John Le Carre novel the film was based on, and reeled off the customary list of personal thanks. She did not mention Africa, Kenya, or Kenyans. She did not even hint at the supposed central theme of the film – giant pharmaceuticals testing drugs on impoverished Africans.

It would appear, then, that it’s perfectly possible – in fact, the norm – to make a film that claims to be about Africa, shoot it in Africa, market it with relentless repetition of the word “Africa”, without actually seeing Africa. Or Africans. I see no reason not to accord such a film the same invisibility when I write of it.

* Shailja Patel is a Kenyan Indian poet and spoken word artist. Visit www.shailja.com

* Send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

South Africa: Challenging Hegemony: Social Movements and the Quest for a New Humanism in Post-Apartheid South Africa

2006-03-08

Challenging Hegemony: Social Movements, and the Quest for a New Humanism in Post-Apartheid South Africa is a collection of essays by leading social movement activists and scholars that analyzes the emergence of new political struggles in post apartheid South Africa. The volume reflects on the mushrooming of new movements that represent what Frantz Fanon called 'the untidy affirmation of an original idea propounded as an absolute' - a quest for a new humanism which is manifested in the movements' most simple and basic of demands for land, housing, and medicine.
Challenging Hegemony: Social Movements and the Quest for a New Humanism in Post-Apartheid South Africa (Paperback)
by Nigel C. Gibson (Editor)
Paperback: 298 pages
Publisher: Africa World Press, Inc. (November 15, 2005)
ISBN: 1592213901

Challenging Hegemony: Social Movements, and the Quest for a New Humanism in Post-Apartheid South Africa is a collection of essays by leading social movement activists and scholars that analyzes the emergence of new political struggles in post apartheid South Africa.

The volume reflects on the mushrooming of new movements that represent what Frantz Fanon called 'the untidy affirmation of an original idea propounded as an absolute' - a quest for a new humanism which is manifested in the movements' most simple and basic of demands for land, housing, and medicine.

A central problem addressed in the volume is how the challenge to hegemony can possibly be connected to the quest for a new humanism (or a 'true humanity' in Steve Biko's words). The essays investigate how new movements (including organized social forums as well as local movements) are not only challenging neo-liberal capitalist globalization, but also attempting to articulate alternatives and raise the question of what it means to be human. Whether reconnecting electricity, or struggling for housing or for HIV/AIDS anti-virals, the movements are a challenge, in the most human of ways, to the mantra that 'there is no alternative' to capitalist globalization.

"This collection of essays edited by Nigel Gibson brings together some of the most outstanding intellectuals writing on the rise of social movements in South Africa. The writers whose work is collected in this volume include the cutting edge of intellectuals who have shown tremendous courage in their quest to be not only commentators but activists in this emerging anti neo-liberal movement. There is something valuable in every page of this collection and those interested in thoughtful and provocative analyses of the South Africa transition will be well served. Out of the dystopia of apartheid followed by neo-liberal South Africa emerges the story told in these pages of an incredible resurgence of resistance.
- Ashwin Desai, author, author of We are the Poors: Community Struggles in Post-Apartheid South Africa

More...

Africa: Using cinema to say no to exploitative forces

2006-03-09

http://www.artmatters.info/petna.htm

Petna Ndaliko Katondolo is arguably one of Eastern Africa’s leading experimental filmmakers though he detests his style being referred to as ‘experimental’. He talks to Ogova Ondego in Kampala about his role as an artist and activist.

Kenya: New dance language on stage

2006-03-09

http://www.artmatters.info/bettycaplan.htm

Writer Betty Caplan reports on a unique dance style that blends classical ballet, Spanish and Oriental flavours and traditional African dances to honour, celebrate, imitate and poke fun at the gloriously beautiful but vain flamingos of Kenya’s Lake Nakuru. What makes dance funny? I found myself musing on this question as I watched Kenya Performing Arts Group’s performance of ‘Flamingo Flamenco’ during the weekend of February 3-4, 2006 at the Village Market auditorium (not a place to enhance any kind of art at all – a soulless construction without even the basic facilities for artists.) The work, choreographed by Israeli Miriam Rother, takes a look at a flamboyant, gloriously beautiful but vain African bird, the flamingo. In a series of dances, the performers honour, imitate and poke fun at the Flamingo of Lake Nakuru. En masse, by the side of Kenya’s famous soda lake, it is a unique sight.

Bloggers honour African Women

2006-03-08

Sokari Ekine

Pilgrimage to Self (http://pilgrimagetoself.blogspot.com/2006/03/honouring-african-women.html) honours the “Unheard Voices” of women who “keep the wheels of society and their community and indeed Africa well oiled and turning but who never get any sort of recognition for it.”

