Gender empowerment hinges on social system overhaul � Judge
Gothataone Moeng | Tuesday June 24, 2014 14:45
Speaking at last week’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights workshop, Marumo said there is need to improve systems to do with law and justice, education, politics, labour and finance for women and girls.
“This also entails rethinking macroeconomic and social protection policies for women throughout the life cycle to take into account their reproductive role and the unequal and unpaid care burden disproportionately borne by women and girls,” she said.
Marumo said ensuring sexual and reproductive health and realising reproductive rights is imperative, since there is evidence that there is a complex link between sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equality and women’s empowerment.
“The ability to have reproductive choices in the private sphere have enabled women to play a greater productive role in the public sphere. Yet today, many women and girls are still unable to access sexual and reproductive health services. Every day, 800 women die from causes related to childbirth and pregnancy,” she said.
Many factors affect sexual and reproductive health outcomes, from women’s level of education to women’s participation in the labour market and in parliament, she said. The workshop was held to brainstorm priority issues that stakeholders can use strategic litigation for, to help many women.
Southern African Litigation Centre’s Nyasha Chingore explained that strategic litigation involves taking selected cases to court to bring significant changes in the law, such as cases that would clarify what a law means or that would result in laws being struck down or amended.
She said sexual reproductive rights cases that may be suitable for strategic litigation include those dealing with gender-based violence, maternal health, unsafe abortion, as well as early marriage and adolescent motherhood. From the discussions at the workshop, SRH advocacy groups seemed keen on exploring strategic litigation for issues such as government’s non-ratification of the SADC Gender Protocol and the 2003 Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, as well as the availability of health information and health services for sex workers and sexual minorities.