Women rights still a far cry in Africa

If women’s rights were to be measured by the number of laws and policies so far initiated towards that specific goal in Africa, then African women would be the most liberated on earth!

The reality, however, is far from this. Policy makers at high levels in the continent continue to put women’s rights on the agenda but with negligible or hardly any positive impact.

Africa prides itself on having strong and progressive policy frameworks on women’s rights. Africa has the gender equality principle in the AU’s Constitutive Act of 2002, the AU Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa of 2003 (Maputo Protocol), the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa of 2004 and the Maputo Plan of Action on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

Africa Union member states are also signatories or party to almost all the international frameworks on women’s rights, including the extremely progressive Commission on Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the annual global International Conference on Population Development ICPD declarations and plan of action.

There is no doubt that having progressive legislation and national policies are a move in the right direction towards realisation of women and girls’ rights.

But merely having the policies on paper without breathing life into them and actualising their implementation is inadequate. Ms Yasmeen Hassan, the global Executive Director, EQUALITY NOW summarises the importance of having and practicing the right laws and policies thus; “The law is a statement of your worth by your government.

Laws that treat men and women, girls and boys unequally relegate women and girls to a lower status in society. Failure to outlaw practices that harm women and girls leaves them with no recourse for violations against them. The law is the way to hold your government accountable for your protection.”

According to a fact-sheet by international organisation Guttmacher.org, it is estimated that 56 million induced abortions occurred each year worldwide between 2010 and 2014. The overall abortion rate in Africa was 34 per 1,000 women in 2010–2014. Sub-regional rates ranged from 31 in Western Africa to 38 in Northern Africa.

There has been little if any change in abortion rates in these sub-regions since 1990–1994. Research also shows that almost all abortion-related deaths occurred in developing countries, with the highest number occurring in Africa. There are specific international and regional women’s rights instruments that specifically call for medically necessary safe abortions.

These include the ICPD Program of Action in 1994, Beijing Women’s Conference Platform for Action 1995, our own home grown instrument- the Maputo Protocol of 2005. Article 14 of the Maputo Protocol is clear on the rights to safe abortions on cases of sexual assault, rape, incest and when the pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life of the mother or the foetus.

This is in itself a classical case of having good laws and policies but which are however almost “useless” when it comes to actually guaranteeing this right to the woman. In January 2016, during the AU Summit, African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) called for the decriminalization of abortion across Africa.

However, due to stigma, even countries that have adopted national laws to legalize abortion are still faced by cases of unsafely procured and botched abortions. On an encouraging note though, and largely because of ambitions policy frameworks that are becoming entrenched in the systems of various governments, infant and maternal mortality rates have decreased for women and children in the region falling by 37 per cent and 42 per cent respectively since 1990 according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

However this does not mean that African countries may now relax on delivering rights and protection to women. Infarct, with the glaring gender gaps in economic, political and social platforms much more still needs to be done.

Women and girls in Africa are unaware, disempowered or denied opportunity to access economic, political, social and cultural rights. Women are exposed to gender based violence (GBV), harmful traditional and religious practices, denied right to employment in a favourable and just condition, right to food, housing and quality healthcare as well as social security and employment benefits.

Women further lack access to and ownership and equitable benefit of resources such as land and other means of production that is necessary for sustainable development.

It is therefore time for African governments to put actions where promises are and fulfill the urgent need for respect and total rights for women in Africa.

Ms Musindarwezo is the Executive Director, African Women & Communications Network, FEMNET.