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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
 Posted - 20 Mar 2013 : 21:55:36
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Maafanta.Com News;
1. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – 2013 By Jainaba Bah, Sweden
Daily Observer News: Published on Friday March 08, 2013
2. International Women’s Day
3. Women activists speak As Gambia marks Women’s Day
Kibaaro News: Published on Friday March 08, 2013
4. As the World Celebrates Int’l Women’s Day GAMBIA’S WOMEN OF SUBSTANCE SPEAK UP
Foroyaa News: Published on Wednesday March 20, 2013
5. WOMEN‘S BUREAU IS A PUBLIC OFFICE IT SHOULD BE IMPARTIAL IN PARTY POLITICAL MATTERS
6. AMIE SILLAH COMMENTS ON OBSERVER REPORT
Wriiten by: Ousman Njie
"The Daily Observer report on what I said in commemoration of international women’s day fell short of the perspective I took in my interview with the paper.
I wish to take this opportunity to give a balanced perspective on how I see International Women’s Day commemoration.
On Women Empowerment in The Gambia Out of 1873 Alkalos only 4 are women; Out of 114 Ward Councillors in the dissolved councils only 15 were women; Out of 48 National Assembly Members only 3 are females; Out of the 5 Nominated NAMS only 1 is female, the Deputy Speaker; Out of a cabinet of 20 Ministers only 5 are females including the Vice President.
The Gambia has attained 48 years of Nationhood. What strategies should we adopt to adequately serve women?
We have seen that countries in Africa and the world who adopted the Quota system have done extremely well in Women and Decision Making.
We have to advocate for electoral reforms to include the quota system in our constitution; in the Rwandese Parliament of 80 seats 45 are occupied by women representing 56.3%, In the Senate of 26 seats 10 are occupied by women representing 38.5%; In South Africa with a Parliament of 400 seats 169 seats are occupied by women representing 42.3%; In Senegal with a Parliament of 150 seats 34 are occupied by women representing 22.7%; In a Senate of 100 seats, 40 are occupied by women representing 40%.
When it becomes law political parties will be compelled to introduce quotas into their selection lists and party selection committees will practice parity.
Proportional Representation ensures every vote counts and with the party lists and a quota law in place women will be well represented.
Half of the seats can be filled by first past the post which avails everybody the opportunity to contest.
Constituency Demarcation is overdue. We witness the gross under- representation of people in large constituencies such as Kombo North and those in the KMC.Look at Kombo North, there are 110,000 voters with only one NAM.
Abuse of incumbency in the form of Government Officials such as Governors, security forces, local government structure using government resources, etc undermine the chances of female contestants as well as male candidates in the opposition. This is why people vie to get the nomination of the ruling party and give up when they are not selected.
Only a very unpopular ruling party candidate could be defeated under the current system.
One year leave without pay as required before one could stand in elections is another hurdle facing female candidates.
In the face of harsh economic realities, it will be madness to face one’s family and tell them to support one’s candidature for the opposition.. Yes, women are nominated for high posts but what about security of tenure?
Women should welcome the move for more deserving women and men to be appointed, but advocate for good governance and an end to the advantages of incumbency.
Incentives should be available for candidates and a conducive environment for political parties to be able to raise funds should be created because Elections are expensive.
Civil Servants should not be dragged to support any party to secure their jobs.
Women should advocate for the Rule of Law, Due Process, Transparency and Accountability. To be continued"
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Edited by - kobo on 20 Mar 2013 22:57:26 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 21 Mar 2013 : 18:42:49
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Amie Sillah Comments on Observer Report
Writen by: Amie Sillah
Foroyaa Burning Issues: Published on Thursday, 21 March 2013
"Women and the Economy Cost of living is beyond the reach of majority of families. Poor families have become poorer and are now on the verge of destitution, the extended family system can no longer absorb their kindred from the countryside and in the urban area.
Families that have been living comfortably are now facing economic hardship as a result of sky rocketing prices which do not commensurate with increased salary. Three square meals are being thrown out of the window for majority of families. Nutrition has been compromised resulting to death from non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, etc. The harsh economic realities rest squarely on women shoulders who engage in economic activities to supplement their meagre husbands’ salaries as home makers and organisers.
Women petty traders engaged in the Informal trade complain of lack of markets, poor road infrastructure, and low prices for their produce. They suffer post- harvest losses, lack of cottage industries, storage facilities, inputs and outputs for their farm work.
Our heart goes to such women struggling to make ends meet.
