The DRC is committed to making room for women for true gender equality. The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Public Service launched the new session of “Development Tuesday (MdD)” initiated by the UNDP in collaboration with the Permanent Consultation Framework for Congolese Women (CAFCO). In this sharp speech, he challenged all actors on women’s rights in the DRC.
Understanding what needs to be done to “Make Space for Women” is of great importance. This consists of building a society in which discrimination based on gender, the under-representation of women in decision-making positions despite their immense potential, is no longer seen as a simple priority, but an absolute emergency.
Indeed, the Congolese woman is a key player in the economic system that her exclusions leave untapped. The Deputy Prime Minister believes that this is the era where men must understand that it is in their interest to give women the place they deserve.
The implementation of this policy therefore results in the eradication of vices in Congolese society such as sexual and gender-based violence and frozen electoral lists. Women must instead be encouraged and aligned on electoral lists to run for positions of responsibility. This line of thought, supported by the President of the Republic, aims to establish equal treatment between men and women.
At the level of his cabinet, the VPM has set up a special commission in charge of developing a real “gender equality strategy within the Public Administration”. However, it invites all women leaders to play their crucial role in promoting this gender equality policy in the DRC.
Ultimately, “making room for women” amounts to “feminizing” Public Administration, by accepting that women are positioned with regard to opportunities for advancement in rank without having to overcome, in addition to the legal requirements common to all agent, barriers that have no other justification than their status as women, and being intractable in the face of the abject and immoral phenomena known as “sofa promotion”, or “batela kwanga”