Abstract
In the neo liberal order, gender equality discourse has had a renewed impetus following the post global gender summits and conventions inspired by options to enlarge the participation of women in governance and decision making processes such as the Beijing 35% affirmative action. However, decades on, institutionalizing gender equality in the periphery societies such as Africa has been elusive. This paper explores some prevailing dimensions of inequality and efforts at women emancipation and transformation to understand the verity of the summits and their resolutions. It deploys historical approach based on secondary data sources to provide brief genealogical mapping of some global gender conventions and summits namely; the first World Conference on Women held in Mexico City, 1975, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Second World Conference on Women held in Copenhagen 1980, World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women 1985, the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, Goal three (3) of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2000 etc. Results from the findings suggest that women are still marginalised, evidences were provided within health, educational, cultural, political and socio-economic dimensions. The paper calls for mainstreaming gender in top political offices across Africa to redefine women’s status and force a concomitant transformation. Key words: Gender inequality, sustainable development, global gender summits/ conventions, Africa.
Highlights
In the neo liberal order, the study of global women summits becomes necessary as gender inequality is undermining the standard unit of liberalism namely – equality
Discourses and scholarly evidence on gender studies show that gender equality has recorded minimal success in Africa, parts of Latin America and South Asia
In Africa gender inequality has a long historical antecedence; first was the colonial trajectory extending to the symbolic colonial struggles in places like Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Nigeria etc
Summary
In the neo liberal order, the study of global women summits becomes necessary as gender inequality is undermining the standard unit of liberalism namely – equality. In Africa gender inequality has a long historical antecedence; first was the colonial trajectory extending to the symbolic colonial struggles in places like Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Nigeria etc. In the context of colonial agricultural practices, the introduction of cash crop relegated women to the background. When colonial authorities attempted to “modernize” agricultural economies, they introduced cash crops like coffee and tea to men, by passing women....Colonial agricultural ministries established agricultural extension systems in colonial headquarters, focused on men delivering advice, training, and credit to men farmers....Kenya is an example, where large numbers of men migrate away from agricultural households, where women remain to grow food and feed their families. In Kenya women’s voices have been virtually silenced in the man–made political machinery”
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