United Democratic Party has said that it has been fighting for the empowerment of Gambian women spanning over two decades, leading to the celebration of the election of the country’s first female capital city mayor.
The Gambia on Sunday joined the rest of the world to mark International Women’s Day – a day singled out to celebrate women over their achievement in various spheres of human life.
UDP said in a statement on the occasion: “For nearly a quarter of a century, the United Democratic Party has been fighting for women empowerment, gender parity and inclusion of youths and marginalized groups and individuals in the political sphere of the nation. That is why we celebrated the election of Rohey Malick Lowe in 2018 as the first female elected Mayor of the Capital City of the Gambia.
“For the UDP women have always taken the lead, in 2016 when the UDP leaders were arrested and imprisoned following the tragic death in detention of Solo Sandeng, it was the Deputy Secretary General & Party Leader–Aji Mariam B. Secka, the rest of the Executive Committee Members and Women Wing that kept the UDP united. The Deputy Party Leader chaperoned the UDP through the coalition building process that led to the erstwhile Deputy Treasurer and Flag Bearer of the UDP, Mr. Adama Barrow to emerge as the Flagbearer for Coalition 2016.
“This year marks the silver jubilee of the Beijing Declaration which was made when the world came together in Beijing in 1995 for the landmark Fourth UN World Conference on Women, which adopted a far-reaching platform for action for the emancipation of women. That was a historic moment that changed the global struggle for women’s rights and gender equality. But the question we must now ask is what progress have we made in the last 25 years?
“As we celebrated International Women’s Day yesterday, we had to reflect on whether the lives of the women of the world have improved. Are we closer to ending patriarchy and achieving gender equality? Here in The Gambia, progress has been slow and uneven.
“We have made some advances in improving the lives of Gambian women in the social and economic spheres. We have implemented policies and programmes to give practical expression to the rights of women and girls to education, to reproductive health care, to basic services, and to social support. We have several gender-responsive laws around reproductive health, access to justice, customary law. But vast discrepancies exist between the protection these laws offer and what women experience.
“In the Gambia, as in many other parts of the world, women continue to bear the brunt of poverty and unemployment. They are less likely to own a business, less likely to be employed, less likely to be promoted. While the representation of women in the public service has been increasing steadily over the last 25 years, we have not seen similar progress in elected offices, executive positions in business or academia.
“There are some areas where we have gone backwards; for example, nearly all CEOs MDs & Directors-General in the Gambia Government are men. This highlights the fact that there is still a long way ahead, and that the gains we make can be undone unless we are vigilant and focused.
“As the UDP prepares for Congress 2020, we placed the empowerment women firmly on the agenda of our Party renewal process. In particular, UDP will dedicate this year to advocate for the economic and financial inclusion of Gambian women businesses and encourage the State to reduce barriers to entry for women-owned businesses. UDP will work to ensure that women benefit from the opportunities that will be created by the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, which comes into operation this year.
“UDP believes that economic inclusion is essential not only for advancing gender equality, but in fundamentally changing the living conditions of women. It enables them to take greater control over their lives. It also makes them less vulnerable to violence, abuse and exploitation.
“UDP firmly believes that the empowerment of women also means that we need to end all forms of violence perpetrated by men against women. UDP is urging the Gambia Government to ratify the ILO Convention on Violence and Harassment in the Workplace, to work to repeal discriminatory laws within two years, and standardise responses to gender-based violence.
“UDP will be advocating for this silver jubilee of the Beijing Declaration to consolidate the work of the Party around gender-mainstreaming and urgently address deficiencies and shortcomings in respect of political participation of women. We must address with equal vigour the issue of economic opportunities for women. We must strengthen existing mechanisms and frameworks to support women in economic activity and ensure that new pathways are opened up.
“UDP firmly believes that Gambian women must be liberated from the shackles of patriarchy and domination, but most of all, Gambian Women must be given the means to improve their material condition. It is only when women have their own means, when they can earn their own income, when they have assets to call their own, when they have skills and capabilities, then they are able to fully control their destinies.
“When we empower women in our society, what we are in effect doing, is to raise incomes and standards of living, alleviate poverty and build more stable communities. By unleashing the economic potential of women, we are unleashing the potential of our economies to grow and benefit all.
“Finally, UDP believes that investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. Women make enormous contributions to economies, whether in businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees or by doing unpaid care work at home. We need to ensure that they realise the full benefit of their contributions.
“An entire generation has been born and grown to adulthood since the Beijing conference 25 years ago. We cannot wait another quarter century before we achieve gender equality. Let us make this the generation that achieves equality, empowerment and emancipation.”
