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Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, recently began a second term. During her first term, she drew attention to women's issues globally, prompting some countries to change the laws on gender discrimination. In this interview with Kingsley Ighobor of Africa Renewal, Mlambo-Ngcuka discusses her vision and the obstacles facing African women
What were the main achievements and challenges of your first term?
Over the past four years We have been striving to encourage countries to legislate and adopt standards that reinforce gender equality. Every year, we contribute to the adoption of laws against domestic violence or criminalize rape in more than 60 countries, and when these violations are tolerated or not. countries in difficulty to amend or repeal these laws. We still have about 150 countries with discriminatory legislation against women. We built trust between governments and ourselves [UN Women] as an honest broker. Of course, we could make more resources
Are there any African countries that have reduced or eliminated discriminatory gender laws?
Yes, we are proud of Malawi for passing a law that changed the age of marriage [to at least 18 years] child marriage. In Kenya, there are legal and electoral reforms that allow greater participation of women in politics. Egypt has passed laws to facilitate women's participation in local government, and we have seen an exponential number of women running for office and winning elections.
What are you paying attention to?
Implementation of laws. Since Beijing [the World Conference on Women, 1995] countries have adopted laws that deal with gender inequality, the impact has not been significant due to poor implementation and, as a result, standards and traditions to which laws refer have not changed. Over the past two years, we have worked with traditional leaders and the religious community at the local level to change the norms. We are also working with men and boys as stakeholders and actors in changing discriminatory norms and practices.
What do you mean by discriminatory standards and practices?
For example, people will say, "We believe in human rights, but we have our traditions. But community leaders help solve these problems. In Zambia, for example, there is a chief who, after the government passed a law to raise the age of marriage to 18, brought the age of marriage to 21 in his district. He says at 18, a girl is supposed to go to college, not to get married. In Uganda, the president stressed the importance of girls' education in the fight against child marriage. Uganda has enacted a related law and is working on community initiatives to make the law a success. The country is promoting women's economic empowerment so that poverty is not an accelerator of child marriage.
Are people reluctant to change ancestral practices?
In fact, it's not so bad. But we invest in local communities so that our organization does not have to be there all the time. In Malawi, a female chief, Theresa Kachindamoto, with whom we had established a very good working relationship, ended a total of 2,549 child marriages since 2004, which cost some underprivileged leaders.
Our job is the empowerment of women. We have formed the African Women Leaders Network, which provides leadership that has a foundation and leadership that works for the needs of this constituency. We want to see grassroots women in Africa come together on issues that matter to them, such as ending child marriage.
The end of the game is to have people able to fend for themselves or with the UN. support system. No country in the world has reached gender equality or a robust democracy without the women's movement, without civil society, without a certain degree of feminist thought.
What is the situation of women in the world? conflict zones in Africa?
is bad. In South Sudan, the level of violence against women is heartbreaking. Women in the camps are raped by law enforcement and security personnel who are supposed to protect them, by men living in the camps and sometimes by their own families. If they go out of the camps, they risk being kidnapped and raped. The authors target women to punish their opponents. We have the same tendency in the Central African Republic, where, because of religious or political conflicts or general anarchy, women bear the brunt of the humiliation and suffering that accompany the war. In Sudan, things are not perfect. In Burundi, there are problems. But we must also say that women in these places are fighting. The women of South Sudan are standing up. Women in Burundi play an important role in conflict prevention by being community mediators. In Somalia, women are organizing to increase their participation in parliament.
A recent study shows that when women are actively involved in conflict resolution, peace is sustainable.
When you negotiate peace and women are negotiated negotiators of negotiated peace is better. Women sit at the table not to settle accounts, but to seek true reconciliation. Women want the reconstruction to be about the healing clinics, the schools that teach, the agriculture that feeds the village, and so on. They want reparations that benefit the community. For peace to be sustainable, it must be inclusive. Women represent at least 50% of the population in most countries, they are the most affected by conflict and must have the opportunity to assert their needs and priorities and have them appropriately captured and represented in the negotiations. of peace.
Women have played a major role in the establishment and maintenance of peace, and they have never demobilized as peace activists. If you look at post-conflict South Africa, women have played an important role in the end of apartheid, in negotiations, in the constitution – and have checked many critical boxes to support democracy. We have seen it to some extent in Mozambique and Namibia.
Yes, in Rwanda and, although not a country emerging from a conflict, Ghana too.
In addition to Rwanda, where women constitute 64% of parliamentarians, the goal of parity in political representation is far from being achieved in Africa.
Compared to other parts of the world, Africa is doing better. South Africa is above the global average of women's level of political participation. There are more countries in Africa with greater representation of women than you will find even in countries without conflict and which are much richer. But we should not be satisfied, because our best is not good enough.
Why is the focus on women living in rural areas recently?
If there is anyone left, it is women and girls in rural areas. We want to bring those who are at the back of the line to the front of the line. We put their critical issues at the top of the list, look at different solutions, share and share best practices
How does poverty in rural areas affect child marriage?
Because poverty is higher in rural areas. areas face a higher risk of forced and early marriage. It is important for us to break with child marriage in rural areas, where traditional authority and cultural practices are still strong.
Is there hope for young women in terms of economic empowerment and political participation? [Commission on the Status of Women] for youth, which generates recommendations and ideas that are taken at the main CSW. We are also ensuring that the CSW begins to engage youth in addressing gender-based norms so that they are not imbued with the traditions of the generations that preceded them.
The UN Secretary-General recently said gender parity was reached in UN senior management. What can the African Union learn from this?
Determination and direction by the front. The pace at which women have been recruited at the UN has a lot to do with the determination of the Secretary General who used his authority and power to make appointments. He had to assert, do not take no for an answer.
Women earn 30% less than men in Africa. Is this a problem for you?
Yes. We work in partnership with the ILO [International Labour Organisation] and civil society to promote equal pay. We want to see a breakthrough much earlier than 2030. It's one of the biggest but simplest campaigns: everyone understands the difference between a big paycheck and a small paycheck. Political leaders and leaders of organizations must express themselves and have policies that ensure that women and men are paid equally
What is your vision of African women?
The African woman is a pillar of the family and society. African women have leadership qualities. They take care of their communities. I would like to see more women heads of state in Africa.
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