CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Taye Babaleye, Nigeria, June 1998
THEME = WOMEN
A Ugandan woman activist makes the case
for the development of African rural women
"To successfully tackle the issues of African development, it is important for African governments to henceforth make development policies revolve around the African rural woman. This is because the role of the African rural woman is central to all factors affecting the development of sub-Saharan Africa".
Dr. Joy Constance Kwesiga, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, made this submission at the Nigeria based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), while addressing a large crowd of policy makers, diplomats, agricultural scientists, women leaders and farmers, on the occasion of the IITA annual Distinguished African Scientist Lecture Series on 19 May.
After the lecture, Dr. Kwesiga was initiated into the Institute's trusteeship, thus becoming IITA's 7th Distinguished African Scientist, since the series of lectures was embarked upon by IITA in 1989.
According to her, agriculture plays a major role in the sustenance of populations in sub-Saharan Africa, and since the sector depends on small rural holdings, where women provide most of the required labour and yet are overburdened by other work, particularly reproduction and care, attention must focus on the development of the women whose efforts sustain the sector. She lamented that "The rural women's lives are constrained by tradition and customary practices, which further limit their access to, and control over important resources to the detriment of their development and progress".
Dr. Kwesiga remarked that the work and contributions of the rural women in sub-Saharan Africa, must be recognized, appreciated, and valued if Africa is to develop. She canvassed for the empowerment of the rural women politically, socially, educationally, and culturally, to ensure an all-round development process which will give sub-Saharan Africa a face-lift economically.
Dr Joy Constance Kwesiga is also an expert on gender issues, and urged that "something different needs to be done. A framework to enable rural women to be no longer marginalized needs to be introduced in sub-Saharan Africa." She pointed out that lack of ideological independence in sub-Saharan Africa, has been a demotivating factor. "Whatever the causes, though, it is clear that African economies need to change. Since theories and approaches so far applied have not succeeded, new ideas and approaches must emerge."
Addressing the audience earlier, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of IITA, Italian born Dr. Enrico Porceddu, said Dr.Kwesiga's lecture entitled: "Central and Yet Peripheral: The Rural Woman Farmer and Issues of African Development" was thought-provoking.
He described the rural African woman as "a mother, a nurse, a doctor, a farmer, a food technologist, a caterer, a religionist, historian, a teacher, a trader, a musician, an artist who moulds, paints and creates images to beautify her environment."
The IITA Chairman emphasized that it was not possible to talk of economic development in Africa, without taking into account the role of the rural woman in ensuring food security in the continent".
The IITA Distinguished African Scientist lecture series was initiated about a decade ago, to honour a former Director General of the Institute, Dr.Bede Okigbo, for his immense contributions to tropical agricultural research.
Founded in 1967, IITA is an international agricultural research institute, which focuses on smallholder cropping systems in the humid and subhumid tropics of Africa, and on the improvement in production of cassava, maize, plantain and banana, yam, cowpea, and soybean.
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CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement