Blog Action Day: Climate Change and Women

I could not agree more with Arun Agrawal in his paper on the Social Dimensions of Climate Change, prepared for the Social Development Department, The World Bank, Washington DC, March 5-6, 2008 in which he stated “Climate change will be pivotal in redefining development in the twenty-first century. How nations, societies, communities, and households respond to the impacts of climate changes and variability to which the world has already been committed will in many instances determine their prospects for growth, equity, and sustainability”.

People’s (poor) response to emergencies and situations in general vary and this is more so when it is around issues of poverty and livelihoods. In Africa for example, it is a daily struggle for women and girls to address food security and livelihood issues. Women largely depend on natural resources such as land and water bodies for their survival and they have adopted different coping strategies and utilized varied networking systems to survive on these resources (which are depleting at a fast rate) and yet they have little or no control over these resources.

Today, the world is confronted by another huge challenge; the impacts of climate change and unfortunately this is not receiving the attention it deserves. The international community has failed to seriously and fully address the causes and consequences of climate change, which now poses a major threat to lives and livelihoods of people living in poverty, the majority of whom are women. It is indeed incredible and unacceptable to see, hear and read daily about the damage of climate change.

Climate change is environmental change, which is also driven by humans – it is fundamentally a human problem. The impacts of climate change are expected to seriously (and disproportionately) affect the livelihoods, health, and educational opportunities of people living in poverty. Those with special burdens and/or vulnerabilities such as women, ethnic minorities, and people living with HIV/AIDS are feeling yet another pressure in global warming – one that is fundamentally unjust.

It is time for institutions, governments and individuals and indeed each and every one of us to collectively and individually work at addressing or reducing the impact of climate change on people living in poverty who mostly have not contributed to the problem.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted at the 1992 UN Summit for Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. This agreement established the “Conference of the Parties” (COP) and the “UNFCC Secretariat” as the institutional frameworks to support an international process to promote and develop relevant strategies on climate change negotiations to ensure that participating countries commit to a universal objective of reducing emissions .Similar to other international processes however, these discussions have not sufficiently articulated the gender issue as critical for mitigating climate change. This is inspite of the increasing visibility of women’s agency in critical arenas at all levels and sectors of society. Even though some gender analyses have been done, especially around Clean Development Mechanisms (CDMs), the tendency has been to focus exclusively on women in developing countries . A huge gap therefore needs to be filled.

I will therefore like to recommend the following;

• A paradigm shift in the conception of economic growth and development for Africa. Dependence on western models should be transformed into context specific analysis of the real needs of different groups of women and men that builds on local knowledge and resources to promote the wellbeing and security of women and men. .

• Women’s experience and knowledge of climate change processes is critical. Their different relationships with men on natural resource issues must be acknowledged, harnessed and utilised in mitigation and adaptation measures. As well, their specific vulnerabilities must be well articulated so that appropriate responses and interventions can be made to enhance their well-being. In this regard, women’s own coping strategies in times of crises should be identified as sources of strength that could serve the basis for evolving innovative policies to strengthen their security in areas such as food, water, health, land capital and technology.

• The UN has mandated countries to promote gender equality and women’s rights in all processes of development. It is therefore important for the women’s movement in Africa to take full responsibility and ownership of the gender and climate change discourse to ensure the full implementation of UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol (KP) measures take women’s specific concerns into account. This requires that greater knowledge and awareness is crated around gender and climate change issues at all levels.

• While more work needs to be done around gender and climate change in industrialized countries, it is equally important to deepen analyses around gender equality issues and climate change in developing countries, especially Africa. This will create greater understanding about its implications for human security and promote alliance building for articulating critical priorities for women in local national, regional and international decision-making.

Nafi Chinery
Capacity Building Officer
AWDF

P.S: This post is AWDF's contribution to Blog Action Day's focus on Climate Change

The Senegalese Feminist Forum: A Perspective

Women in Senegal are in general confined to traditional roles. They are married at a young age; half of them live in polygynous unions and are subjects to multiple childbirths. According to genderindex.org, “Up to 20% of girls undergo Female Genital Mutilation. Most women in Senegal have no educational opportunities. Only 23 percent of females over 15 years of age are literate, while the rates for males over age 15 are 43 percent.”

Additionally, discrimination against women is pervasive, especially in rural areas. The Government frequently does not enforce anti-discrimination laws.
It is against this context that the Senegalese feminist forum was held between 7th-9th August 2009. The meeting brought together 30 women from different back grounds including community based women’s representatives, women’s human rights activists, writers, film makers, lecturers and women from the development sector.

