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Burkina Faso |
WOMEN
Are politics just for men? What must women do in order to achieve their rightful place?
Members of the Namangzenga Women’s Village Group in Oubsé, a village in Sanmatenga Province, north-east Burkina Faso, explain: «Politics is men’s work, not women’s. Our job is to see that the mens’ choices as candidates get elected.» And the group’s chairperson adds a further explanatory note: «We elect the candidates our husbands have chosen, because they know them and we don’t». This clearly shows that women, especially in the rural areas, don’t seem overtly aroused when it comes to politics. Nevertheless, women are a political force to be reckoned with. They’re quite capable of getting things done, and influencing decisions and popular demands at election time.
The United Nations declared 1975 to be International Women’s Year. This was a launching pad for women world-wide to become increasingly aware that they can achieve something in their own right.
They are the ones to make their own decisions, not their menfolk. 1983 was the year of Captain Thomas Sankara’s coup —a coup in which he wanted to engage all the people in the long struggle for real development. Politicians made it clear that women must be part of this popular revolution and must play an active role in the country’s development. Women were appointed to posts of responsibility and were admitted to some professions, previously reserved to men.
Unfortunately, much of the above was wishful thinking, for Burkina’s women still remain under-represented in the corridors of decision-making. Statistics prove this. After the 12 November 2000 government shake-up, there were only four women in the executive branch of government — a Minister for Womens’ Affairs; a representative of the Minister for the Budget and Institutional Development, under the aegis of the Minister of Finance; a Secretary of State for Promoting Human Rights (attached to the Ministry of Justice); a Secretary of State for Girls’ Education and Informal Education (attached to the Ministry of Basic Education and Literacy).
Among the various senior government officers, there is a woman chairperson of the Economic and Social Council. In Parliament, 10% of the seats are occupied by women, i.e. 10 women Members in a parliament of 111. These ten women all belong to the majority party in government, the Congress for Democracy and Progress (the House has a dozen political parties). In local government, there are about a hundred women who are local councillors (out of a thousand); three mayors and five Commissioners. In the diplomatic service, there are three woman ambassadors.
For them, yes, but not without them...
Following the 1995 international conference in Beijing, Burkina’s women, following the example of women in other countries, decided to press for a bigger slice of the cake, and to demand their part in the decision-making process. This quest for a better quality of life and their vision of a society conceived on a more just basis, has led them to engage in a peaceful struggle to change the general trend. In other words, to emerge from their traditional inferior status in society, without however rocking Burkina’s patriarchal social order.
They decided they would no longer be prepared to say «yes» to any decisions taken for them by the men — decisions in which they had nothing to say. Burkina’s women are now demanding their rightful place in society similar to men. They are not only voters but able to be voted into office.
A start was made in 1991 with the setting up of political parties led by women. At the 1998 presidential elections, there was a female candidate for the Office of President. However, these first efforts were short-lived — at the present time there is only one party led by a woman and the candidate for the presidency doesn’t have sufficient financial backing to continue her candidature. But the women are not giving up. In order to make their opinions better heard, women in politics (no matter which political slant), founded in 1996 the «Association of Elected Women in Burkina». In this way, they are trying to co-ordinate their views. The key for success lies in working with their male counterparts, for women have understood that such pooling of ideas is a decisive factor in today’s political scene, which includes the nation’s social, economic and cultural life.
Sociocultural, economic and political stakes
Burkina’s women are adamant — they must have adequate representation in the decision-making process. Urgent solutions still have to be found to the many specific problems concerning education, health, environment, employment, housing, human rights, etc. in order to bring about the nation’s development.
Women bring a particular sympathy and understanding to their work, so it’s clear that improving their lot will go a long way towards changing and improving the laws whereby peace, order and tranquillity can become the order the day. Women have at heart such issues as social welfare, living standards and anything connected to everyday life. They form the kingpin of family life: domestic work, agricultural labour, commerce, education of the children, etc. It’s women who deal with problems connected to the needs of daily life (water, food, cooking fuel, lighting, etc.) — but they are the poorest in the world and their rights are the least respected. They are victims of both poverty and violence.
