afrol News, 5 July - Although about 90 percent of African constitutions endorse gender equality and affirmative action, only 11 countries have achieved parity in secondary education, a new study shows.

Abdoulie Janneh of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) presented these disappointing numbers at seminar in New York.

Mr Janneh said women's participation in executive, judicial, traditional and other public spheres was still visibly low across most African countries, while women's participation in non-agricultural wage employment was mainly at lower echelons and worst, at eight percent, in the security forces.

Generally, he said, while Africa had been making mixed progress across sub-regions, "chances of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) achievements in their entirety are very unlikely across countries." He said external shocks were influencing the achievement of the MDGs in Africa, including conflicts, slow pace of political and economic governance, and the global financial crisis.

But Mr Janneh said Africa had a success story in the area of universal primary education, where there had been "boy-girl enrolment parity in some countries" - including The Gambia, Gabon, Malawi, Mauritius, Mauritania, Namibia, Rwanda, Săo Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles and Uganda - and was "imminent in others" such as Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania.

In spite of this success, said Mr Janneh, serious challenges remained with the "retention, progression to higher levels, violence against girls and increasing signs of boy dropouts in a number of African countries."

He said while North Africa was on track regarding progress towards the MDG target on reducing child mortality, insufficient progress was being made in East Africa, West Africa, while there was no progress in Southern Africa and Central Africa towards meeting the target.

Mr Janneh also held that the impacts of climate change on rural livelihoods were not gender neutral, as they deepened and widened existing gender inequalities in areas such as food insecurity, ill health and increased water stress. "Women and young girls in many African countries," said Mr Janneh, "still have to walk longer distances in search of water and to care for the sick."

Stating that scant attention was generally paid in Africa to the interface between gender and climate change in policy design and implementation, Mr Janneh said UNECA should focus more on the issue.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Tweet

Printable version

On the Afrol News front page now

UN will not monitor human rights in Western Sahara afrol News - The US has backed down on its demand that UN peacekeepers in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara also shall monitor the human rights situation after Moroccan sources threatened to scale down relations with Washington. Read more

Central African Republic

Central African Republic falling apart afrol News - One month after the rebel movement Séléka took over power in the Central African Republic, unrest is spreading in the country. The new leader lacks control of his forces, which continue looting and abusing civilians. Read more

Kenya

Kenyatta secures tight victory in Kenya afrol News - The official election results in Kenya have finally been announced, and Uhuru Kenyatta managed to win the first poll round outright with a narrow 50.7 percent. But the main opponent, PM Raila Odinga, is filing a vote rigging complaint to the courts. Read more

Cape Verde Cape Verde to produce dragon fruit afrol News - Cape Verde authorities have invested large sums to diversify the arid country's agricultural sector. Now, the dragon fruit, originating in tropical America, is being introduced for the first commercial production in Africa. Read more

Egypt Even governors in Pharaonic Egypt died in their 20s afrol News - Researchers have analysed more than 200 mummies from ancient Egypt, finding that even high dignitaries were poorly nourished and had infectious diseases. The typical governor in Pharaonic Egypt died before he was 30 years old. Read more