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ASSOCIATION OF AFRICAN WOMEN FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Advocacy Competition
Participation in Africa
(AAWORD)
Competition on Gender and Political
Call for papers F
1. Context and justification of the competition
Despite the achievements noted, gender equality is still mobilizing women’s
organisations and activists on gender mainstreaming need in policies and programs
developed by African states at the global, continental and national levels. At the level
of democratic governance, the examination of the trends of women’s political
participation since Beijing reveals that, despite a few results gained on the field,
progress are very short of the 30% set in Beijing. The gap between men and women
is still high at all levels of decision making
The AAWORD/AFARD workshop held in December 2009 in Dakar on « Gender and
Political Participation in Africa », has not only allowed to identify resistances to the
mass inclusion of women in the decision making spheres but also showed the
persistency of the glass ceiling in those spheres which do not give women the
opportunity to influence policies and programs developed in their countries. Hence
the reason why following the Dakar workshop and in the framework of the African
Women Decade, and faced with the 2015 deadline for the evaluation of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), AAWORD/AFARD is organizing a
competition of the best papers on women’s political participation in Africa, in order to
provide the African Women Forum and the Platform of Young researchers, with all
useful arguments to improve their advocacy in terms of democratic governance. Male
and female applicants will be invited to :
_ first document the reasons of African women’s political setbacks by
emphasizing the socio-cultural and economic resistances that stand in their
political career ;
_ identify the best experiences of African women’s political participation as role
model for young political aspirants ;
_ and lastly make recommendations to :
- Religious actors: because they play a predominant role in the elections and
the choice of leaders in our countries. This phenomenon which is far from
being isolated seems to be part of a power system which the spiritual is
exerting on the temporal one. In these power stakes, women seem to be left
out and even sent back to the private sphere for the public one to be left to
men.
- State actors: because the State has an essential role to play in women’s
involvement in political governance. The importance of the Executive’s political
will to achieve the objectives of gender equality and parity in politics has been
strongly emphasized at the Dakar workshop. However, the lack of a legal and
social framework in favour of gender equality in politics could slow down the
march towards equality. What is expected from the State is not only the
establishment of policies of positive discrimination but responsibility to bring
into full play its binding force in order to ensure the enforcement of electoral
provisions and laws in favour of women. However, the State seems to be
unbiased and hardly succeeds in combining its political choices with its
regulating and protecting role for the rights of male and female citizens.
- Political actors are not outdone: They make egalitarian speeches but in
practice, come against the increase of the number of men in the political field
and thus power seizing by men. Why women which seem to be dominating in
number in political parties are ghettoized in women’s movements within
political parties and representations which hardly exceed the 25% quota ?
Recommendations aiming at encouraging parties in organizational and
programmatic reforms need to be made.
- Women and girls in politics: the Dakar workshop made it possible to start to
think about political women’s perceptions on themselves and politics. Thus it
was noted a tendency to idealize the political system and introduce equity in it
at the time when violence is presented as the only means for winning voices
and positions. Communication will help carry out a thorough analysis of the
perceptions of political women and aspirants and identify aspects on which
capacity building or personal development could be undertaken.
2. Profile of male and female applicants:
Candidates will be interested male and female youth between age 18 - 35 with a
University degree (a BA at least) and of African nationality.
3. Applicants are expected to:
- Document resistances to African women’s political participation
- Identify best practices
- And make recommendations to political parties, religious leaders, States and
political women and aspirants.
4. Applications must include:
- An updated CV and a paper on the theme within the geographical region of the
applicant (ECOWAS, SADEC, EAC, CEMAC or UMA).
- Papers must not exceed 12 pages (A4) size including bibliography, of Times
New Roman 12, with 1,15 line spacing;
- Documents should be submitted in English or French no later than February
25th 2012 at 18h00 Dakar time (GMT) to:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
5. Advantages for prizewinners:
- A US$ lumpsum to cater for desk review and writing costs
- On line publication of the paper in AAWORD/AFARD website from March 8th
2012 (Celebration of the International Women’s Day)
- A certificate from AAWORD/AFARD
- A free subscription to available AAWORD/AFARD publications since 2007 (in
hard or soft copy);
- And participation in the platform of young researchers of AAWORD/AFARD
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