The Intersection of Gender Equality and Sustainable Development in African Communities
Posted: 12 August, 2024 Filed under: Elim Shanko, Keten Abebe | Tags: African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), Agenda 2063, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), egalitarian involvement, environmental degradation, gender discrimination, gender equality, gender parity, international treaty, labour exploitation, mitigation, National climate change policies (NCCPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), natural resources, Paris Agreement, policy, poverty, quality of life, sub-Saharan Africa, sustainable development, United Nations’ (UN) Paris Agreement (PA), women's rights Leave a comment |
Author: Keten Abebe Intern, RA Consulting |
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Author: Elim Shanko Sustainable development consultant, RA Consulting |
Introduction
As of 2019, approximately 60% of employed women within Sub-Saharan Africa worked in agriculture, a field gravely impacted by corporations’ exhaustive use of natural resources. The financialisaton and depletion of natural resources within these African communities leads many women to experience poverty and destitute living conditions. Approximately 62.8% of women worldwide who live in extreme poverty reside in Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, the reality of worsening environmental conditions exacerbates the deterioration of women’s quality of life. According to the UN Women’s Organisation, African women often overly endure labour exploitation within capitalist markets, leading to environmental degradation and unsustainable development practices to persist among financially driven corporations. Similarly, a brief submitted to the 2015 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) emphasises the impracticality of achieving sustainable development within African communities if the alienation of half of the population (women and girls) persists socially, economically and politically. Ultimately, sustainable development within African communities cannot be achieved without gender parity.
The place of liberal feminism in the struggle for gender equality in Kenya.
Posted: 8 July, 2022 Filed under: Davis Thuranira | Tags: affirmative actions, Bill of Rights, equal participation, feminism, gender discrimination, gender equality, gender inequality, Gender Representation in the National Assembly and the Senate, gender rule, good governance, human rights, Kenya, legal framework, liberal feminism, non-discrimination, patriarchy, Rono v Rono, toxic masculinity, transformative jurisprudence Leave a comment
Author: Davis Thuranira
Student, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Major Premise
The framers of the constitution[1] provided adequate mechanisms to counter gender discrimination and foster equality among all sexes and gender in the country. As a matter of fact, several legal provisions incline to an ideology of equality that seeks to overhaul the existing societal structure which anchors discrimination and unequal treatment of women.
Equality, non-discrimination, inclusiveness and protection of the marginalized are among the key principles featured under Article 10[2]. The provision universally applies to all persons and demands compliance by the state, including its organs, while exercising its constitutional mandate. The state is required to invoke its authority by giving effect to the two-third gender rule. Additionally, these principles and others that support gender equality are emphasized in the constitution since such are the basis for any democratic society that the constitution envisions. The applicability of these principles is mandatory, and the courts have on several occasions emphasized that the principles are not aspirational as argued by critics but realistic, practicable and binding on everyone. In the case of Rono v Rono[3], the Court of Appeal authoritatively asserted that the Constitution shields women from customary succession laws that bar women from inheriting property. The Court held that both male and female children are treated equally before the law and that discriminatory rules are invalid and unconstitutional to the extent that it treats women as inferiors to men. Read the rest of this entry »
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