A cross-section of young women and leaders attending a three-day intergenerational dialogue on women’s leadership and political participation in Juba on Wednesday attributed the low participation of women in leadership and political positions to gender norms and cultural beliefs across the country.
Sarah Atoj, a journalist told Radio Tamazuj that gender stereotypes and misconceptions about women’s roles hinder the participation of women in leadership positions and that they need to be addressed.
“There are always stereotypes that women are not capable of participating in or even influence while in leadership,” she explained. “The other stereotype is that women should only play a role in their homes or take care of children and only as housewives. So, the stereotypes limiting women’s participation in politics need to be addressed.”
For her part, the founder of GoGo Play South Sudan, Rachael Hakim, urged the transitional government to create more awareness for women, especially at the grassroots level so that their voices are heard.
“Creating more awareness is important for women to participate in politics. The government should encourage the participation of women in politics because women’s voices need to be heard,” she stated. “The government should also create enough chances for women through free schooling and increase their awareness that women can participate in the political process.”
For her part, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mary Nawai concurred that traditional norms and beliefs still hamper the participation of women in politics and urged their male counterparts to advocate for the participation of women in politics.
“Some people believe women are supposed to be in the kitchen or take care of children, they have assigned it to women according to traditional norms and beliefs,” she said. “So, it is one of the challenges facing our women but as women leaders, we need to influence the men to stand with us to advocate for the women’s participation in leadership. We have seen the importance of women in politics.”
Meanwhile, Tabita Angel, the communication officer at Action Girls Africa, said the 35 percent affirmative action for women in the peace agreement is not sufficient and must be increased.
“When we look at women in political leadership, they are not many and we ask ourselves why. Even the 35 percent affirmative action is not enough for us as women and that is why we here dialoguing,” she stated. “I feel that as women, we should come together and empower ourselves, influence and we need to also look at and support the rural areas who cannot speak for themselves.”
However, the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, James Kutiyote, contended that women’s participation in leadership roles has improved in South Sudan compared to the past.
“You see that women are coming up to participate in politics and we now have a woman as a vice president in South Sudan and she is a very influential person. We also have a woman speaker of the national parliament and she is very powerful. So, there are changes in South Sudan,” he said. “We encourage women to join political parties and actively commit to community programs. We now see that some women are now chiefs and paramount chiefs which was not the case before.”