Women happy with the audit on the draft constitution

A galaxy of women leaders drawn from across political, regional and professional divides yesterday assembled in Nairobi and audited each chapter and article of the Harmonised Draft Constitution of Kenya, taking a common position on each one of them which they will then present as their official stand to the Committee of Experts.

A research conducted by the Eastern African Sub-region Supporting Initiative for Advancement of Women (EASSI) showed that, the level of women speaking in the media is still below 50 per cent despite women making over 52 per cent of the population. In most cases, when women speak, their roles are often limited to victims, family or only when they are celebrities. On the other hand, professionals quoted were treated like men. Often reporters say that editors have scrapped stories about women or women's issues because they did not find them newsworthy.

Although Uganda is one of the leading countries in East Africa with regards to enhancing gender equality through leadership and decision-making, there is still a remarkable disparity in the way men and women are portrayed in the media.

Sudan is a young democracy battling to stay afloat against a backdrop of a fragile peace arrangement after a civil strife that lasted about 22 years and fuelled by decades-old misunderstandings between Arabs in the north and blacks in the south.

Although the country acquired independence from the United Kingdom and Egypt in 1956, the people have lived with the terrifying sound of gunshots and the pungent smell of spilt blood, which ceased only with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005.

A recent study by the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA-K) - a women’s rights advocacy organization that works for gender equality through legal aid - reveals that disabled women are up to three times more likely to be victims of physical and sexual abuse than their non-disabled counterparts.

Patricia Nyaundi, FIDA-K’s Executive Director, says that disabled women in Kenya are abused sexually under the pretext of culture and myths.

Miriam Muto agrees. Program Co-coordinator for the Empowerment Resource Development Center in Nairobi and Vice Chairperson of Women’s Challenge, she points to a tragic misconception, “There is the belief that if one sleeps with a disabled woman, there are chances of a cure for AIDS.”