Kwamboka Oyaro
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 13 2007 (IPS) – The challenges confronting women politicians in Africa were given an airing recently during a press conference in South Africa #39s commercial hub, Johannesburg.
Four politicians from Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and Lesotho fielded questions Nov. 28 by reporters from South Africa and other African states, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The politicians were in South Africa at the invitation of Inter Press Service (IPS) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women for a three-day workshop with journalists.
The briefing was told many women have the desire to enter public office, but that various factors prevent them from realising this goal.
Women are interested in leading, but politics has become big business in Africa and women don #39t have such enormous resources to compete effectively, said Akua Dansua, a member of parliament for the North Dayi constituency in Ghana.
The number of women trying for elective posts in Africa is growing.
During the 2002 general elections in Kenya, for instance, 44 women contested the polls, while over 100 are on the ballot for this month #39s vote.
However, tradition and culture prevent still more women from standing, explained Dansua.
These factors continue to play a role even when women are in office. Those who manage to be elected are often appointed to ministries viewed as dealing with soft issues matters not at the top of the governmental agenda such as women #39s and youth affairs. This furthers the perception that women don #39t have the ability to be in power, said Marie Helene Ngoa, mayor of the Akono district in Cameroon.
Women may not always be able to rely on other women when seeking election.
Both men and women are more comfortable with male leaders because they have been socialised to believe that men are the strong ones the leaders while men ride on women #39s backs to get to parliament, and once there they forget us, said Dansua.
Nonetheless, noted Pamela Mburia who is contesting a parliamentary seat in Kenya women bring a different perspective to issues and must therefore be represented in decision making.
If women are not there, then we are moving ahead without half of the population, she observed.
Certain female politicians had shown the difference women could make in public life. Thanks to former Kenyan health minister Charity Ngilu, women could now access free maternal health services in government hospitals, for instance.
The press conference was also told that the media could be harsh in its coverage of female politicians while not necessarily holding men to the same standards.
In politics women are a minority, but if one or two are quiet the media says all women are silent. When the same men are quiet nobody raises a voice against them. We shouldn #39t be judged differently, said Rosemary Mants #39o, a local councillor in Lesotho #39s Leribe district.
In the course of the workshop, which preceded the press conference, the politicians were exposed to various ways of addressing issues that affect their constituents, such as HIV/AIDS. They also picked up tips on the most effective ways of dealing with the media in efforts to publicise their policies.
For their part, journalists learnt how to avoid stereotypes when writing about women politicians. The media tended to report on women in standard ways, casting them predominantly as mothers, grandmothers or wives which indicated that women are not really good leaders as they are busy playing these other duties, said workshop co-ordinator Pat Made.
Quoting a 2005 study from South Africa, she also noted that coverage of women did not reflect their actual numbers in political leadership. Yet the media should mirror society, which is composed of men and women.
Reporters were further encouraged to question why government was not implementing protocols they had signed which committed them to increasing the number of women in decision making structures.
Many governments presented rosy pictures of progress they had made in regard to these protocols, yet nothing was happening at grass roots level. They are safe (in doing so) because the media is not playing their rightful watchdog role, said Jan Moolman of Women #39sNet, a South African non-profit.
(Please note that in the original version of this feature, it was incorrectly stated that Kenyan Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua had previously served as the minister of health.)