Year: 2016
Forward with Health & Reproductive Rights in Africa : An Evaluation
Forward with Health & Reproductive Rights in Africa : An Evaluation
The AWDF convened a round table meeting with some
of our grantees and partners on 30 June 2015 in
Arusha, Tanzania. We met to discuss the evaluation of
our Health and Reproductive Rights (HRR) Portfolio,
which was completed in October 2014. The evaluation
gave us the opportunity to review the progress and
challenges in civil society efforts to advance women’s
sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
Following the evaluation, the objective of the meeting
was to identify strategic interventions to help scale up
and sustain our impact on the ground. We also wanted
to identify more effective ways to influence policies
around (SRHR) at local, national and regional levels.
This report contains the key findings of the convening.
From the Archives: TEDxChange : We need the Voices of African Women
From the Archives: TEDxChange : We need the Voices of African Women
The United Nations theme for International Women’s day 2016 is “Achieving Gender Parity.” On a continent with as many boundaries for women as Africa, this still seems a far away reality. Although we have done amazing work in pushing forward the agenda of women in the past 15 there is undoubtedly a long way to go. Development of the African continent needs to be driven by women and men–and it is important to bring women’s voices to every table, every conference and every conversation. Women have made major change on this continent. And this International Women’s day we celebrate their achievements and their struggles, as we echo the sentiments that we need to carry with us in our work.
Many of the points mentioned in this The TED Talk below, given in 2012, are as important today as they were when AWDF CEO Theo Sowa first spoke on them. There is still a desperate need to have a larger number of African women at the table, where they can shape “our story.”
International Women’s Month The Interviews Part 2
International Women’s Month The Interviews Part 2
Sex On College Campuses – Are Women More Than A Function?
By Maame Akua Marfo
“There are two types of relationships on campus– there’s the hook up kind which, maybe the boy has a lot of friends and then he starts to sleep with some of them. and then there’s another kind which is like a long one night stand.” – M
Relationships seem to find themselves on a sliding scale, from those preparing themselves for marriage to those that revolve around having multiple partners at one time but very rarely do these relationships turn out well for the women involved. The attitude to sex is casual, ranging from relationships that are considered “marriage like” but still involve other partners, to those that solely involve random hook ups.
For many of the women in the room it has always been clear that on campus women do not get to enjoy the same sort of sexual freedom without being reprimanded. For them there is a strange mixture of being encouraged to play the role of the “bad girl” on social media and everyone pretending to be okay with something with one breath but in the next taking a different position. For young men on campus however, sex is a game of divide and conquer. The students in the room describe a “the more the merrier” attitude and though sex itself is encouraged, women are often looked down upon for having more than one partner and the damage that open knowledge of a woman’s sexual partners can do is irreparable. It seems nearly impossible for a woman to be able to please both her boyfriend, herself, and the society around them.
“Some boys– only contact you when the semester is about to start because that’s when you’re conveniently accessible to them… Sometimes I feel like people look at girls on campus as commodities. It’s not just a singular problem. It’s about the way you view women in general. Because if you actually had respect for them as people you wouldn’t look at them as…disposable. People aren’t interchangeable like that.” -A
The relationships between students is far more complex than most would presume them to be. At a glance– relationships seem simple. Women are expected to play the role of the whore, the mother and the friend and in an age that boasts open mindedness about sex, it seems the open mindedness only applies to one gender. This puts women in precarious positions and contributes greatly to a culture that is unaccepting of womanhood in its totality. Women’s reputations are both armour and weapon depending on who is using them and their consistent subjugation and understanding of who they are always relates back to the men they are dating, sleeping with, or seen talking to.
How often do they understand themselves–for themselves? How often do men see them as more than a function? Are they more than just laundromats, cooks, wives and “whores”? This inability to see women as people in their entirety makes them easier to dismiss, easier to shrink and ultimately– easier to abuse. And on a college campus where students are learning how to relate to each other, and how to manage power in relationships, this places them in a dangerous position. It becomes easy to turn people– with their layers and unique individuality into little more than functions.
To Be Contd
The Interviews: Setting the Stage
The Interviews: Setting the Stage
By Maame Akua Marfo
In an empty classroom on the University Of Ghana’s Legon Campus, eight students are talking.
