ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – Almost twenty (20) years after the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPfA) by the United Nations’ 189 member states at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, China, 1995), the Declaration is still a powerful tool to be recognised.* It has enabled and compelled its members to address the challenges faced by all women and to swiftly respond to those challenges in order to assist in the development of women. Each Member State that espoused the Platform for Action committed itself towards advancement of gender equality, peace and empowerment goals for all women.
The governments of Member States have carried out regular reviews of the BDPfA progress every five years; Beijing +5 held in 1999, Beijing +10 (2004), Beijing +15 and they are currently in embarked in the preparation for Beijing +20 review to be held in March 2015.
The Declaration has been described as “the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights.”
The Declaration called on its member States governments, private sectors, non-governmental organisations and communities to provide and commit to all-inclusive pledges that will bring about the much needed change and strategically action toward their 12 critical areas of concern which are:
- Women and poverty
- Education and training of women
- Women and health
- Violence against women
- Women and armed conflict
- Women and the economy
- Women in power and decision-making
- Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women
- Human rights of women
- Women and the media
- Women and the environment
- The girl child (Protection and development of)
Africa’s Journey to the Beijing +20
Fifty-one (51) African Member States submitted their national reviews which demonstrated their achievements in BDPfA implementation and the baton was passed on to the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to prepare the regional report and analyse the information provided by each member state. The completed report was discussed and endorsed by the African Regional Conference in the just ended 9th Regional Review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing +20) held in Addis Ababa, 17-19 November 2014 which was organised by the UN Women and ECA.
The report, African Regional Report on Beijing+20 Review, will then be submitted to the fifth-ninth session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women as Africa’s contribution into the Global Beijing +20 comprehensive report which will then review it and make appraisal of accomplishments of the Declaration and the challenges faced by each member states in implementing it.
In March 2015, the member states of Beijing Platform for Action will come under one roof in United Nations Headquarters for the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW59) to evaluate and make assessment on the Declaration progress on its 20th anniversary.
This conference offers delegates an opportunity to debate on topical issues in Africa and globally and how they impact the gender equality agenda and the advancement of women and girls rights,”
Thokozile Rudvidzo, Coordinator of the ECA African Center for Gender
Women, Girl Child and the Declaration
The opening of the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 saw 17,000 participants and non-governmental 30,000 activists (who attended a parallel Forum during the 2 weeks debate) gathering in Beijing with all but one common goal; the equality and empowerment of all women around the world. They all stood as one voice and made promises for our common good in the form of the Platform for Action- a ray of light for all women everywhere. Twenty years down the line the question is, have the Declaration managed to achieve its agenda?
Even in this era, there is need for global sensitisation of issues that disproportionately affect women and girl child. Women everywhere face various challenges that discriminate and disadvantage them. Globally, women still constituting the majority of the population living under the poverty line and are more likely to be paid low wages than their male counterparts are. Below are some of the challenges women in different areas of the globe, Africa in particularly, encounter on a daily basis or in their lifetime:
- Human trafficking
- Rape
- Female genital mutilation
- Poverty
- Gender-based violence
- Forced and underage marriages
- All forms of abuse: emotional, physical, economical, verbal, mental and sexual abuses.
Recommendations
Much more still need to be done by countries in order to empower and advance women and girl child. Gender equality and balance gaps need to be identified and acted on:
- Governments, voluntary associations, private sectors and societies need to forego the gender stereotype in their position appointment procedures and empower women to fill decision-making jobs this include traditionally male-dominated managerial, legislature, judiciary, political, high-level, administrative and decision-making official positions.
- Women should be encouraged to participate in their countries’ elections as candidates and should be supported when they run for office and leadership positions.
- States should put in place laws that encourage gender equality and balance, and advancement of women in society. They should redress gender imbalances in line with the Declaration.
- Countries need to establish affirmative action that promotes non-discriminating laws that encourage the importance of educating both the girl-child and women. In some societies, the disparities between the women’s and men’s literacy is very high as they do not see the importance of educating a girl child; preferring them to remain illiterate therefore disadvantaging them.
- Maternal mortality should be addressed as a critical issue. According to theUN Women, disparities in reproductive rights and healthcare put 800 women at the risk of dying in childbirth each day and a third of women are submitted to physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.*
- There should be sensitisation on the importance of women in the communities and economy of countries.
- Disadvantaged and vulnerable women such as women in rural areas, single mothers, terminal ill, disabled, illiterate, and previously abused women should be assisted with access to relevant resources and programmes that build up their capacity.
- Women-headed families are at the risk of poverty and government policies should combat it by employing anti-poverty and welfare reform for these families.
- Women should be given total power of their inheritances, without a having a male relative acting as a curator.
- Societies should abolish the norm of inheriting wives: inheritance of a wife happens when the woman’s husband dies, the late husband’s relative, usually the brother takes over and acts as the wife’s husband.
- ALL countries need to put policies and legislation that make any form of women and children exploitation punishable by law. These include violence (especially domestic type), sexual assault, trafficking, emotional and economical abuse, and prostitution.
Let us turn the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence into a lifetime goal: Let us all say No to woman and child abuse – don’t turn blind to it! Act Now!
*The Beijing Platform for Action: inspiration then and now - by UN Women
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