African women are demanding to be part of the decision-making process of the emergency army set up by the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) to maintain peace and security on the continent.
At the Third Africa Women’s Peace Table seminar, held this week, more than 100 women from civil society and African defence forces discussed their participation in the formation of the AU’s planned African Standby Force, an army made up of soldiers from African countries, to be deployed to conflict areas.
”The world is witnessing an increase in the number of women working in defence,” said Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, Deputy Minister of Defence. Women, she said, must ”participate in ongoing processes of unpacking emerging policies and creating the right structures for the delivery of peace and security”.
The South African National Defence Force calculated in September that it has in its security force 9 345 women from a total of 76 114 soldiers. African women make up the majority, with 4 845 across all ranks.
In July the second summit of the AU, held in Maputo, was presented with plans for a 15-member Peace and Security Council incorporating the African Standby Force. The seminar called for AU member states to create a women’s forum to advise the AU/Nepad secretariat on its peace and security agenda.
”South Africa currently has its boots on the ground in Burundi and the technical expertise in the DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo],” said Jessie Duarte, ambassador and foreign affairs representative. ”But we need to walk off the paper and into action.” She said few women are ”involved in the country’s implementation of Nepad”.
The role of women, she said, is increasingly under the microscope. ”Now we need to assist women in filling pivotal posts but also give active and coherent support to women in posts previously exclusively reserved for men.”
A paper by Congo academic Evelyne Mbata Kalonji focused on the challenges to women during demobilisation of rebel forces in that country. She said that women are the most frequent victims of violence, during war as well as in peacetime, when they are not represented in decision-making and are discriminated against and sexually harassed.
But, said Madlala-Routledge, the situation is changing. ”Women comprise more than half of Africa’s population, and bear the brunt of consequences of insecurity … In response to this reality [they are] taking up active roles as serious advocates of change and democracy.”
Patience Phasa, chairperson of Women for Peace, an NGO that promotes peace at community level, said women’s role in peace-making should be acknowledged: ”Women are solving conflicts every day in their homes.” She said the role of women in the military is similar to their role in communities, where they have to deal with crime, hijacking and abuse. ”We women are mediators and agents of African renaissance.”
In South Africa the challenge is to recruit more women into the defence force — and to put them in positions in artillery and armaments.
Major General Jackie Sedibe, director of the army’s equal opportunities unit, said women in the defence force are not given ”softer” roles and are eager to be deployed on peacekeeping missions. ”These recommendations will lay the foundation for future discussions in the AU/Nepad process.”
According to Phenyo Rakate, a research analyst in the defence secretariat, the integration of women into the upper ranks of the defence force has not been adequate. ”The problem,” he said, ”is that the military has closed ranks and women are promoted over [a period of] many years.”
Rakate was disappointed that the seminar did not provide a database of the women in the defence force or a review of the promotions made in the past 10 years. He concurred, however, with a recommendation that there be an audit of women in the army and benchmarks for performance.