It’s the kind of exchange one would expect on what is arguably the nation’s premier university, but the topic is far from their daily classroom discussions. The topic is their life.
For International Women’s day this year the African Women’s Development fund is hosting a panel conversation focusing on sex and relationships and the concept of date rape on local university campuses. The topic is one that has been discussed at length both domestically and internationally. The Ghanaian public are already aware of just how brutal university campuses can be for young women – from the stripping of a suspected thief in Commonwealth hall, to the leaking of various sex tapes and private pictures, young women are often victimized in these spaces.
But from the outside it’s often hard to paint a real picture.
So before the discussion we gathered a group of young women and a few men to see what the landscape of their campus is to them– and how date rape, sexual abuse and gender-based violence find their way into what are presumed to be hallowed halls.
Over the course of the first hour it becomes clear that the students talking are reflective– a far cry from the apathetic trope tossed around when students are discussed. They care deeply, especially about this. They open up about their relationships – and the ones that happen around them, with a surprising ease.
“We were in class and the professor asked a question about how we think women should dress going to church. And this guy pipes up and starts talking about how as women when you go to church you have to dress well to attract the right kind of attention…you know? You’re looking for a husband and you don’t want to attract the wrong sort of man. Most of the girls in the class were offended. I mean what do you mean? Ghanaian girls everywhere we go we are looking for a husband. In a club. In church. In school. Everywhere,” N, a final year student, said.
To N there seemed to be a strange draw for long-term relationships which many girls presumed would lead to marriage, and there was a trend where a lot of the girls seemed to date older men. A few comments from the male participants made it clear that there were times when this was true on their end too. They described relationships were their fellow students would have a decisive say in the ways their girlfriends dressed and the way they did their hair– and the girls in turn would have a list of things they didn’t want their boyfriend to do– though it seemed the first list was more restrictive.
This need for long term relationships that mirror marriage can set a dangerous precedent. The large amount of pressure placed on these young women makes them susceptible to making choices that go against their best interest just to fit in better. It also makes them more likely to accept undesirable behavior from their spouses because catering to them becomes more than just a suggestion; it becomes a necessity.
One thing is clear however, these relationships aren’t the only kind on campus. There’s a hook up culture here too, though it’s often hidden to avoid public shame (for women). Men however seem to be encouraged to have multiple relationships with multiple girls.
To be continued
International Women’s Day 2016 – Breaking The Brass Ceiling In Ghana’s Armed Forces
International Women’s Day 2016 – Breaking The Brass Ceiling In Ghana’s Armed Forces
Right in time for International Women’s Day this year we are thrilled to hear about Ghanaian Col. Constance Edjeani-Afenu’s promotion to the rank of Brig. General. It is the first time in the history of the Ghana Armed Forces that a woman has attained this rank.
Edjeani-Afenu, the Deputy Military Adviser of the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the United Nations in New York, now joins Africa’s tiny handful of elite ranking female officers.
This is a huge step forward for women in Ghana and shows how far we have come in such a male-dominated sector. We celebrate her achievement.
At AWDF we support changemakers – women’s activist organizations and individuals who defend and advance women’s empowerment, voice and rights. The Nimbus Foundation is an example of one such group. An $8,000 dlr grant from AWDF in 2015 enabled the Foundation to train 100 police officers to effectively handle cases of reported abuse. The police, selected from the Greater Accra region, were provided with a better understanding rights of the vulnerable, how to reduce rights violation by security officers. The officers; training was completed last month.
In 2001 Squadron Leader (Sqn Ldr) Selase Agbenyefia graduated as Ghana’s first female military helicopter pilot. She is also the first female helicopter pilot who flew with the Ghana Aviation Unit of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Cote d’Ivoire UNOCI. More recently in August 2015, Col Felicia Twum-Barima was appointed Director of the Education Corps for the Ghana Armed Forces, another first.
Turning to a completely different subject, AWDF will investigate Violence Against Women, Sexuality and Relationships on university campuses in Ghana, with a special emphasis on Date Rape and Sexual Assault. Read here our in-depth interviews with students on the University of Ghana as they open up about real-life relationships on campus.
For International Women’s Day we also salute women whose innovative and heroic interventions proved timely and life-saving during West Africa’s Ebola epidemic which raged from March 2014 to September 2015. Read how Sierra Leone’s Media Matters For Women made that crucial difference here.