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FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)

Gambia: The Country And Women's Struggle

Amie Sillah

1 April 2008

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opinion

My Background

I am a trained public health officer. I have served the length and breadth of my country. Prior in my secondary school days I was a right fighter and fierce debater for Women's Rights. My family established a Nursery School since 1985 where children at 7 years can describe simple anatomy and physiology and can describe the human organs in simple English. They know the 53 states in Africa and their capitals. Children are taught gender relationship at this tender age to bring harmony into society. I am responsible for the Marriage and Family Life Column in the Foroyaa Tri weekly Newspaper re I entertain and educate couples to live meaningful lives in an African Cultural Setting. My stories are based on real life experiences. I am married to Mr. Sam Sarr, Managing Editor of the Foroyaa Newspaper. We are blessed with three kids, 2 sons and a daughter. The first son is an Engineer at the airport, the last son is studying IT systems in the U.S. The eldest daughter is a nurse and is married.

I have traveled widely to Africa, Europe, Asia and America. I have been attending the UN Commission on the status of Women since 2005. I have recently returned after attending the 52nd Edition of the CWS. Myself and Dr. Isatou Touray prepared the Gambia Report Beijing +10 the NGO perspective.

I believe in Women Solidarity that is our common ground. But I also recognized our differences, specificities, and our divergences. I believe we have to forge partnership with boys and men to change our country, Africa and the world. Together we can make a change that we can believe in.

Women On The Move History Of The Women Movement

"Women Have Always Held Up Half The Sky!"

Women have struggle for personal identity beyond being treated as property, slaves or sexual objects. The modern western industrial revolution and suffrage movements created movement for women's civil and legal rights.

1975: Mexico City, first World Conference on women. A plan for Action.

The participation of 100 nations recognized the potential and ideal status of women in society. It named obstacles to obtaining equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities for women. UN Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace

1976: The decade defined objectives of the women's movements: Equality, Development and Peace.

1980: Copenhagen, Second World Conference on Women: A Program for Action

Copenhagen interpreted equality beyond the legal definitions of equal rights responsibilities and opportunities to include the participation of women in development, both as beneficiaries and as active agents.

1985: Nairobi, Third World Conference on Women: Forward-Looking Strategies for Women (FLS)

Nairobi was characterized by challenges to mainstream development and was more inclusive of participation from the Global South.

1990: 5-year review of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies: Global momentum was seen to be slowing and the need for urgent action was expressed and affirmed. A re-awakening!

1995: Beijing, , Fourth World Conference On Women: Beijing Platform For Action (BPFA) 40,000 women from all over the World participated, providing voice and visibility to the political power of women, and illustrating the importance of the women's agenda to the wellbeing of the world.

2000: Beijing Plus Five (B+5): Special Session of the General Assembly (SSGA) An outcomes document listed the achievements for the advancement of women during the previous 5 years. It identified obstacles and current challenges to the process, and strengthened the BPFA by focusing action and addressing new issues.

2005: Beijing 10 (B+10)

A celebratory review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform and the outcomes document of the 23rd SSGA also looked current challenges and forward looking strategies since the SSGA.

2008: CSW52

Our Moment Is Now!!

World Conferences On Women

Mexico City 1975

The first UN Conference on Women Coincided with the international Women's Year and served to remind the international community that discrimination against women continued to be persistent problem in much of the world. The flowing goals were established.

· Full gender equality and the elimination of gender discrimination

· The integration and full participation of women in development

· An increased contribution by women in the strengthening of world peace.

A world plan of Action was adopted at the Mexico City Conference. This document offered guidelines for governments and the international community to follow over the next ten years to accomplish the three key objectives set by the General Assembly. The plan of Action set minimum targets to be met by 1980 that focused on securing equal access for women to resources including education, employment, opportunities, political participation, health services, housing, nutrition and family planning.

Whereas women were previously perceived as passive recipients of support and assistance, they were now viewed as full and equal partners with men, with equal right to resources and opportunities. A similar transformation was taking place in the approach to development, with a shift from an earlier belief that development served to advance women to a new consensus, that development was not possible without the full participation of women.

Copenhagen 1980

At the second UN Conference on women, it was determined that there was a discrepancy between universal legal rights and women's ability to exercise these rights. The barriers were:

Lack of sufficient involvement of men in improving women's role in society;

Insufficient political will;

Lack of recognition of the value of women's contributions to society;

Lacks of attention to the particular needs of women in planning;

Shortage of women in decision-making positions;

Insufficient services such as cooperatives, day-care centres and credit facilities to support the role of women in national life;

Overall lack of necessary financial resources;

Lack of awareness among women about the opportunities available to them

Nairobi 1985

The Third UN Conferences Sought to assess the achievements of the UN Decade for women. Although the women's movement had now become an international force unified under the banner of the "Decade for women: Equality, Development and Peace," delegates were confronted with shocking reports. Data gathered by the UN revealed that improvements in the status of women and efforts to reduce discrimination had benefited only a small minority of women. Implementation in the situation of women in the developing world had been marginal at best.

The Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies (NFLS) to the year 2000 was a blue print for improving the conditions of women through the end of century. It has broken new ground as it declared all issues to be women issues. Women's participation in decision making and the handling of all human affairs was recognized not only as their legitimate right as a social and political necessity that would have to be incorporated in all institutions of society. The NFLS established the following categories as measures for achieving equality at national levels.

· Constitutional and legal steps;

· Equality in social participation;

· Equality in political participation and decision-making;

It was now recognized that women's equality, far from being an isolated issue, encompassed every sphere of human activity. Therefore, a women's perspective, including active involvement of all issues, not only women's issues, was essential if the goals and objectives of the Decade for women were to be attained.

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