Inter Press Service - June 15, 2007
Joyce Mulama

The four-day gathering in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, took place under the theme of 'Financing Gender Equality for Development and Democracy', reflecting fears that women's rights are slipping down the development agenda.

The final communique from the meeting, which ended Thursday, noted that most of the 30 million children in Commonwealth states who are not in primary school, are girls. The group is also experiencing higher rates of HIV infection among women than men (60 percent of all those who have contracted the virus are in the Commonwealth).

In addition, just a handful of member states have reached a 30 percent representation of women in national legislatures -- the proportion that is widely seen as the threshold for women to begin influencing parliamentary affairs.

A 1997 gathering of Commonwealth leaders held in Edinburgh had pledged to achieve 30 percent representation of women in decision-making positions across the public and private sectors by 2005. Admitting that this target would not be reached, however, 'The Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005-2015' set 2015 as the new deadline to have women occupy a third of decision-making posts.

The communique appealed to governments to "provide and implement appropriate laws and policies through constitutional and legislative reforms to achieve gender balance."

Failure to do so would compromise progress, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon told IPS: "If you exclude women, you diminish democracy and reduce development. If you want more development, include women in decision-making."

Uganda has passed legislation stipulating that a third of the seats in parliament and local authorities should be occupied by women. Now, 29.8 percent of legislative seats are in female hands, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

"These milestones have promoted women's visibility and voice in decision-making processes at all levels, which is the key tenet of democratic governance," President Yoweri Museveni remarked when opening the meeting.

Neighbouring Kenya has been less successful in this regard.

"There have been several attempts towards tabling an AA (affirmative action) bill, but parliamentary committees arranging which bills are to be discussed are male-dominated," noted Alicen Chelaite -- the East African country's assistant minister for gender, sports, culture and social services. As a result, she added, efforts to promote women's political participation through legal means have effectively been shelved.

"We have suffered because of the attitude Kenyans have to gender inequalities," Chelaite told IPS.

IPU figures indicate women account for just 7.3 percent of legislators in Kenya.

Mozambique is one of the best performing Commonwealth members as far as women's legislative representation is concerned. The IPU notes that 34.8 percent of seats in this Southern African nation are occupied by women.

In South Africa, 32.8 percent of permanent seats in the lower house of parliament -- and 33.3 percent of seats in the upper house -- are held by women.

The ministers also noted that women could only advance politically if properly funded, emphasising in their communique "the critical importance of providing financing and voter education, in particular, for women, in order to promote and achieve inclusive democracy and good governance."

Ssentongo Theopista Nabulya, a Ugandan member of parliament and a unionist, agrees.

"Politics needs money: the electorate needs money in hand-outs, and campaign teams need to be paid. Because women do not have access to resources, they are losing out. Even women who are capable of being good leaders have retreated because they have no funds," she noted.

"I used my salary (to campaign) and since it was not enough I was forced to take loans which I am now repaying."

Mozambican Prime Minister Luisa Dias Diogo said her government had addressed this issue by providing political parties with campaign funds that were available to female candidates.

"Even though AA is key to having women's representation at all levels, there must be a state budget to finance women interested in politics so that they can campaign for elections as do their male counterparts," she told IPS.

Nabulya is hopeful that a law soon to be tabled in parliament will allow Ugandan officials to finance political parties, but less optimistic about women being assured funding under this legislation: "We are not sure the parties will allocate resources to women, because they are headed by men."

Delegates also called for increased financing to achieve gender equality in other areas, noting that it was important to track this money.

Amongst the additional points raised in the communique were the need to help women gain access to markets, to bolster HIV/AIDS programmes to address women's greater vulnerability to the pandemic -- and to include men and boys in programmes to improve the situation of women.

The next meeting of Commonwealth women's affairs ministers is to be held in Barbados.

However, issues raised over the past week are likely to be aired again before that, at the upcoming bi-annual Commonwealth heads of government summit. This gathering will also be held in Kampala, in November.

"Countries that have not achieved tangible results in this area (gender equality) will be named and shamed. Policies must be made to ensure women come on board," Lindiwe Maseko, chairwoman of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, told IPS.

Over 30 of the Commonwealth's 53 members attended 8WAMM.

The Commonwealth brings together states from all parts of the world, most of them former British colonies. Its goals include promoting good governance and economic development in member countries.

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