POLITICS-NAMIBIA: Gender Equality - Making The Numbers Count

"Presence alone does not create conditions for a feminist agenda." Credit: Moses Magadza/IPS WINDHOEK, Oct 6 (IPS) - Namibian gender activists applaud the goal of a 50/50 split of women and men in government by 2015, but warn that the real work is only just beginning. The goal was set by the Protocol on Gender and Development, signed in early August by the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Protocol calls on member states to pass laws to achieve this target. A previous SADC target was set at 30 percent. Lucy Edwards, a sociologist and lecturer at the University of Namibia (UNAM), believes that the Protocol's targets are desirable and attainable but might remain pie in the sky if women do not fight to achieve them. "Women must lobby for monitoring mechanisms," she... [read full story]