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| Thursday, 10 June 2004 |
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Intensify gender equality programmes -CPA Senior parliamentarians have urged Commonwealth governments to intensify gender equality programmes by enlisting the support of parliaments and by establishing commissions to oversee the removal of discriminatory barriers and attitudes in their jurisdictions. In a submission to the Commonwealth Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting which concluded today in Nadi, Fiji Islands, Members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) from all regions recommended that ministers explicitly involved parliamentarians of all parties in programmes to give women full equality with men. The 24 CPA members, who met in the Fijian Parliament in Suva at a CPA workshop on "Gender, Development and Democracy" held immediately prior to the ministerial meeting agreed that governments must step up efforts to promote gender equality and equity in pursuit of the central principle of achieving sustainable development and democracy for all peoples. They commended the ministers and their governments for adopting a new Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality for the coming decade. But they argued that governments must not work only with civil society organisations to achieve their gender goals. "We also recognise our responsibility, as parliamentarians, in working with you and with civil society," said Ms. Lindiwe Maseko, MPL, Chairperson of the CPA's Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians and Deputy Speaker of the Legislature in the South African province of Gauteng. Ms Maseko presented the workshop conclusions to the ministers. "We hope that you, in turn, recognise us as partners because the CPA is fully committed to a partnership between governments, parliamentarians and civil society," she said. The parliamentarians specifically called on all Commonwealth governments to establish Human Rights and Gender Commissions by 2015 and to publish progress assessments every five years on the existence and effectiveness of machineries and policies to ensure gender equality and equity. The Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth's inter-governmental organisation, should assist member governments in producing progress reports. The CPA members called on governments to publish an interim report on their success in achieving the Commonwealth Heads of Government target of having women in 30 percent of decision-making positions in the political, public and private sectors by 2005. The CPA is supporting the achievement of this target with programmes to raise gender awareness among parliamentarians and to increase the involvement of women parliamentarians in the programmes and management of the CPA. At present women parliamentarians constitute 21 per cent of the CPA's executive body. |
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