Equality Drive Launched by African Women Leaders at Landmark Conference
Almost 400 women leaders from 15 African countries joined the UN-backed three-day conference, which opened on Monday, including former and current presidents.
The goal is to advance progress, tackle pressing concerns and find sustainable solutions to issues affecting women and girls in South Sudan and across Africa.
The conference’s theme is GuwaTaMara, meaning the strength of women. During the meeting, speakers agreed that challenges persist in the areas of leadership and governance, climate change, economic challenges, access to education, and gender-based violence.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit stated: The protection of women’s rights is important to us in Government.
She added: Our country cannot afford gender-based violence, as it hinders peace and development. Let us keep working towards a better day for women and girls.
As the 2018 peace agreement enters its final phase, he said the Government will work hard to address the challenges women face and to empower them across the country. Ongoing efforts include providing women with opportunities to develop their skills to better compete in the labor market.
The Government had already increased the percentage of women’s representation from 25% to 35%, given the challenges of insecurity and lack of power they face.
President Kiir shared: While we have not fully met this quota, we will work to fulfill it and allow women to compete for the remaining 65%.
Women’s participation in African parliaments has doubled in the last decades, but more must be done, said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, in a video statement to the conference.
Yet, the challenges in South Sudan remain daunting. A top priority is to increase women’s representation in political and security institutions to meet and exceed the 35% target set in the 2018 peace agreement, which ended a five-year-long civil war that killed or displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
Discussions will also focus on preparations for the country’s first elections as a sovereign state, due to be held in December 2024.
