Women at Work in Africa

Where to Work Women at Work in Africa

By CARLA DE YCAZA

Opportunities and Challenges

The challenges that women in African societies have faced have always been enormous, but things might be changing as more and more women in Africa stand up for their and their communities' rights. In 2011 the Nobel Prize was assigned to three women, two from Liberia and one from Yemen.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARDED TO WOMEN ACTIVISTS FROM AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Women in Africa have traditionally faced enormous challenges in the workplace, including gender inequalities, economic disparities, lack of political representation, lack of access to healthcare and education, an increased risk of HIV/AIDS, and lack of access to resources. The continent has also experienced a significant increase in civil wars and internal armed conflict. The disproportionate impact of conflict in Africa on women, particularly of sexual and gender-based violence, has led to an increase in women’s participation as agents of positive change on the continent. It is fitting, then, that the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen for their “nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” The Norwegian Nobel Committee stated in its announcement that “we cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society.” The selection of these three women activists highlights the ongoing struggle for women’s rights and gender equality, as well as the contribution of women to peace-building processes both globally and specifically in African and the Arab world. The winners of the 2011 Prize included President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and pro-democracy campaigner Tawakkol Karman of Yemen. President Sirleaf is the first woman to be elected president in Africa. Sirleaf has led the country in a

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Ludovico Maria Gilberti is a painstaking photographer, author, artist and witness to humanity through images. On 18 December 2009, with Resolution No. 64/169 the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the year 2011 The International Year for People of African Descent.

The International Year must become a milestone in the ongoing campaign to advance the rights of people of African descent. The fine arts photographer Gilberti brings out the poetry of Africa by blending land, sea and sky in moving visions.

transition from conflict to peace, improving gender equity in Liberia. Fellow Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee is the head of the Women for Peace movement and has been praised for uniting Christian and Muslim women against Liberia’s warlords. Tawakkol Karman is a leading voice in Yemen’s populist revolt who inspired many women to mobilize. Karman called the award “a victory for our revolution, for our methods, for our struggle, for all Yemeni youth, and all the youth in the Arab world – in Tunisia, in Egypt, everywhere.”

IMPACT OF NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

WINNERS FOR WOMEN WORKING IN AFRICA

Although African women have become more visible in the international sphere regarding issues of peace and conflict, there are still many obstacles and challenges to women’s involvement in the decision-making process on the ground in Africa. According to Tracy Dexter, independent consultant on women, peace and security in Burundi, “women have undoubtedly contributed enormously in the public sphere. Opportunities are slowly increasing for women in Africa but threats remain. The resistance to gender equality and to the public roles of certain women is extreme, deadening to the spirit, and potentially fatal. Beyond courage, the physical energy and precious time away from family (almost all women in the public sphere are married, and have several children) that it takes to persevere is enormous. Nonetheless, so much of women’s work is humanizing and thus absolutely essential, as is the work of Ellen, Leymah and Tawakkul and life-giving as is the work of Maathai Wangari (the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner from Kenya who died last month).” In its 110-year history, the Nobel Peace Prize has only been awarded to 12 other women, including Maathai, Mother Teresa, and American philanthropist Jane Addams. The number of African nominees and laureates has also increased since the 1950s. Women in Africa have become more empowered and encouraged to enter the workplace both on the continent and internationally. African women are increasingly gaining acknowledgement for their tireless work, especially in the international community. Rosette MuzigoMorrison is an expert providing support for the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Libya, and has worked on the ground in Africa for international law institutions such as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone “I am surrounded by powerful African women -- judges, ambassadors, Fatou Bensouda the ICC Deputy Prosecutor -- I could write you a book about their work and steep ascent to high places.”

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

FACING WOMEN WORKING IN AFRICA

Women have traditionally provided the backbone of the rural economy in Africa, including caring for the children, the sick and elderly, as well as farming and trading. Additionally, women farmers usually worker longer hours than men and perform physically strenuous tasks which could be improved with funding for proper equipment. According to a BBC interview with African writer and director Tsitsi Dangarembga, “women are carrying out multiple roles as breadwinners, wives and mothers… It is very difficult for groups formed by African women to obtain the funds they need, whether from their own countries or abroad.” Both international and African women working in Africa face economic and social challenges. Traditionally, women have been excluded from many economically viable positions within society. Women also face the challenges of organization and unity, and a lack of allocation of resources available through development projects and structural adjustment policies. Olivia Bueno of the International Refugee Rights Initiative highlights the challenges she has faced in her work as an international woman working in Africa “certainly there are many of the same issues for women in Africa as in the US in the work world: the difficulty of balancing work and life priorities, discrimination, exploitation by male colleagues. It is interesting that the not-for-profit sector is really male-dominated in Africa, un-

01 Eden 02 Origin 03 People prayer Photos by Ludovico Maria Gilberti, Courtesy of fuoriSerrone

like in the US, where it tends to be femaledominated, but I think that that has to do with earning patterns (in African economies the not-for-profit sector tends to be relatively high-paying, whereas in the US it is relatively low-paying). In a social context in which there is greater emphasis on childbearing and family, it is obviously even harder for women to break out of traditional roles and prioritize their careers.”

THE WAY FORWARD

Nigerian activist Toyin Ajao, who is currently a Fellow at King’s College London and the African Leadership Centre, highlights what she takes from the experience of the Nobel Peace Prize winners in terms of women in the workplace in Africa “though working in some countries as a woman is not as tough as others, all are tough anyway. Most often as a woman in a demanding or leadership job, you have to work twice as hard to make a difference. What I take from this is that those women like Ellen JohnsonSirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman are the story of inspiration that ‘women can do it’ and that more strives will be made to put policies and laws in place for women’s inclusion in all works of life. There have been women in the past that have been so invincible. There are more that will make an impact even after Johnson-Sirleaf, Gbowee and Karman. There are many out there that we may never hear their names but they will forever be a part of the change, the difference and the impact.” In an interview Ajao states “my aspiration is to be one of the builders of a world of equality, a world where diversity is respected and values for peoples’ lives are paramount – a world where religion and culture are not used as weapons of dispute and destructions, where leaders serve and not steal, where everyone does not pretend to love one another but does so straight from the heart.” Ajao followed up “I believe so much in what I said because even when the road is tough, you know you can’t stop because those inspirational women like Funmi Olonisakin, the late Wangari Maathai, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkul Karman never quit.” •