Assessment of Gender Orientation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). (Assessment).

Publication: Our Rights

Publication Date: 01-JAN-02

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COPYRIGHT 2002 African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET)

These are excerpts from a paper authored by Sarah Longwe, FEMNET's Chair. The paper assesses the adequacy of the New Partnership for Africa's Development in recognising and addressing gender issues. Given the fact that the NEPAD lays a special emphasis on creating improved conditions for development as concerns the democratic process, good governance and human rights, the paper focuses at examining the place of gender issues in these conditions for development.

Longwe begins by noting that the NEPAD states a faint policy goal on the promotion of women's role in social and economic development, assuring their participation in political and economic life, but does not ensure the translation of the same into programme goals. There is instead an overall programme "to promote the role of women by eliminating gender discrimination in primary and secondary school enrolment". No justification, she says, has been given for. choosing increased schooling as the only means towards achieving gender equality and women's empowerment. This would seem to be a curiously indirect approach, given the NEPAD's claimed interest in goals to improve democracy, governance and human rights.

The NEPAD does not acknowledge the prevalence, or even the existence, of serious structural and institutionalised gender discrimination. The unsatisfactory attempt to formulate a gender goal in the area of 'gender equality and women's empowerment' merely reveals the author's implicit belief that women's subordinate position is due to their own inadequacies thus more education is recommended.

The NEPAD needs complete revision if it is to recognise and address the gender issues which are intrinsic to all problems which be addressed in African Development.

Since the NEPAD is concerned with high level priortisation and strategic planning, our primary focus should be on those critical and pervasive gender issues...

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