On
the occasion of International Women’s Day, three African leaders and activists,
Martin Chungong, Cameroonian Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary
Union, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, former Prime Minister of Niger and CEO of NEPAD
Agency, and Nahas Angula, former Prime Minister of Namibia and Convener of the
Namibia Alliance for Improved Nutrition (NAFIN), come together to celebrate
rural and urban crusaders who have transformed women’s lives and call for more
activists to speak up for gender equality to fight malnutrition across Africa.
Today,
as we mark International Women’s Day, we celebrate not only all women, but especially
the activists – rural and urban, men and women – who are transforming women’s
lives. Right now, women and men across Africa are part of a movement sweeping
across the world for women’s rights, equality and justice.
You
do not have to look far to see – or hear – women on the continent slowly breaking
the silence, joining the #MeToo campaign on social media, raising their voices
in unison alongside many men and against the status quo, organising for better
representation in decision-making and demanding land rights and equal pay for
work of equal value.
However, with the increase in hunger and food
insecurity seen last year across parts of sub-Saharan Africa – for the first
time in decades – there are few rights as important to our future survival as
the right to adequate food and good nutrition. This will not happen unless each
woman and man, girl and boy is equally valued and has the same access to food.
This means that, when we move from thinking to acting on nutrition and food
security, we must also think and act on gender equality and women’s
empowerment.
Throughout
history, activism in Africa has yielded enormous results. Many women have fought
for justice for women before us. Today this is not only a moral duty, it is the
smart thing to do. Recently, countries such as Senegal and Tunisia have made
strides in ensuring equal rights for both women and men. Rwanda has secured the
highest percentage of women in parliament in the world, whilst women in Liberia
and South Sudan have been at the forefront of peace and reconciliation efforts.
In the words of Nelson Mandela – our ‘own’ Madiba – whose 100th
birthday we will celebrate later this year, "freedom cannot be achieved
unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression". Sadly,
no country has achieved this freedom yet.
Where there is food insecurity, rural women and girls are
disproportionally affected and more likely to experience the multiple burdens
of malnutrition. They are often tasked with making sure every family and
community member reaps the benefits of the best possible food and nutrients
available and are involved at each stage of the food
value chain – from farm to fork.
Although there are no large
differences in the number of malnourished girls versus boys under five years
old, the difference in power between males and females really becomes visible
as girls reach adolescence. Malnourished mothers, especially those who
have not attended secondary school, are more likely to give birth to
malnourished girls and boys, perpetuating a vicious intergenerational cycle – with
devastating effects for the brain power of the continent.
It
is widely accepted that good nutrition is a maker and marker of sustainable
development. What we now know is that gender equality is a maker and marker of
good nutrition. With this knowledge, the main message we have for
policy-makers, leaders and activists all over Africa is to scale up investments
in women for better nutrition and food security everywhere. Yet,
without empowering lawmakers to unblock resources from national budgets and
putting in place the necessary means and policies in support of women and
girls, no initiative will succeed.
Yesterday,
we gathered together to address a high-level event of the Pan-African
Parliament (PAP) Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Johannesburg. This
Alliance has been tasked with ensuring that food security and nutrition remain
at the highest level of both political and legislative agendas. We brought
together a regional platform for African Members of
Parliament to make sure that women’s and girls’ rights, needs and agency are at
the front and centre of all actions.
The 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development promises to leave no one behind. Recently,
the publication Nature estimated that
no single African country is set to end childhood malnutrition by 2030, due to
large disparities within countries themselves. This is in spite of the fact
that most African countries, especially much of sub-Saharan Africa and eastern
and southern regions, have shown improvements.
As members
of the Lead Group of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement – a voluntary push
for better nutrition which today counts 60 countries, many of whom are African
– we know that successful nutrition approaches are those that have sought to
address and eliminate gender inequalities. Much of the reduction in hunger
worldwide between 1970 and 1995 is a result of improvements in women’s status
and access to decision-making, including in parliaments. We know that if we
give a girl access to secondary schooling, more than 25 per cent fewer
girls and boys will be stunted, and will be able to develop normally. The
evidence is clear. Now is the time to act.
International
Women’s Day is not just a celebration but a reminder to us to remain activists
in our own right, not only as heads of agencies which promote equality, but
also as individuals. Together, let us empower women in all settings, rural and
urban, and make improved nutrition a reality.
We commit to
scaling up women’s rights and nutrition activism in Africa, and beyond. And
hope you will do the same. The #TimeisNow for the #TheAfricaWeWant.
*Contributed by: Op-ed by Martin Chungong, Secretary-General of IPU, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO of NEPAD Agency and Nahas Angula, former Prime Minister of Namibia and Convener of the Namibia Alliance for Improved Nutrition (NAFIN)
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