The objectives of the Forum were:

• To create an effective feminist movement in Senegal as well as a safe and autonomous space for feminist organizing.
• To discuss critical issues affecting the women’s movement in Senegal.
• To develop strategies to promote feminist leadership in women‘s organizations in Senegal and to look into how best the charter of feminist principles can be domesticated by women’s organizations in Senegal.

The Forum was held because there is a need to strengthen the feminist movement in Senegal, create feminist spaces and to put the feminist movement of the country on a solid ground. Feminists in Senegal want the women’s movement to be dynamic, the forum was to help strategize to include the youth in the feminist struggle as the leadership believes, the youth are the future and they should take up the work of fighting for women’s rights. In spite of constant struggle, Senegalese women are still oppressed by patriarchy. Patriarchy can be defined as a social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line; broadly : control by men of a disproportionately large share of power or simply a family, community, or society based on this system or governed by men. In Senegal, patriarchy cuts across every sector of life; socially, economically and culturally. Women in Senegal are raised in a society that sees the male as the head and only occupant of a leadership position, women are taught to revere their male counter parts and always put them first. With this kind of outlook gaining access to strategic positions in the country becomes difficult. According to www. afrol.com “Senegalese law stipulates that women and men should have equal access to bank loans, but in reality women often struggle to obtain loans.” In Senegal, women are seen as second class citizens. “Senegalese law grants equal property ownership rights to men and women. Women are legally entitled to access to land, but tradition makes it impossible for them to inherit land. Similarly, women may be in a financial position to have access to property other than land, but their husbands can restrict their ability to exercise this right.”

Senegalese women are demanding and claiming their rights, organizations like Groupe de Recherche sur les Femmes et les Lois au Senegal(GREFELS )and Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD) are leading the way by supporting to increase the autonomy of women and linking them with feminist and progressive groups, to build a powerful African women's movement linking human rights to the theory and practice of development and to bring forth African Women's contribution to sustainable and democratic development. The Senegalese feminist Forum sought to re-echo the voices of these women. During the meeting challenges of the feminist movement in Senegal was bought to the fore. A key challenge is the issue of religious fundamentalism. The religious system of Senegal hinders women from being bold enough to express them selves and their views.

Another challenge that came up during the meeting was the inability of people or women to affirm that they are feminist. Women identifying them selves as feminists is a challenge in Senegal, according to Marjorie Mbilinyi, board member of Tanzania Gender Networking Programme “feminist are fine with the feminist struggle as long as there is no struggle” these women do not want to own their identity as feminist, they do not own the challenges, threats, difficulty and opportunity that goes along with owning an identity as a feminist.

In solidarity, the AWDF funded the forum with a grant of US$20,000. The AWDF made a presentation on the charter of feminist principles. The charter serves as an accountability mechanism for feminist organizing on the continent and is a tool for peer review amongst African feminist organizations.

The general belief behind the African Feminist Forum is to create an autonomous space for feminists with no, ”ifs”, “buts” and “however”. The Senegalese feminist forum provided a safe space for feminists in Senegal to dream and do things differently by creating an autonomous space for Senegalese feminist, to domesticate the charter of principles in Senegal, to have a body of knowledge reflecting feminist agency that can be shared with feminist s around the region.

Thelma Owusu-Boakye (Programme Assistant, Fundraising & Communications)
with Rissi Assani-Alabi (Programme Officer, Francophone Programme Officer)

Aging: What are your thoughts on it?

Over the weekend, I attended the final funeral rites of a close relative at one of the suburbs in Accra. Unfortunately for me, most of the activities during the church service were in Ga, the local language spoken by the people of Accra for which I neither speak nor understand. So to while away the time, I decided to do what I do best when I am bored; observe my surroundings and watch those coming in and leaving the church. This funeral was for an 80 year old man, and so quite a number of those who attended the church service were octogenarians. What struck me as I observed most of them slowly walking towards the entrance were the different forms of age associated disabilities that they had.

Some used walking sticks while others used sigma frames as walking aids, and a few others were held by the arm and directed to their seats.

As I observed these senior citizens, I was reminded once again of the fact that life indeed is a journey and throughout the long journey aging is one of the certainties that every one will come face to face with.

In our youth we sometimes forget about the fact that a time will come when we will be unable to do some of the things we love to do because we will be weak, deaf, dumb, frail, and blind, or have physical and mental disabilities as a result of aging.

This is what Maya Angelou, one of my favourite all time writers wrote in her book “ Even the stars look lonesome” on Aging: “At sixty my body, which had never displayed a mind of its own turned obstreperous, opinionated, and deliberately treacherous. The skin on my thighs became lumpy, my waist thickened and my breasts- its better not to mention them at all except to say that they seemed to be in a race to see which could be the first to reach my knees.”

