AWoman’sPlaceIs Everywhere
As part of ChinAfrica’s cover story on International Women’s Day on March 8, we asked three African women ambassadors to China, Tania Romualdo, Ambassador of Cabo Verde, Lebohang Ntsinyi, Ambassador of Lesotho, and Dolana Msimang, Ambassador of South Africa, for their thoughts on the progress made and challenges still faced in their respective countries by women as they continue to march toward gender equity.
Tania Romualdo Ambassador of Cabo Verde to China
Making a positive difference
In Cabo Verde, women play a main role in society, not only as main educators in the family and society but also as professionals. Women play an important role in the education of children and in the molding of their surrounding society’s behavior. Women are therefore in a particularly good position to exercise their influence on people’s mindsets. Of course this cannot be done quickly and is a process that will take many years.
Our achievements on gender equality are huge. In our previous government, two thirds of the ministers were women. For equal jobs we receive equal salaries. We have equal access to opportunities in education and employment. But we still have a long way to go. In parliament, the number of women is low, not because there are restrictions to women’s access, but because the number of women playing leading roles in politics is not high enough. In rural areas, women have a hard life and face huge challenges, which are even bigger if they are single moms or wives whose husbands emigrated to look for better conditions for their families.
China-Africa cooperation can empower African women by the implementation of the 10 cooperation plans adopted at the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in late 2015. In particular, the projects dealing with agricultural modernization, green development, poverty reduction, public health, cultural and people-to-people exchanges can play an important role in this field.
There is a governmental institution called the Cabo Verdean Institute for Gender Equality and Equity dealing with the improvement of gender equality. I would like to promote direct contact between their president and the leaders of similar institutions in China, in order to establish a partnership between the sister institutions.
I believe Chinese and African women can learn much more if they enhance a dialogue and start sharing experiences, which can only start with cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Culture is one of the most powerful weapons in our hands if we use it well and take the most out of it. It will definitely help us achieve our goals of mutual understanding, mutual respect, exchanging of experiences and learning from each other.
African women living in China should grab this wonderful opportunity to experience living in such a culturally rich country as China. They should take advantage to learn as much as they can about the Chinese history, culture, people and the language. African women should explore China in every way possible to promote their own country and continent, to promote not only political dialogue, cooperation and business relations, but also the cultural and people-to-people exchanges, because after all, that’s what will bring us all closer together and make this world a better place.
Lebohang Ntsinyi Ambassador of Lesotho to China
Empowering women
From a historical perspective, Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa, and for a long time, many men from Lesotho usually migrated to South Africa to work in the mines, while the sisters and wives stayed at home. In addition, when the boys became a bit bigger, many went to work in the mines or went out to look after the animals, while the sisters went to school.
Because of this cultural background, Lesotho has more girls educated than boys, whereas in many African countries, girls are disadvantaged in terms of education and many other things. It is the opposite in Lesotho. But that gap is now closing, because of the changing times. That’s also why now Lesotho has more than a 90 percent literacy rate because men and women are equally educated. When it comes to jobs, Lesotho never makes any distinction between men and women, and there’s no discrimination. It’s equal pay for equal jobs. That’s the tradition in Lesotho.
However, when it comes to politics, women are still left behind. They are scared of going out and standing for a political position, because sometimes they don’t want to take that risk and be engaged in the rough and tumble of politics. In addition, women opt to stay at home and raise children, and that has an impact on their career path. That’s why I wish we could find a way where the responsibility [of raising a child] can be shared [between men and women].
We hope that China-Africa cooperation can help with decentralization, and help some companies or other types of industries develop in the villages, so that there is less urban migration. If women can find jobs in their own rural areas, they will stay there. This will make sure you don’t break up the family. Socially, it will [also] benefit the children.
What I admire here is the Chinese women teach the children to be focused and to be hard workers. We have to instill that sense of duty, and the sense of the love of the country in our children. I noticed that in China you can find women in middle management, but in the higher positions there are very few women. But in Lesotho, it’s equal all the way up to the top.
Dolana Msimang South African Ambassador to China
Unite for better future
Women worldwide have an inherent sense of responsibility and willingness to make sacrifices for the wellbeing of others. These qualities in women across all spectra of society are what give us hope for the future.
Last year, South Africa celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria. On August 9 that year, one of the most historic events in the struggle for freedom and women’s rights in South Africa took place in the country’s administrative capital Pretoria, when more than 20,000 women of different races marched to the Union Buildings to protest against legislation aimed at tightening the apartheid government’s control over the movement of black women in urban areas. They also challenged the idea that “a woman’s place is in the kitchen,” declaring it instead to be “everywhere.”
This disciplined and dignified crowd demonstrated the strength and determination of women united, striving for equal rights, democracy and legitimacy.
Women, whether in Africa, Asia or elsewhere, have the intrinsic desire to make the world a better place. It is, therefore, critical for women to ensure that they take their rightful positions in politics, government, business and civil society and that women and girls of all ages have access to quality education, universal healthcare, adequate food and shelter and a peaceful and safe environment.
These are the goals of many countries, governments and international organizations and are also contained in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals adopted on September 25, 2015, setting targets for the next 15 years to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of the sustainable development agenda.
To secure our future for many generations to come, it is our duty as women, irrespective of age, position or status, to internalize these goals and to contribute toward them with strength and determination as part of the global project to make the world a better place for all, who live in it.
