Equal participation of

women and men in

decision-making processes
at all levels
Enhanced participation of women in development: an
enabling environment for achieving gender equality and
the advancement of women

Madam Chairperson,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to address this Commission on behalf of the

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The
fiftieth session of the Commission is a historic moment and
allows us look back at 60 years of global commitment to gender
equality and the way this Commission shaped women's
progress worldwide.

From Mexico to Copenhagen and from Nairobi to Beijing, the

Commission has brought Governments and civil society
together and acted as a catalyst for defining the agenda for the
advancement of women. The situation and status of rural
women has always been of great concern. The Nairobi
Forward-looking Strategies in 1985 alerted us that poverty and
landlessness among rural women would increase significantly
by the year 2000 (para 175) and recommended to redirect
resources to promote the productive capacity of rural poor
women. In 2006, secure access to land, but also water and
other natural resources for women and men, is on top of the
international agenda. Governments meeting next week at
International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural
Development (ICARRD) in Porto Alegre (Brazil) will join efforts
to reach agreements on these questions.

Giving women secure access to land can transform their lives

both economically and socially. IFAD finances development
projects in some of the poorest rural areas of the world where
increasing pressures on land threaten the loss of land rights by
the rural poor, women and indigenous women in particular.
IFAD has learned that defending and expanding women's rights
requires comprehensive action at different levels: information
and capacity-building; organisation and empowerment
measures; legal assistance and advocacy.

This year's session of the Commission is considering two

priority themes: "Enhanced participation of women in
development: an enabling environment for achieving gender
equality and the advancement of women" and "Equal
participation of women and men in decision-making processes
at all levels". For IFAD, an enabling environment to achieve
gender equality has three dimensions: economic empowerment,
participation in decision-making and improved well-
being. Economic empowerment means access to productive
assets, land, water, markets, finances and
technologies. Improved well-being for rural women requires
improved infrastructure and essential services, changes in
women's workload, better health, training and education.

Women's role in decision-making in community affairs and local

institutions is necessary for increased political representation
and sustained political involvement of women. In IFAD
supported projects, quotas are sometimes introduced for the
number of women on community development groups, water
user's associations and self-help groups. Giving women a voice
in community matters and access to leadership positions at the
grass root level is the first step, which is then followed by
supporting women at the municipal and departmental level, at
the province and governmental level, such as in Ministries for
Rural Development or Agriculture. Women are more likely to
participate in both private and public decision-making if they
have greater knowledge, economic assets and income-earning
capacity which in turn increase their self-esteem and
confidence. Support from husbands, other family members and
local leaders is also essential and they need to be made aware
of the importance of women being involved in such
activities. Women's groups and organizations have proved very
effective in giving women collective power and influence.

Madam Chairperson,

The gender dimension of international migration is one of the

emerging issues discussed by this Commission. Migration
affects the rural areas in a particular way, whether women are
left behind and receive remittances or whether they are
migrating on their own and sustain their families back
home. Many young and destitute women from rural areas run a
high risk of being trafficked. IFAD is currently developing an
innovative project on rural migration, trafficking and HIV/AIDS in
Armenia and Moldova which aims at creating rural employment
in the rural areas by encouraging remittances of migrants as an
investment into rural enterprises back home.

The Commission will decide on a multi-year programme of work

for the period 2007-2009. We welcome the proposal to sustain
focus on a given topic over a period of two years and thus
strengthen the connection between policy development and
implementation. When developing the content on each
suggested topics, we advocate that special emphasis be put on
the status of women and girls in the rural areas and the
particular challenges they face, in particular their economic
empowerment and their role in decision-making.

In closing, IFAD would like to reiterate its commitment to work

with all partners – Governments, the UN system and civil
society, towards the achievement of gender equality.

“Any nation that fails to educate its girls or

employ its women and allow them to maximise
their potential is doomed to fall behind in the
global economy. Imagine if you have a team
and you don’t let half the team play, that’s
stupid! That makes no sense. Evidence shows
that communities that give their daughters the
same opportunity as their sons are more
peaceful are more prosperous, they develop
faster, are more likely to succeed, giving girls an
education.” Barack Obama, President of U.S.A
on his maiden visit to Kenya, 2015.

Gender equality and women’s empowerment remain central tenets

for development progress on the continent with specific attention
given to this in Africa’s 50 year vision and plan for development
and integration, Agenda 2063. However, the nagging claws of
gender inequality in the continent continue to impede women
from contributing to the development agenda and lending their
voice as they are precluded from many development-oriented
conversations.

Over half of Africa’s population of almost 1 billion people is made

up of women and girls making it crucial for the continent’s
governments to ensure equal access to the building blocks for
structural transformation are available to all. Some of these
building blocks such as inclusive financial services, healthcare,
education, political participation, peace and security can only be
fully achieved with the active engagement of youth and women in
Africa.

