Sisters Awa and Ndey,
I read your your piece captioned "Intergenerational Dialogue Between Two
Women", and I must commend you a for a thoughtful piece.
Ndey told me, in advance, to look forward to reading the article, and
needless to say when it did come, it was, as expected, quite pensive. Again,
thanks for a useful posting and keep it up.
Let me now make the following comments. I'll try to be brief:
First, on the positive side: it is very encouraging to observe that unlike
before, issues affecting women are now being discussed with more vigour and
openness.
In fact, what is even more encouraging is the fact that nowadays women
themselves are in the forefront of serious and frank debates on gender
concerns such as sexual harassment, violence against women, female Genital
Mutilation (FGM) etc, in a bid to improve their conditions.
The 1990s have seen more and more Women's Associations/Bodies being formed
to advance women's rights in Africa. Today, many universities in Africa, and
outside Africa, are teaching gender studies and in fact spending more funds
on research aimed at improving the conditions of our women.
This is very refreshing, and, in fact, we should not under estimate the
valuable role played by Gambian women in the struggle to advance the cause
of the African woman.
As a reporter on the then Gambia Weekly newspaper, I had the opportunity to
cover many meetings/workshops on issues affecting women, and I aware of the
effective role played by the Mary Langleys, the Saffiatou Singhatehs, the
Mrs Ralphida Almeddas, the Lena Mangas, the Isatou Njie-Saidys and many more
in this struggle.
For now, the Internet has also helped in bringing our women together/closer.
Women are now, more than before, networking with each other - discussing
issues that concern them and trying to come up with solutions to their
enormous problems.
In fact, owing to their own energetic efforts to organise themselves and
articulate their concerns, women's contributions in the economy, in the
household etc, are now being acknowledged by the powers that be. Again, the
signs are encouraging.
However, as Awa and Ndey rightly pointed out, "women have a long way before
to go" before getting there. The Africa woman continues to face countless
obstacles each day.
In the Gambia, and in many parts of the world, especially in developing
countries, there still exist customs, beliefs and attitudes that continue to
confine the women mostly to the domestic sphere.
Women in the Gambia, like women in other developing countries, continue to
carry a heavy burden of work, as pointed out by Awa and Ndey. In fact, women
in rural Gambia, according to one survey I saw this morning, contribute
about 70 per cent of Agricultural labour.
Many of them are said to work as much as 15 hours per day at peak times in
the Agricultural season. Interestingly, or should I say sadly though, women
are over-represented among the poor, and yet we do know, for a fact, that
women, from day one, have been economically active, particularly in
agricultural production and crop processing.
Who can deny the fact that our women are the backbone of the rural economy
in much of Sub-Saharan Africa?
Anyway, let me share with you some griming statistics I have come across
this morning: That worldwide, more than 100 million girls and women alive
are victims of some form of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
In some countries, FGM is even performed on girls as young as 3, of course,
without their consent. In Africa, it is estimated that each year about 2
million girls are subjected to Female Genital Mutilation: one child every
five minutes.
Of this shocking number, 15 per cent will die as a result of this age-old
custom, according to one survey. Those who survive, the survey went on, will
suffer for years with chronic pain and infections, hemorrhaging, bladder,
urinary and kidney disorders, extreme complications during pregnancy etc.
It is also reported that in Africa, an estimated 2 million women/girls
already have got, or suffer from, Vesico-Vaginal Fistulae (VVF), with some
50,000 to 100,000 new cases occurring annually.
For those of you who do not know, VVF is one of the two notable health
problems associated with early pregnancy.
Statistics also have it that over half of the estimated 20 million cases of
HIV in Africa are FEMALE. Also, the majority of the estimated 8.1 million
refugees, displaced persons and post-conflict returnees in Africa in 1997
were women and children.
Furthermore, about 50 per cent of women in Africa are married by 18, and one
in three women is in a polygamous marriage. In 1995, estimates of total
fertility rates in Africa were 5.7 children per woman, I have discovered.
The high fertility is said to arise from the economic value of children and
also low levels of contraceptive use. According to the UNDP, women are
two-thirds less likely than men to get waged employment, while only 3 out of
10 women in the labour force in sub-Saharan Africa are paid employees.
Lack of access to formal education and training has been identified as a
major constraint to women's employment and advancement in society.
In Africa, we are told by surveys, female illiteracy rates were over 60 per
cent in 1996, compared to 41 per cent for men.
In fact, I was surprised to have found out that a country like Sierra Leone,
which takes pride in having one of the first Universities in Africa (FOURAH
BAY COLLEGE), has a very high female illiteracy rate: 88.7 per cent.
Maternal and infant mortality remain high. In fact, up to 40 per cent of
pregnant women in many countries in Africa have "no access to antenatal
care."
I was also surprised to have discovered that the average female
representation in Parliaments in Africa is less than 8 per cent and, in
fact, many of the women are nominated, not elected.
Throughout the whole of Africa, it is only in Seychelles and South Africa
that you have more than 25 per cent of the elected Members of Parliament
being women.
Anyway, enough about figures and statistics. The question to be asked really
is: What is the way forward for our women, as we are about to enter a new
millennium?
Well, in my view, the immediate task would be to try and remove those
social, economic and legal constraints that hamper the advancement of the
woman.
Improving women's access to education and health services, tackling that
menace they call poverty and advancing women's legal and human rights rights
should be the task of all just men and women who sincerely believe in the
advancement the woman.
It is very clear that POVERTY has forced girls as young as 12 into
prostitution. So combating should be uppermost in our minds, as we enter the
new millennium.
We should also encourage our women to go into active politics. In my view,
we need to see more women in decision making positions, so that they can
help initiate policies that would improve their conditions.
In short, women empowerment should be high on the agenda, as we enter the
new millennium. The African woman, in my view, must be truly empowered in
the 21ST century, so that she will finally assume control over her
sexuality, become socialized in a gender neutral way, attain economic and
intellectual parity and representation with men.
The issue of Female Genital Mutilation also needs to be more vigorously
debated. Do we need to promulgate a new law making FGM a criminal offence?
Or do we have to leave it to the girl to decide for herself when she
reaches, say, 18 years?
We should also revisit the reasons advanced for the practice of FGM and
debate whether they are good reasons or not. The main reason given for FGM,
we should remind ourselves, is that it curbs women's propensity towards
promiscuity. But, scientifically, can this be proven? These are some of the
questions we, meaning both men and women, should be asking ourselves more
frequently in the new millennium.
Beliefs and customs that are found to be myth must be discarded and
traditions that are harmless must be protected and retained.
Sensitivity, I must warn here, is needed when dealing with those social and
cultural barriers that inhibit women's advancement in our society.
In order to advance the cause of our women in the new millennium, our women
must not only target their men, but also their fellow women. I say this
because it is an open secret that it is women themselves who, most of the
time, defend these harmful practices very strongly.
Ndey, by the way, I read your piece on the issue of healing, as raised Dr
Saine, and it was a brilliant one. Keep it up and give us more. I always
enjoy reading your very good contributions.
Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK.
Fatou Jaw Manneh, what is wrong with your fingers? Pleassssssssssssssssssse
do some writing for us!
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