The Special Envoy for women, peace and security at the African Union (AU), who has been promoting women empowerment in politics for the past several years, says progress not satisfactory.
Though there are some progresses in some African countries like Senegal, Africa is far from empowering its women, according to Ms. Bineta Diop, AU Special envoy women, peace and security.
“It was not a gift, it was achieved through our struggle,” she said, mentioning the active involvement of women in her country’s politics –Senegal – as one of the success stories.
“I would love to see more… I wanted to see real action on the ground… We have to make sure that women are part and parcel of the political decision makers. We are not there yet. The glass is half full,” she said at a press conference in Addis Ababa at the sidelines of African Women Leaders Network 2nd Women Leaders Forum for Africa’s Transformation opened on Tuesday at the African Union HQ.
The Network was launched following a three-day “High-Level Women Leaders Forum for Africa’s Transformation” at the UN headquarters at the end of May 2017. The forum was organized by the African Union and UN Women with the support of the German government.
The Network aims to harness the wealth of African women’s experience of leadership, build on other existing and emerging networks of women leaders by developing partnerships that strengthens the capacity of women.
Appointed by the African Union as Special Envoy for women in January 2014, Bineta Diop is the Founder and President of Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), an international NGO) that seeks to foster, strengthen and promote the leadership role of women in conflict prevention, management and resolution in Africa.
It is a must for Africa to bring its women in leadership position to meet its ambitious Agenda 2063 and advance the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals, according to Madam Diop.
Commenting on the positive development in Africa’s journey of women empowerment, Madam Diop stated that the number of African leaders who had clear laws and strategies for women empowerment has reached 23 today from 15 countries when she was appointed.
Ms. Brita Wagner, German Ambassador to Ethiopia who also attended the press briefing this afternoon stated that Germany is keen to share its experience to Africa in areas of women in empowerment. “German has been engaged in women issue for long. We want to support the women of Africa in this regard,” she said, indicating that the fact that girls see women like German’s Chancellor Angela Merkel coming to power encourages them to be involved in politics.