“This is for the woman who watches as her country is ravaged by war…This is for the woman who has been sold into marriage for sake of family, faith or tradition...This is for the woman who suffers abuse because of her colour, lifestyle, faith, opinion, background, ethnic group…This is for the woman looked down on because she has chosen to stay at home and look after her kids…This is for all of us who in one way or another are forgotten and maligned because of who we are – Women.”

Mshairi (http://www.mshairi.com/blog/2006/03/08/celebrating-women-international-womens-day) chooses to honour Africa’s women musicians - Angelique Kidjo from Benin, Sibongile Khumalo from South Africa, queen of Taraab’ Zuhura Swaleh from Kenya, Cesaria Evora from Cape Verde and Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba from South Africa.

“These musicians have seen me through sad times and brought calmness, joy and contentment in my soul when these were lacking. Their powerful songs can bring tears to the eyes or a smile to my face, depending on the occasion.”

Weichegud! ET Politics - (http://weichegud.blogspot.com/2006/03/honoring-african-women.html) honours the mothers of Ethiopians whose children have been slaughtered.

“In the late 70s, during the bloody White Terror followed by even more bloodletting in the Red Terror, Ethiopian mothers buried their sons and daughters who were slaughtered in the name of a wanton revolution. They were forced to pay the government for the bullets that killed their children. And later, they dug up skulls and skeletons from mass graves and held belated funerals.”

Black Looks (http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2006/03/honouring_afric.html) chooses to honour the women of the Niger Delta, especially Mrs Odua of the Egi Women’s Council.

“Mrs Odua was an activist and human rights defender who fought determinedly and without respite against unrestricted corporate power, state sponsored terror and the institutionalised tools of gender repression. She paid a high price for her activism and beliefs. Ostracised from her community, abandoned by her husband, disinherited by her in-laws. We should not underestimate the honesty and courage of women like Mrs Odua who resist the everyday oppressions in their own local communities.”

Zimbabwean Pundit (http://zimpundit.blogspot.com/2006/03/international-womens-day-honoring.html) honours the women of Zimbabwe and Africa through the story of Grandmother Ambuya vaSekai, who is taking care of 5 young children, the eldest of whom is 6 years old. What happened to the parents of the children?

“Mzukuru (grandson), ambuya intoned, her voice breaking up as the emotion welled up inside of her, upenyu hwakaoma (life is hard). Vaurikuona ava ndivo vatova vana vangu (the infants you're looking at now my children). Vangu vekuzvara vasopera kare, amai vaChipo kadikidiki aka karimumaoko angu takavaviga pasina kana negore rese (All my offspring have long since died, you see Chipo over here, we buried her mom less than a year ago).”

Sisiogeblogs (http://sisioge.blogspot.com/2006/03/international-womens-day.html) chooses to honour those women why either by choice or enforced by biology, do not have children of their own. A mother herself, she writes:

“However, I also admire and remain in awe of the many brave women who make the decision not to dance to nature’s tune or tow the populist view by choosing not to give birth. The amazing thing about these women is that they often make great aunties, social mothers and surrogate mother’s alike.”

Adefunke on Adefunke (http://adefunke.blogspot.com/2006/03/celebrating-african-woman_08.html) chooses to honour the many women that have touched her life and in particular her mother, Princess.

“Widowed twice, she has managed to do a good job of raising two children, me and my 20 year old sister who has cerebral palsy. I learned the meaning of forgiveness as I watched her struggle with the hand fate dealt her. I learned the meaning of beauty as I watched her touch people with her kindness. I learned the meaning of perseverance as I watched her lovingly not give up on my sister.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: Bringing gender to bureaucracies - experiences from ministries of health

2006-03-07

http://www.id21.org/society/h1st3g1.html

The integration of a gender focus into sector-wide approaches for development (SWAps) presents a number of challenges and opportunities. Case studies of health SWAps in four sub-Saharan African countries suggest that the approach has raised the profile of gender in ministries, but has not yet received the support or capacity to fully integrate gender equity into policy.

Africa: Regional networking as transnational feminism

2006-03-07

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC21049

This article argues that the most important transnational dialogues influencing domestic movements and national policy within Africa are regional discussions and regional diffusions of ideas, norms, practices and strategies. The document explores key mechanisms through which regional influences spread and are diffused. The author focuses on an arena in which these regional linkages and influences have been most visible: in encouraging women to claim political leadership positions. The article demonstrates how important continental and sub-regional influences are for domestic politics, serving as a critical conduit for changing international norms.

