Thousands of women turned out at the 20 Boulevard in Cameroon\u2019s capital singing that they do not want to be treated as inferior to men any longer.<\/p>\n
The Cameroon government said it expected between ten thousand and fifteen thousand women for International Women\u2019s Day celebrations on Tuesday. But Cameroon\u2019s Ministry of Women’s Empowerment said more than 20,000 came out in Yaounde to protest.<\/p>\n
Similar protests took place in towns and villages across Cameroon, in both French- and English-speaking areas.<\/p>\n
Nicoline Nwenushi Wazeh, founder of the NGO Pathways for Women\u2019s Empowerment and Development, PaWED, says Cameroon\u2019s government is not doing much for women to gain more political power or reach representation goals set by the United Nations and African Union.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll four ministers of state are men. Out of the 39 ministers we only have six women. All ten governors of the regions are men. Of the 58 divisional officers we have only two women. The lack of political will has made it that Cameroon government neither respects the universal quota of 30% nor the African Union quota of 50-50,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Nwenushi said there are only 61 women in the 180-member the lower house of parliament and the Senate has 26 women against 74 men.<\/p>\n
Mumah Bih Yvonne of the Cameroon Women\u2019s Peace Movement\u2019s says both President Paul Biya and Cameroon\u2019s electoral laws make it difficult for women to climb to leadership positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe electoral code does not clearly spell out what quota is reserved for women. It just mentions that gender should be taken into consideration. Women need to be pushed by political will so I think this government can do better by appointing women who are very apt in different positions,\u201d Bih said.<\/p>\n
Marie-Therese Abena Ondou is Cameroon\u2019s Minister of Women\u2019s Empowerment and the Family. She says the ministry she leads has been educating men to consider women as equals. She says she also educates women to contest for elected positions and not to be scared of intimidating men.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany men feel threatened when we talk about equality and we want to reassure them (men) that it is not that they [men] will be pushed aside, it is working together. Men and women are born equal and we should try to remember that both have the same potential if given the same opportunities,\u201d Ondou said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Cameroon, thousands of women protested on International Women\u2019s Day Tuesday demanding more political power and government jobs. Women make up more than half of Cameroon\u2019s population, but there is not a single female among the country\u2019s 10 regional governors or council presidents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":2979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,15],"tags":[7,26,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-2982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-politics","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics"},"yoast_head":"\n