Source: Gender Links New York — On the third day of CSW58 yesterday, members of the Southern Africa Protocol Alliance, the Malawi delegation and Gender Links hosted the side event Using the SADC Gender Protocol to push for a strong post 2015 Agenda.
This session called on participants to share strategies on how the post-2015 agenda and SADC Gender Protocol can help strengthen and enhance one another to ensure voice, choice and control for all. Dr Mary Shawa, Secretary of the Malawian Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare chaired the session. "There must be a holistic standalone goal on gender equality and women's empowerment in the post 2015 development agenda, which should take on the issues that the SADC Gender Protocol has highlighted as missing in the current MDGs," urged Shawa.
In her key note address Malawi Minister of Gender, Children and Social Welfare, Mary Clara Makungwa expressed her hope that the SADC Gender Protocol would help inform the global post 2015 agenda and to strengthen our resolve to attain gender equality.
Colleen Lowe Morna, the CEO of Gender Links, gave an interesting overview of the SADC Gender Protocol, which clearly demonstrated how powerful and holistic the SADC Gender Protocol is with its 28 time-bound targets on gender equality. Her presentation showed how the Protocol already ticks the boxes in a number of areas that are missing from the current MDG framework, which suggests the SADC Gender Protocol could serve as a global model for stakeholders when considering the post-2015 developmental framework.
Emma Kaliya sits on several boards including NGO Gender Coordination Network in Malawi. She is also a member of the FEMNET and is a representative of the Southern Africa Protocol Alliance. Kaliya spoke on the importance of increasing women's participation and representation in politics and also explained that having a female president in Malawi may not bring immediate change, but it helps garner support for equality and the 5050 campaign.
Speaking on entrenching 50/50 in the Zimbabwe Constitution and pushing the envelope though the media, Virginia Muwanigwa, Chairperson of Women and Land in Zimbabwe and Director of Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre, explained that the move to parity is a work in progress and emphasised the need to move from paper to implementation.
Sharing lessons from the Zambia, Matrine Chuulu a Lawyer and representative of Women in Law Southern Africa (WLSA) said that the post-2015 agenda will not be successful without gender responsive and gender sensitive constitution, because despite all the instruments in place, women's situation remains the same.
Sophie Kalinde Chairperson of Human Rights Commission in Malawi lamented the constant violence discrimination perpetrated against women and called for greater commitment to 5050 and an end to violence against women.
