Emmanuel Kendemeh
29 October 2009
The third conference of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP)Africa Region kicked off in Yaounde yesterday.
Members of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP), Africa Region yesterday, October 28 in Yaounde, began working out strategies to increase the number of women holding decision making positions in the Commonwealth structures and in their countries. The women are equally demanding the ratification of various conventions that help the development of women, the eradication of harmful cultural and traditional practices against women and the putting in place of policies that improve the lives of the people. The CWP is a sub-structure of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), established in 1989 in Barbados as a platform for articulating and addressing issues of concern to women and to provide opportunity for the female members of the CPA and other stakeholders to meet from time to time in order to share experiences, exchange ideas, offer solutions to the numerous challenges confronting women.
The women parliamentarians who are meeting at the National Assembly, are reflecting on the main theme, "Pursuing the Gender Agenda". Sub-themes include women and the burden of care giving, best practices on constitutional reforms and other strategies to entrench the gender agenda, and a study on harmful, traditional, cultural and religious practices with focus on problems facing the CWP branches.
The Speaker of Cameroon's National Assembly, Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Djibril who presided at the opening ceremony of the conference, said the holding of the CWP conference in Yaounde was an honour to Cameroon, stating that the main theme focused on gender equality was topical as women play a key role in the developing world. The House Speaker said Parliament was working together with government and the civil society to ensure gender equality, and encouraged women parliamentarians and other women in key positions to work hard in promoting the progress of women.
Hon. Tonye Harry, President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Africa Region who is the Speaker of the River State House of Assembly, Nigeria, in his address said the gender agenda must be understood in all its ramifications in order to be handled properly. Stating that the "progress for women was the progress for all", he said women should form partnerships with men in the pursuit of the gender equality struggle.
The Vice chair of CWP Africa Region, Hon. Gifty E.Kusi on behalf of the chairperson reiterated that women parliamentarians must work to better the lot of their people and said, "we want to promise that as we have worked together for the past three years with progress and success as our banner, we will continue to see each other as sisters and tap each others experience to train and enrich ourselves to bring the needed change in our individual societies".
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Cameroon Tribune. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
