A workshop to validate Cameroon’s Gender Policy took place last Wednesday in Yaounde.

In Cameroon over 50 per cent of the population is made up of women. But a majority of them are still unemployed and live in abject poverty. Researchers have demonstrated that development in various countries has been hampered because most women are not involved in the social, economic and other decision-making milieu. Authorities in Cameroon are currently working out ways to ensure that women have the place they merit in the society. That is why the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Marie-Therese Abena Oudoua chaired a workshop in Yaounde on Wednesday, October 13, to validate Cameroon’s National Gender Policy. The document which is prepared by the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family has been sponsored by foreign donors.

In the presence of several members of government, the Governor of the Centre Region, members of the diplomatic corps, traditional and other administrative authorities, Minister Marie-Therese Abena Oudoua, said the government is engaged in modernising the society and this cannot be done without considering the place of women within the community. Besides ratifying conventions relating to women and participating in international conferences on women, the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family said the validation of the document on gender policy in Cameroon will be a base of orientation for handling gender issues not only at her ministry but in all administrative bodies in Cameroon. The gender policy document, she added, will greatly reverse the status quo in the grassroots where it is still believed that a woman’s role is for reproduction.

According to the head of unit of Fund donors for gender equality from Canada, Guy Mercier, “women are everywhere, be it in the health, education, economic, social or environmental domains. It is important to give them the position to express themselves on all aspects”. Mercier added that now is the time to consider the presence and positions of women in the society for major developmental projects to survive. Guy Mercier further explained that budgets should be gender specific when being formulated for the need of women should be taken into consideration at every step so that they can benefit from each development project thereby bridging the gaps in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He sounded upbeat that the gender policy document will change the society of Cameroon especially as President Paul Biya stressed the need for the 2011 budget to be gender specific.