On June 2, the SADC ministers in charge of gender and the status of women met in Kinshasa, under the chairmanship of Mireille Masangu. This meeting made it possible to take new resolutions in order to promote women’s rights and strengthen equality between men and women in the region.
At last year’s meeting in Malawi, ministers endorsed a SADC study on women in politics and decision-making. They then called on Member States to integrate and institutionalize the principles of equality in the SADC protocol on gender and development.
Thus, the decision to mainstream and institutionalize Articles 5, 12 and 13 of the SADC Protocol was adopted by the SADC Council of Ministers and Summit of Heads of State and Government during their meetings in Kinshasa in August 2022. This marks a turning point in the region’s political will to allocate resources and strengthen gender equality.
However, the Chairperson of the Ministers’ Meeting, Mireille Masangu, stressed the importance of budgeting for the implementation of gender equality in SADC member countries. She also called on ministers to bridge the gap between political intention and policy implementation, to achieve gender parity by 2030.
The DRC also reported on its efforts to promote gender equality, through organic laws such as the Parity Law and the Family Code. The Congolese government has also developed a national resolution 1325 action plan for the promotion of women’s participation in the political and social life of the country.
In conclusion, the meeting of SADC Ministers in Kinshasa made it possible to take new resolutions to strengthen gender equality in the region, but also to underline the importance of the implementation of these resolutions through budgeting and the political will of the Member States