Women entrepreneurs also cry against high taxes and low sales; they are advocating for internal, regional and world markets to be open for them in a conducive environment. Lack of credits, grants and bank loans because of lack of co-laterals also confront them.
Lack of portable drinking water in some communities, lack of cottage industries to ease household drudgery, poor nutrition, post-harvest losses, lack of viable markets, poor road infrastructure, lack of environmentally friendly cooking stoves which affect their health, dangerous and precarious river transports are mitigating against women. Our heart goes to them.
Women workers are underemployed and unemployed with starvation wages and suffer violence in silence; the 10 hours working days have added insult to injury. Imagine a poor woman who has to be at work at 8a.m. after doing her household drudgery and going to work; as she works she thinks of the expensive market, violence from her husband and attention given to her children; because she closes work at 6p.m, she will arrive home in the evening by 7p.m or 8p.m if she lives far away, very exhausted but will still have to perform her marital duties; and if her husband is frustrated he will vent all his anger on her after he himself has been battered by the system.
The Administration should reflect on the plight of women workers and do something about the 10 hours working days. It will become unbearable during the Fasting month of Ramadan. Socio-Cultural Environment Gambia Government has ratified regional and international conventions and protocols; the Women’s Act 2010 is a synergy of the CEDAW, AU Protocol and in the pipeline are bills to tackle violence against women and a possible law against FGM/C; though the laws are welcome what we now advocate is its implementation without fear or favour, affection or ill will. The Culture of Silence, fear, impunity make women afraid to fight for their rights.
Harmful Traditional practices still prevail such as Early/Forced/Arranged marriages, Caste Discrimination, separate graves for the dead, harmful widowhood rites, discrimination of the Disabled and the elderly. Violence Against Women is under reported because of the mindset.
To reduce Poverty women have to be included in planning, budgeting and policy making processes from ward to national level.
Right to Education at all levels affordable and accessible is guaranteed under the 1997 Constitution. But the picture on the ground is different. Many children are not in Nursery Schools because of poverty; Primary Education is supposed to be free at the Lower Basic level but still parents are required to pay some amount for certain things; though enrolment is high for females at the basic cycle the number dwindles at the Tertiary level.
Women who missed out are disadvantaged because of the few outlets or non-existence of informal, functional education in the local languages, vocational outlets are inadequate and many are not well equipped.
Some NGOs are also active in the field of Vocational training.
Healthcare should be affordable and accessible; yes hospitals are many but drugs are beyond the reach of majority of women; few clinics available are beyond the reach of the masses of women. Maternal Mortality and Morbidity is still high as well as Infant Mortality; homeopathy has taken over where people has resorted to herbs and traditional healing which is not in dosage and poor hygienic conditions.
Some NGOs are also in the area of health service delivery but cost is driving poor women away.
TO BE CONTINUED" |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 22 Mar 2013 : 13:35:18
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Foroyaa News Published on Thursday, 21 March 2013;
1. INTERVIEW WITH MS.THERESE COLLEY, PROJECT OFFICER DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
The Daily News: Published on Friday March 22, 2013;
2. Open letter on Women’s Political Participation
"Satang Nabanech, LLM (Human Rights & Democratisation in Africa) who recently won a prize for her paper in AAWORD's essay competition, works for the Female Lawyers Association Gambia (FLAG). She has put some pieces together analysing the local government candidatures. Bellow is the write-up.
I think it is time I add my voice to the debate, to wear the badge of verbal fundamentalism, without the slightest embarrassment. Should have been a long time coming- to unburden myself and do a little carping.
It is astounding to discover that at the National Assembly only 2 out of the 48 elected members are women plus 3 nominated members, making a total of 5 out of 53 members. Therefore the percentage of elected women members of Parliament is 4.2 per cent and the total percentage of women in Parliament is less than 10 per cent.
If you ask me what the pressing theme of this moment is for The Gambia- for those who feel compelled to be socially relevant, I will say the low participation of women in politics. It’s an answer you should have discerned from the foregoing, but let me spell it out even more succinctly by calling your attention to several events.
In the recent nominations for the Local Government Elections, these are the statistics:
Of the 164 nominated candidates, only 11 are women (10 of the women were nominated by the APRC and 1 by NRP)
Of the 114 Wards, women candidates are unopposed in 6 wards (Crab Island Ward; Bantanjang Ward; Sibanor Ward; Giboro Ward; Banjulunding Ward and Sanyang Ward) and have male challengers in the other 5 (Tallinding Ward; Bwiam Ward; Farafenni Ward; Banni Ward and Njau Ward).