22 years ago this September, over 30,000 delegates left the

historic 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing on a dizzying
high. The obvious exuberance was infectious, felt even by women
not at the conference. And they had all the reason to be — 189
world leaders had committed their countries to an extraordinary
Platform for Action, with ambitious but realistic promises in key
areas and a roadmap for getting there. Women in Power and
Decision-making was identified as one of twelve critical areas of
concern in its Beijing Platform for Action (BPA).

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone

has the right to take part in the Government of his/her country.
The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement
of women’s social, economic and political status is essential for the
achievement of both transparent and accountable government and
administration and sustainable development in all areas of life.

Why more women: Rationale, numbers, and beyond

numbers

Both practitioners and scholars agree that it is of utmost

importance to have equal numbers of women and men in political
office .A 2005 UN report on Equal Participation of Women and
Men in Decision-Making Processes, with Particular Emphasis on
Political Participation and Leadership enumerates this
1. The justice argument — women account for approximately half
the population and therefore have the right to be represented as
such.
2. The experience argument — women’s experiences are different
from men’s and need to be represented in discussions that result
in policy-making and implementation. These different experiences
mean that women ‘do politics’ differently from men.
3. The interest argument — the interests of men and women are
different and even conflicting and therefore women are needed in
representative institutions to articulate the interests of women.
4. The critical mass argument — women are able to achieve
solidarity of purpose to represent women’s interests when they
achieve certain levels of representation.
5. The symbolic argument — women are attracted to political life if
they have role models in the arena.
6. The democracy argument — the equal representation of women
and men enhances democratization of governance in both
transitional and consolidated democracies.

Strides made

There has been progress towards the equal representation of men

and women in decision-making in the past ten years. According to
stats from UN Women, the percentage of women in parliament
has nearly doubled in the last 20 years. As of January 2017, 10
women are serving as Head of State and 9 are serving as Head of
Government.

Rwanda had the highest number of women parliamentarians

worldwide. Women there have won 63.8 per cent of seats in the
lower house. Women in Saudi Arabia voted for the very first time
in 2015 and we’re even allowed to run for public office.
France’s newly inaugurated President Emmanuel Macron unveiled
his cabinet this past week with women filling half of the 22
positions. These 11 women will take up heavyweight roles such as
justice, defence and foreign affairs, and not the ‘soft roles’ that
have been traditionally reserved for women.

However, progress has been uneven and slow and in some cases
there have been significant setbacks. The slow and sometimes
static progress is seen in the Kenyan context as well. The
Economic Survey of 2016 tabulates women participation in key
decision making positions:
A glance at the Private Sector

Considering the participation of women in strategic decision-

making in the private sector, the “glass ceiling” — the barriers that
limit the numbers of women reaching the top of the corporate
hierarchy — is still evident.
According to Fortune, the number of women leading Fortune 500
companies is the highest ever at 27, whilst this is great progress it
is an undeniably paltry number. The Fortune 500 companies with
the highest percentages of women corporate officers, yielded
higher returns than those with lower percentages of women.
(Catalyst, 2006)

According to the International Finance Corporation, Kenya has the

highest number of women serving on company boards in Africa at
19.8 percent, above the global average of 15 percent.

Institute of Directors Bill Kenya, passed by Parliament in February

2017 and awaiting presidential assent, addresses the importance
of qualifications for board membership by drawing on an array of
skills, experience and continuous training. Qualified women,
currently make up 30 % of IOD’s membership, enactment of the
Bill into law is expected to increase the talent pool of qualified
women.

Policy recommendations
The Africa Development Bank in their 2015 report titled, ‘Where
are the women: Inclusive Boardrooms in Africa’s top listed
companies’ propose several policy recommendations. They
Include:
1. Baseline Research — Unless data is provided on the status of
women on boards, it is impossible to determine what measures
must be taken or what policies are needed to improve the numbers
of women appointed to board seats.
2. Stock Exchange listing requirements should mandate public
reporting of board composition annually and provision of updates
after any change of composition. Reporting should extend beyond
directors’ names to include year of commencement of board
appointment, age, and brief background bios. The same
information should be reported on listed companies’ senior
officers as well.
3. African Stock Exchanges should consider including board
diversity as a listing requirement for member companies.
4. CMAs and SECs can also consider requiring companies to
provide sex-disaggregated data on women directors and in senior
management in annual reports.
5. Women themselves must be proactive in applying for board
positions.
“The Revolution and women’s liberation go
together. We do not talk of women’s
emancipation as an act of charity or out of a
surge of human compassion. It is a basic
necessity for the revolution of triumph. Women
hold up the other half of the sky.”