Days 2 and 3 of the conference dug deeper into the heart of the reason we were all there, to pool responses across West Africa to issues related to gender, determine best practices and develop a way forward. The morning session of Day 2 focused on peacebuilding and security. Ms. Yasine Jusu-Sheriff, Vice Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone talked about war in the context of the poverty of women during conflict. While women are victims of unspeakable crimes, there are men amassing assets. Post-conflict, she reminded us, is the time when state assets are up-for-grabs and women need to be mindful of ensuring that they are at the table during the discussion. "While we are talking about rape, brothers and cousins are buying and selling the wealth of our future," she said.
"We must end the cycle of female poverty. Whomever becomes owner of the leading private commercial bank of Sierra Leone, none of his great grandchildren will be poor, but it won’t be your grandchildren, it will be his," she said.
She also talked about the importance of cross-border trade for women and how, post-conflict, cross border trade avenues can be lost. Additionally, as new investors enter the country, mining firms, for example, it would be a prime opportunity to ensure that female engineers, lawyers and accountants are hired to work with such firms.
In the afternoon session, budgeting, planning and decentralization was the focus. The conference planners invited not only Ministers of Gender to represent their governments, but also Ministers of Finance. It is clear that gender needs to be examined from an economic perspective within government institutions and representation from financial ministries is critical to engaging decision makers around policy reform and equity issues. Dr. Alioune Sow, Minister of Decentralization from Senegal talked about how the establishment of the Parity Law in Senegal has a direct impact on the budget decisions regarding resources for government divisions enacted in Parliament. "I don’t think the 50% of women in parliament will let a 'masculine budget' pass through," he said.
That evening, UN Women released its latest publication, "Progress of the World's Women: In Pursuit of Justice 2011" which you can find
here.
During the final day of the conference, the plenary focused on developing a Declaration for action. Two parts of the declaration highlighted the equal importance of gaining commitments from ECOWAS Member State governments, as well as from other conference participants representing the private sector, donor organizations, civil society and stakeholders. One of the key suggestions for the Declaration mentioned by TrustAfrica's MDG3 Project Coordinator Sandra Zerbo, was to institutionalize a mentorship program so that the next convening would also include emerging young women leaders. In this way, we can continue to ensure that women's already resonant voices continue to ring out loud and strong.
For more detailed information regarding the Symposium, please visit the
UN Women West Africa blog.