Africa: Women and Africa’s debt crisis

2006-03-10

Last year was a major focus of lobbying around the cancellation of Africa’s debt, but despite some token moves on behalf of the world’s creditors, not much has changed with regards the huge burden of debt faced by Africa. In this article, Mary George tackles the debt crisis and its impact on the lives of African women, concluding that there is little literature on the subject and urging women and women’s organisations to join the campaign for the outright cancellation of Africa’s debt.
Africa’s poverty and stagnation was last year described by Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa report as the greatest tragedy of our time. This is not unconnected with the egregious suffering and scale of underdevelopment, which is much pronounced on the continent in the midst of inexhaustible abundance (Africa is perhaps the richest continent of the world in term of natural resources).

Of course, many factors have contributed to this tragedy, right from the advent of Europeans arriving on the shore of the continent, but in the current epoch of neo-colonialism the excruciating debt crisis of Africa boldly stands out. In other words, the socio-economic crises of Africa is largely an outgrowth of the suffocating debt burden that has become a definitive feature of the continent. However, what this actually means is much more tragic for politically and socio-economically disadvantaged social groups like women.

It is not the size of Africa’s debt - put at over $300 billion - that actually implies crisis. Rather, it is the fact of the debt being an obstacle to socio-economic development on the continent. This is due to the use of the debt burden by creditors (imperialist governments and international finance institutions) as a whip to force the bitter pill of harsh economic policies called Structural Adjustment Programmes, or put more simply, neo-liberal economic reform, down the throat of the continent.

How does this affect women? Poor women bear the heaviest of the burden. The very means through which their status could be roundly improved - education, health and employment - are neglected by governments struggling to meet crippling debt repayments to their creditors and religiously implementing neo-liberal policies resulting in cuts in public/social spending. One of the major culprits of the continent’s inability to provide for the needs of its populace, the IMF, found it difficult to ignore the scary reality of things as it admitted that sub-Saharan Africa spends so much on debt payment that they have little left over for health or education (See www.data.org)

Owing to the under-funding of health care, largely arising from the debt burden, Africa has the highest ratio of maternal mortality. In 2002 the maternal mortality ratio of the world was estimated at 400 per 100,000 live births while that of Africa was 1 000 per 100,000 live births. A woman in Africa faces a 1-in-13 chance of dying in childbirth, compared with 1-in-4100 in industrialized countries. The countries with the highest maternal mortality ratio are in Africa. Among them is Democratic Republic of Congo, a country ruled and ruined by a staunch ally of the West, the late Mobutu Sese Seko. In 2002, the country’s debt service per capital expenditure was $18 while health per capita expenditure was $4.

In 2003, African countries paid over $25 billion in debt service, even as 2.3 million Africans lost their lives to AIDS. In that very year, the World Health Organisation reported that 4.1 million Africans living with AIDS were in immediate need of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), but only 50,000 could receive them. HIV/AIDS is a disease for which gender is inextricably associated, particularly in Africa. Inadequate access to health care and education as well as economic and social inequalities leaves African women less able to protect themselves from HIV infection. It is therefore not accidental that HIV infections in the continent are disproportionately concentrated among African poor and illiterate adolescent women.

Another area where debt is seriously implicated is food insecurity. It has been estimated that Africa will only be able to feed less than half its population by 2015. The painful SAPs implemented by Africa’s countries as conditionality for so-called debt relief are largely responsible for the endemic hunger crisis in the continent. Governments have not only abandoned interventions in food production, they have also encouraged production of cash crops at the expense of food crops in order to raise foreign exchange to service debts. It is instructive to state however that due to unfair international trade the prices of these commodities have continued to plummet on the world market.

As experiences have shown, it is women and children that are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. Craig Timberg of The Washington Post painted a typical gloomy picture in relation to the Niger hunger crisis. Niger is one of the highly indebted poor countries (HIPCs) recently granted cancellation of multilateral debts after years of unbroken submission to SAPs. Timberg described how streams of women with breasts shriveled from malnourishment and skeletal babies strapped to their backs searched endlessly for food without success. However, it was not that there was no foods in the markets; there was plenty. But these poor women could not afford them.

Halving levels of poverty and hunger, reducing maternal mortality by three-quarters and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS are among the targets the September 2000 Summit of the United Nations set to achieve by 2015 through what is called the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Others include achieving universal primary education and gender equality, and reducing under-5 mortality by two-thirds. The African Development Bank has said that Africa is the region least likely to meet the MDGs. The United Nations is more categorical, stating that if the current social development indicators continue, Africa will not reach the MDGs for another 150 years! Also, a UNDP and UNICEF joint report has stated that at the current rate, closing the gender gap in literacy in Africa will not be achieved before 2035. This very report then identifies the heavy debt burden as a major constraint militating against Africa achieving the MDGs.

