Printer-friendly versionSend by emailPDF version

A decade after ratifying and acceding to the famous Beijing Platform of action, women are still viewed as second class citizens throughout much of southern Africa. Gender based violence is still rampant. With the obvious feminization of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, there is an urgent need to critically analyse the current strategies for addressing gender. From April 5-7, 2005, SAfAIDS, the Southern African HIV/AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS) will be hosting a regional Gender Mainstreaming Symposium in Mbabane, Swaziland. The Symposium will bring together over 120 specialists and activists in development, gender, human rights and HIV/AIDS.

MEDIA ADVISORY
Embargoed For Immediate Release
31 March 2005

GENDER MAINSTREAMING: Is it an outlived paradigm? Is it protecting Women and
Girls in the Era of HIV/AIDS

Harare 01/04/05- A decade after ratifying and acceding to the famous Beijing
Platform of action, women are still viewed as second class citizens
throughout much of southern Africa. Gender based violence is still rampant.
With the obvious feminization of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, there is an urgent
need to critically analyse the current strategies for addressing gender.

From April 5-7, 2005, SAfAIDS, the Southern African HIV/AIDS Information
Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS) will be hosting a regional Gender
Mainstreaming Symposium in Mbabane, Swaziland. The Symposium will bring
together over 120 specialists and activists in development, gender, human
rights and HIV/AIDS. The delegates will explore the impact of gender
mainstreaming in development. As a concept, gender mainstreaming is
understood as the process for addressing gender difference in all
development policies, programmes, activities and information, in order to
reduce the gap in equality between men and women. However, the questions
being discussed will be: How effective is it? What are the challenges to
implementing gender mainstreaming?

According to Executive Director of SAfAIDS, Lois Lunga, the symposium is
important because it is the first time that so many stakeholder have come
together to critically examine the benefits and challenges that gender
mainstreaming has brought into the development field. It is a key
opportunity to explore whether gender mainstreaming is protecting women and
girls in the face of HIV/AIDS. Many experts have written that until the
cross-cutting nature of gender is fully understood and appreciated by all
sectors, development may remain elusive, in particular because of the
feminization of HIV and AIDS. The Swaziland Gender Mainstreaming symposium
aims to identify how gender can be more effectively addressed to protect the
rights of women and girls.

Her Royal Highness, the Queen of Swaziland, InKhosikati laMbikiza, will be
officially opening the conference. Graca Machel, the former First Lady will
provide a special address on the gender and women's role as leaders. The
Kenyan High Commissioner to Swaziland, Prof Maria Nzomo and Dr.Roland
Msiska, a representative of UNDP will be giving keynote presentations.

What: Ground Breaking Gender Mainstreaming Symposium
When: 4th-7th April 2005
Where: Sun Hotel, Mbabane, Swaziland.
Contact: Sara Page, SAfAIDS Media Desk
- Sun International Hotel, Mbabane, Swaziland
Email: [email protected]