An outline of the nominations per region:
Banjul – 1 KMC – 1 Brikama – 6 LRR- 0 NBR- 0 CRR (Kuntaur Area Council) – 2 CRR (Janjabureh Area Council) – 0 URR (Basse) - 0
These figures set my teeth on edge. This is a grave breach made by politicians and the women’s movement (can we even be called that?) in The Gambia on women’s political participation. I cannot imagine anything more ghastly and ghoulish. Do I speak objectively? Of course not. I readily confess my subjectivity in these matters.
To reecho my mentor and friend, Njundu Drammeh that these statistics ‘has reconfirmed, trite though, is that The Gambia is still a man's country, our political parties are men's only clubs.’ Indeed, this shows a blatant disregard for the contributions of more than half of the population of The Gambia. As succinctly said by Wole Soyinka ‘if you seek the iconic images of our time, you will find them in the plight of women.’
When so much time has passed and a habit becomes deeply engrained, what forces of persuasion can one muster to undo that mind? There is need to address provocative questions. First, is it evidently too late to appeal to those who have embraced the idea that we do not need a quota system? I was appalled at a recent validation workshop for a study conducted by UTG Consultancy on ‘Elections and Diversity Management.’ The introduction of the quota system became a debate. One of the consultants had the qualm to say that despite findings he was personally against the quota system. I actually questioned his impartiality if he was so against the concept, whether it will not affect the final input in the report. I was more furious with sentiments expressed by political parties present as well as members of the National Assembly that there is a level playing ground for women to stand for elective positions. The political arena is and still remains largely dominated by men.
The Constitution provides for a non-discrimination clause and further provides under Section 28 that:
(1) Women shall be accorded full and equal dignity of the person with men.
(2) Women shall have the right to equal treatment with men, including equal opportunities in political, economic and social activities.
Sec 15 of the Women’s Act 2010 also provides for temporary measures in favour of women in accelerating de facto quality between men and women.
But are these provisions enough for leveling the playing field? The statistics go to show the lack of implementation and results of these provisions. It points to the fact that these provisions are not enough.
In addition, despite the country’s numerous international commitments to bridge the gender gap in the formal political arena, the figures remain gloomy. Indeed, the equality of women in public sphere remainsgreatly challenged including ascendancy into public political leadership positions.
Women and girls continue to face discrimination and violence as a result of the nature of our patriarchal societies. The socio-economic and political structures continue to serve as a barrier to women’s quality participation and representation. Women remain the majority of poor, unskilled and disadvantaged people in The Gambia.
In light of the foregoing, The Gambia needs to adopt a quota system both for the National Assembly and for political parties. This will ensure that there is fairer representation of women in elective positions including the National Assembly and the Local Area Councils as well as compel political parties to nominate women.
For example, some African countries have attained the 33 per cent threshold for women’s representation in decision making. In particular, Rwanda became the leading country in the region and the world in terms of gender parity, with currently 46 per cent women parliamentary representation. Our neighbouring country Senegal has a legislated candidate quotas system resulting to 43 per cent of women in the National Assembly while 40 per cent in the Senate on a reserved seats type of quota.
Second, what can the women rights organisations do better? There is indeed a lack of cohesion between women’s organisations. They need to make an effort to take specific measures to become a unified voice. Investing and empowering young women might perhaps be a potentially transformative signpost of the future.
In addition, we need to tackle our perception of women’s participation in politics. The argument that women do not want to assume elective positions or participate in politics regardless of the conducive environment, does not hold water. That it goes against African - Gambian or increasingly our culture- as if culture is static, not dynamic and evolving. Gambian women’s treatment as second class citizens is not fair.
We believe it’s time that women say enough is enough. We need to change our modes of thinking, perception and more importantly our human regard .Enough with the subordinate positions, enough with the dancing, singing and cooking. These are the roles assigned and undertaken by majority of women in majority of political parties. There is no way I can reconcile our current social status with the idea of fairness.
We cannot all, and for much longer, evade the call for change. Good governance requires changes that will strengthen the accountability of political leaders to the people, ensure respect for human rights, and strengthen the rule of law.
We need to have more women in Parliament, Local Area Councils and at all decision making levels.A true democracy is characterized by the full and equal participation of women and men in the formulation and implementation of decisions in all spheres of public life. No country can call itself democratic if half of the population is excluded from the decision-making processes
Your Sincerely,
Satang NABANEH"
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Edited by - kobo on 22 Mar 2013 15:24:19 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
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