The foregoing indicates that women, being socio-economically and politically weak, are more at the receiving end of the debt burden than what the average statistics of the parlous situation would suggest. Therefore, Africa’s debt crisis is a major issue that should attract the interest and intervention of women’s organisations. But it appears there is little literature on the effects of the debt burden on African women. Women and women’s organisations have to join and participate actively in the international campaign for the outright cancellation of Africa’s debt, along with the struggle to improve the lot of women in society.

* Mary George is an Assistant Programme Officer with Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARD C) Lagos Nigeria. She has an unpublished work entitled "Origin and Nature of Debt Crisis in Africa"

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

More...

Global: Meeting the specific needs of women in war

2006-03-07

http://www.hrea.org

Aiding victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, providing mother-and-child care in remote areas of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, giving courses to female detainees in Yemen to help them find their way in society after release - these are examples of the commitment shown by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to carefully assessing and meeting the specific needs of women in all aspects of its work. In the run-up to International Women's Day, ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger expressed his satisfaction that the organization's strategies and field operations increasingly reflected an awareness of the special problems, the particular vulnerabilities of women. Further progress was needed, he cautioned. "Assessing and meeting these special needs should become a spontaneous, automatic and lasting part of all our work."

Global: Testing the impacts of microfinance on women

2006-03-07

http://www.id21.org/society/s4anh1g1.html

Many believe providing women with microfinance leads to economic, social and political empowerment that transforms gender relations. Others claim microfinance does not change decision-making patterns within households, so may actually reinforce existing gender imbalances.

Global: Women in the lead

2006-03-07

http://www.oneworld.net/link/gotoarticle/addhit/128471/66/66328

Does the rise of women leaders in Jamaica, Liberia, Chile, and Germany prove the new rule, or the exception? The latest issue of OneWorld's online magazine takes an in-depth look at women's changing status worldwide.

Global: Women's Lowly News Status Is a Global Insult

2006-03-05

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2646

The latest global study of women in journalism finds that women continue to be the far-second sex in breaking and making news. Monitors for the third Global Media Monitoring Project studied a full day of radio, television and newspaper content in 76 countries on a single day, Feb. 16, 2005. The study found that women continue to be underrepresented, and sometimes outright ignored, as subjects of and sources for news, regardless of the medium. There is not a single major news topic in which women outnumber men as newsmakers. "Even in stories that affect women profoundly, such as gender-based violence, it is the male voice (64 percent of news subjects) that prevails," the report released last week in London found.

Malawi: The plight of child brides

2006-03-07

http://tinyurl.com/n9rdx

Ennat Edson didn't think it would end this way. Last year, she was making wedding plans. Now, at just 15, she is back at her mother's cramped, dingy house, nursing a fussing baby her former fiancé refuses to acknowledge is his. Here, and in isolated villages and crumbling cities across the most destitute continent, girls younger than 14 are finding boyfriends and getting married in a bid to escape the empty bellies, numbing work and overwhelming tedium of poverty. Encouraged by their parents, many marry much older men who they hope can give them a better life. Often, they are disappointed. "Poverty is the cancer in our society," says Joyce Banda, Malawi's Minister of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services. "More girls are marrying young - not out of choice, but because they have no choice," according to the Mail and Guardian.

South Africa: Response to Zuma's rape trial reflect attitudes towards rape

2006-03-09

http://www.agenda.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1187&Itemid=147

Despite South Africa’s progressive Constitution women’s occupation of public and private spaces remains limited and constantly under siege, writes Carrie Shelver from People Opposing Women Abuse. "As we stood outside the court on the first day of the rape trial it was clear how even those of us gathered to support the complainant in the case were under siege, our space limited to a small cordoned off area. By contrast, the supporters of Zuma roamed and merged with bystanders all of whom were only occasionally pushed back by police."

Sudan: Helping reduce women's vulnerability

2006-03-07

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51993

During a meeting on violence against women in Kabkabiya town, North Darfur, participants cannot agree whether a person who falls pregnant after being raped should be charged with adultery. The discussion takes place during a training programme organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Participants include Sudanese policemen, local administrators, civil society representatives and members of the African Union police. The consensus is that, if immediately reported, the crime should not lead to any charges, but some feel she should be arrested for adultery if she fails to report the rape before giving birth.