The Organisation of African First Ladies for Development, under the stewardship of First Lady Monica Geingos, and partners launched the #WeAreEqual campaign, a year-long and continent-wide intervention that calls for urgent action to advance gender equity and close the gender gap across Africa.
The #WeAreEqual Campaign was launched in Kinshasa/DRC in May 2023 by OAFLAD, crossing over to Namibia and Geingos pointing out that although 54 nations support the course, about 37 are active.
Geingos was speaking at the official launch of the campaign for Namibia at State House yesterday.
She said Namibia has a lot to offer as the world has adopted a tendency of holding Namibia in high regard, as trailblazers, whether it’s in HIV, oil discovery, or the state of the country’s correctional facilities which are benchmarked by African countries.
“The enrolment of female students at institutions of higher learning and the graduation level are about 70% female and that horrifies me; because that is not “we are equal- it’s a huge disparity that needs to be fixed,” stated Geingos yesterday.
She added that achieving gender equality is critical to driving social and economic progress for all and building the Namibia that we want.
Officiating the event, Vice President Nangolo Mbumba said men and women equally possess the same inherent dignity, deserve the same rights, and have the same potential to contribute to our societies, regardless of gender.
Advocate Bience Gawanas stated that it is quite a sad situation that 33 years after Namibia’s independence and that of other African states, there are still discussions around the gender gap and parity.
“Why is it that we are taking so long to close the gender gap?, as it is explained there are many factors at play. So, a campaign like this is just throwing light on issues that we sometimes shy away from. I hope it will resonate across the continent, I can see it has more depth and meaning,” stated Gawanas.
She said Namibia has one of the best legal frameworks on the continent, starting with laws against violence. The first law passed in Namibia was the Married Persons Equality Act, followed by many others, dealing with gender issues, so the law is not the issue when it comes to addressing the disparity among men and women, she said.
“For the law to be impactful, you need to have different dimensions because the law does not operate in isolation. You need to look at economics and social and what support mechanisms are in Namibia,” she stated.