It is not by off chance that a woman is the head of the Pan African Parliament or in the African Security Council. Neither is it coincidental that a woman is leading the country mission support group of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

"Gender Equality is given priority by the crop of new leaders and this is hopeful, because we are preparing a continent that our grandchildren will be comfortable in," she quips.

The recognition of women in these high offices is interpreted as a good omen for the women of Africa, who have fought relentlessly over the decades for recognition of the work they do, not only for their countries but also for the world as a whole.

A declaration by Southern African Development Community (SADC) requires that each SADC member country should have 30 per cent representation by women in political and decision-making bodies.

Even as the Kenyan Government accepts to be reviewed by the APRM, Kenyan women rightly complain that they are still absent from Government decision-making organs.

Orie Rogo-Manduli, an activist and chair of the Kenyan NGO Council makes the pointed observation that women are invisible even at the APRM Secretariat in Nairobi.

"I can count on my fingertips how many women are at the top decision organs of the APRM. Something needs to be done if women are to benefit from this initiative," she complains.

Graca Machel reiterates that it is worthwhile to give faces and voices of both men and women to such an organ so that its impact is felt even at the grassroot levels.

"This is the first time that democracy has been recognised, gender issues have also been carried on board. There is a syndrome of change in the continent," she says.

But Kenyan women can get some reassurance from Graca, who declares that it is time African nations got out of their pessimism cocoons and invigorated self-confidence. The image that is usually created about Africa is a wrong one, and should be shorn off.

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