A new legal framework for South Sudanese women
A public hearing earlier this month brought together South Sudanese women from the government, civil society and NGOs to scrutinise the draft of the new framework. It now has to be endorsed by the Council of Ministers before being ratified by the parliament.
From across the board, people welcomed the legal step. At present there are no guidelines on gender issues.
Izeduwa Derex, November 1.
Izeduwa Derex, UN Women Country Representative for South Sudan, underscored the importance of this legal framework, calling it very significant”.
The document will be very significant because even if you are going to mobilise resources for gender the first thing the development partners will ask for is the gender policy,” said Izeduwa in an interview with The Niles.
Among the subjects tackled are gender and education, capacity building, empowerment, peace and security, environment and natural resources, sexual and gender based violence.
This is to create a framework for gender equality and women empowerment in the national development processes,” said Esther Ikere Elujai, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare.
Her ministry will monitor the results of the implementation of the gender policy and address challenges, she said.
Among these is the challenge of getting more girls an education. At present, South Sudanese girls are more likely to have a child than an education, according to statistics by non-governmental organisations.
Esther Ikere Elujai, November 1.
The document is trying to improve the enrolment rate difference between boys and girls,” Ikere said. It also looks at how we can improve education institutions for teachers so that we have enough qualified teachers.”
She said possible solutions included creating boarding schools for girls to keep them in education or boosting awareness among families about the negative impact of early marriage for girls.
But there is a long way to go in South Sudan where women face some of the worst conditions. Its maternal mortality rate, for example is among the world’s worst, with more than 2,000 women per 100,000 dying giving birth.
The document focuses on how the government and police should address issues of rape and violence against women.
The UN’s Izeduwa Derex explained that the policy is in line with UN demands that member countries ratify a national gender policy. It is part of the UN Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
She emphasised that cultural awareness needs to be boosted on issues like the widespread problem of domestic violence.
We need to raise awareness and sensitise people to this, women and particularly men,” she said. A lot of women have been socially taught to believe that violence is a culture, violence is not a culture -- attitudes need to change.”
Aguil DeChut Deng, November 1.
South Sudanese women activists welcomed the policy plan. Aguil DeChut Deng a civil society activist working for the Women National Development Foundation said the gender policy plan will form firm guidelines on women issues.
Without the policy plan, it is like everybody is working on their own and sometimes we duplicate”, she said.
Although South Sudan’s constitution states that women should represent 25 percent of power in the country, this has never happened.
Although women played a key role in placing their vote during the country’s referendum last year, their voices are not being heard in the government, she said, adding that only five of the 29 national ministers are women.