Consequently, women who find themselves in decision-making posts in the corridors of power are going to deal with, as a priority, matters concerning the family; furthermore, because traditional social structures are rapidly breaking down, they find themselves more and more in the role of head of the family (actually about 20% at the present time in Burkina).
When it comes to politics, women bring practical answers and ideas, especially when it comes to: Revising certain articles of the Code concerning individuals and the family: guaranteeing equal rights vis à vis land ownership; regulating laws of succession (with no restrictions); suppressing obsolete practices such as the levirate (the custom of marriage between a man and his deceased brother’s widow), sororate (marriage with your wife’s sister, following your wife’s death), and early and forced marriages, etc. At all events, Burkina’s women politicians are determined to exert pressure on Burkina’s law-making bodies to end the duality between positive law (the body of laws existing in a country) and customary and religious practices.
All women want to improve their own situation and this is a recurring unifying theme. Women in government should work, beyond their political differences, to push for laws which are favourable to women and girls (for example, the law concerning sexual harassment in schools). They still remain the best champions of laws which aim to defend the interests of all members of the family. Consequently, women in politics should not only promote legislation concerning family matters, but also change priorities for development whenever necessary.
Re-defining priorities for development
A mass entry of women into politics would have an effect on a certain number of priorities for development, beginning with education.
- Education is a universal right and constitutes to all intents and purposes, the key to equal opportunities, indeed to equality of the sexes. This right ought to be guaranteed just as much for girls as for boys. Hence, women in politics have to act together in order to push female education. Priority must be given to keeping a watching brief on the contents of school text books so that anything derogatory to the female image, can be extirpated from the books.
- Another essential point is women and girls’ health. Because of the prevalence of sexist prejudices and discriminatory sociocultural practices (conventions and dietary taboos, feminine genital mutilation), non-existence or insufficiency of health infrastructures (maternity units, health centres and non-access of women to information), in particular in rural areas, women are exposed to all sorts of risks which are detrimental to their health and which put their lives in danger: i.e. repeated pregnancies, giving birth at high risk, the AIDS pandemic.
Young and adolescent girls are not exempt from sexual abuse, undesired pregnancies, clandestine abortions and infections from Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and AIDS. Women politicians, in particular those in government, work together in pushing for appropriate legislation which will safeguard of women’s and girls’ health.- The crucial question of employment is another important struggle which women politicians have to take up. Nobody can deny the vital role women in the public, parastatal and private sectors play in the nation’s economic growth. However, despite their importance, women are discriminated against in the sharing out of positions of responsibility. Of course, efforts are being made to advance women, but there is still a lot to be done. Hence, it comes down to women politicians to fight, so that the principle of «equal competence, equal responsibility», be accepted by one and all.
- Burkina’s women are also determined that their decisive place in the country’s economy be recognised and revalued. In Burkina, 85% of economic production is dependent on women but only 10% of the dividends come back to them. The principal workers in the rural agricultural world are women: They are responsible for 70% of the food crops, 50% of food storage, 100% of food processing; they look after 50% of stock breeding and 90% of marketing. All this, at what price and with what resources? How do they manage to look after the running of cash products when practically all the proceeds go to men — their husbands. Throughout Burkina, women are confronted by the same constraints which hinder their economic assimilation: discrimination when it comes to accessing finance (loans etc); difficulties when it comes to owning land, etc. Women politicians who are at the heart of decision-making, ought to fight for the adoption of agricultural and land ownership laws which are more favourable to women.
Women in politics should not now fold their arms and say, «we’ve done enough». Men have to be made to feel that in the decision-making process, they must work with women who, after all, constitute a driving force. Women’s contribution to the decision-making process is not only a moral imperative, but also an essential condition for democracy. All public matters interest women politicians, but some particular issues concern women in a particular way, because of their experience and their particular preoccupations. Women playing a role in decision-making, must help to bring these problems into the public forum.
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