MEWC founder, Rainatou Sow however urged all actors, both public and private, to ensure that women’s rights matter and that laws passed actually have an impact on the lives of the people.
“We need to ensure that gains made in women’s political mobilisation, advocacy, and government representation actually reflect a substantial change in the lives of ordinary women, which is still far from a reality.”
“It is time for our governments to demonstrate their commitments with actions. They must go much further to ensure greater gender equality in Africa. African governments need to demonstrate concrete actions that bring about positive changes in the lives of many women and girls in Africa during and after the African Women’s Decade 2010-2020.”
Celena Green who helps Vital voices to develop and implement programs for women’s political participation, economic empowerment and human rights in Sub-Saharan Africa, corroborated that “There is much that can be done to empower women in this regard (education, training, leadership exposure, networking, strengthening and enforcing laws on quality) etc) but also more can be done to encourage men to embrace women’s equality as it benefits society as a whole.”
“For the goals of the AWD to be realized, we need education! Education and Education,” Osimbo Lichuma concludes.[eap_ad_3]