Addis Ababa — The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan has decried the condition of African women and urged them to jettison bonds that bind them to servitude.
Speaking at the Conference entitled 'African Women in Development: Investing in Our Future', staged to coincide with the 40th Anniversary of the Economic Commission in Africa, Annan said the many conflicts that have occurred on the African continent in the recent past disproportionately affected women and it was therefore crucial that African women be involved in peace and reconciliation efforts for sustainable peace.
In spite of the unfavorable conditions under which women labour, Mr. Annan pointed out that they had surmounted great obstacles -- including systematic discrimination in access to economic resources and gross sexual and other violations -- to contribute to their societies and to chart new visions.
"Women have charted new visions and directions for peace and economic prosperity in Africa, helping societies to adapt to change, and propelling societies through difficult times," he observed. Mr. Annan urged the African continent to let go of violence, conflict and discrimination against women to help Africa's renaissance, which is underway.
Mr. Annan was delivering the keynote address at a UN Plenary on the subject "Post-Beijing - the UN and the Advancement of Women in Africa".
Some 800 delegates - a mixture including African policy makers, civil society representatives, UN agency experts and bilateral partner heads - - are attending the five-day conference.
Earlier in the day, 22 working groups summarized their findings on the four conference themes:
* developing African economies - the role of women; * achieving good governance - the essential participation of women; * African women and the information age - a rare opportunity; and * creating opportunities for Africa's new generation.
The groups challenged African countries to develop and monitor gender sensitive economic policies by disaggregating data according to gender, as well as keeping systematic and useful records on the informal sector. They called for policies that would promote and protect women's access to and ownership of land, and facilitate of women's access to markets, regional trade and scaling up women's enterprise.
On good governance, the working groups identified cultural, religious and traditional practices, attitudes, political will, contradictions and gaps in law, and power relations as hindrances to women's full participation in governance of their societies. They called for the establishment of concrete and consistent indicators to monitor progress by the various African countries in redressing the situation.
The groups also called on African governments and policy makers to integrate gender issues in Information technology policies. One group, dealing with creating opportunities for Africa's new generation, called for formal and informal education and school programmes that would promote gender equality, adoption of innovative mechanisms for creating
favorable environment for equal access to jobs for boys and girls, sensitization and mobilization of media and new communication technologies for promotion of change and social attitudes and perceptions regarding gender disparities and equal access for girls and boys to information technology.
A session on Partnership Frameworks discussed the working group recommendations in detail, and added meat to the bones of strategic outcomes of the Conference.
Before delivering the keynote address to the conference, Mr. Annan inaugurated the new United Nations Conference Centre -- jointly with Ethiopian President Negasso Gidada.
The Conference ends tomorrow with a Forum of Heads of State and Government, in which Mr. Annan will participate. The Forum, consisting of a dialogue between leaders and a selection of African women, will involve the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, President of Botswana, and Vice- presidents of Ghana and Uganda.
On Saturday 2 May, the Secretary-General will travel to Djibouti, on the second leg of an 11-day tour of eastern African countries that will also take him to Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Eritrea.
30 April.
For more information, please visit the Conference Home Page at: http://www.un.org/depts/eca/eca40th/index.htm; Send an e-mail message to: eca40th@un.org or ecainfo@un.org
Write to: Conference Secretariat Economic Commission for Africa, P.O. Box 3001, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Phone: +251-1-51 89 19 (direct) +251-1- 51 72 00 Ext. 33700/33702 Fax: +251-1-51 22 33