I am only in my mid thirties and in the past decade I have seen my own body undergo various forms of transformation; my waist of course has thickened and as for my breasts I will not describe them at all.

The physical changes in the body as one age is very obvious and I think for women it is even more difficult because directly or indirectly, society puts a lot of emphasis on our physical attributes as a measure of our worth. Sometimes I wonder whether that is the reason why a lot of women shy from mentioning their correct age as if it is a crime for women to grow old.

I personally think that aging is a reminder to us that our life on earth will certainly end one day. The question is “how do we live our lives so that the end is full of memorable adventures”. My recipe for a fulfilling life journey includes;
• make the best out of every situation
• live your life to the fullest
• plan your retirement as soon as you start working
• take good care of your body both physically and spiritually.
• try new and exciting things and
• above all do not forget your creator.

Nobody should waste time grieving about growing old. Instead, begin another exciting chapter of your life today because you and only you hold the key that can make things happen. Are you still afraid of aging?

An Open Letter to President Obama

8th July, 2009.

Dear President Obama,

You are expected in our beloved country this Friday and already Obama-mania has taken over Ghana. To be fair Obama-mania is not solely because of your impending visit. Obama-mania began when you became the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominee. On that fateful day in November when you were voted into office many Ghanaians did not sleep. I was one of the unfaithful who went to bed but I instinctively woke up during the night and checked CNN to find that you were going to become the 44th President of the United States of America. I guess it is only fit that we as Ghanaians felt so involved with the American electoral process. After all, your country is the “World’s Policeman”. At least that is how it feels some of the time…

I know you are travelling with your wife, Michelle but the whole country appears to be excited about YOU and not the First Lady. Hmm, I wonder if the levels of excitement would have been the same if she was President.

You can’t imagine the fuss your impending visit has caused. Let me tell you some:

Listening to Ghana’s Joy FM yesterday, it was reported that the chiefs of the Ogua Traditional Area in the Central Region had declared that no funerals are to take place on Saturday the 11th of July. The Chiefs in their wisdom and foresight anticipate that the Obama motorcade will drive through their municipality and they want no hindrance in the President’s way. Instead the Chiefs plan to hold a durbar which Obama may view as his motorcade speeds by. I am wondering if they have not heard that Obama’s helicopter will be transporting him to Cape Coast direct from Accra. I also feel sorry for all those who have been planning funerals for months (in some cases even years) and scheduled the funeral for Saturday. In Ghana, funerals are a big deal. We definitely do not subscribe to the notion, “let the dead bury the dead”.

A new organisation called “Friends of Obama” seems to have sprung up overnight. Seriously you will be impressed with the efficiency of this organisation, no one seems to know where they sprung up from but they have erected posters, bill boards and banners all over the country welcoming you “home”. Please make sure you take time to look out of your speeding motorcade and you are sure to catch some of their handiwork. This group has easily spent several hundred thousand dollars to celebrate you. I caught the tail end of an interview with the coordinator of “Friends of Obama” and she says all the money spent on the billboards, etc was raised from friends and individuals. How I wish some of these individuals would donate some of their dollars to my organisation (The African Women’s Development Fund)

If I am to continue listing all that is being done in your name – songs have been produced, special flags featuring your face, there are even some who think that the fuel shortage is because your advance party has emptied our stock – this will become “So Long a Letter” so let me get straight to the point of this letter.

A few weeks ago an enterprising journalist visited the offices of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF). His mission? To find out what the impact of Michelle Obama’s visit to Ghana will be for women’s rights organisations. Our first reaction (a colleague and I) was amusement. What? He was expecting impact after a flying visit by the First Lady of the USA? Impact on the women’s movement in Ghana? After I had ceased to be amused I began to see the possibilities. Imagine if Michelle Obama paid a visit to AWDF? The world’s eyes would be on us. We could invite our grantees and she could dialogue with them about the work they do, more people would become aware of AWDF and our grantees…her visit needn’t be long. Even 5 minutes would suffice. But alas it is not to be.

Trust me, AWDF has tried to get on the Obama’s schedule, we have sent letters to all those that we need to contact, lobbied those we can lobby and called those we can call but so far it has been to no avail.

I haven’t given up yet which is why I am writing this open letter to you President Obama. I know that your priorities (according to the rumour mill) are seeing the Slave Castles in Cape Coast/Elmina (and I do understand why) but if you or Michelle want to make an impact to women in Africa during your visit to Ghana, please take 5 minutes to visit AWDF. This is my official invitation to you.

Yours Sincerely,


Nana Sekyiamah
Programme Officer for Fundraising & Communications

P.S: I am relying on the viral powers of the Internet to get this message across so if you know anyone who knows anyone who may have a connection to the 44th President of the USA please forward this letter.