Women want greater role in African Union
Mrs Graca Machel has called for the amendment of the Parliamentary Protocol of the African Union to ensure at least two members from each country are women.
"This is the only way that the change from the OAU (former Organisation of African Unity) to the AU can give a real chance to women to take their rightful place in the continent�s decision-making," she told journalists on arrival in Nairobi on Tuesday.
The former Mozambican and South African First Lady (she is married to former South African president Nelson Mandela) leaves Kenya this morning after attending a meeting of the African Women�s Network and addressing a dinner to congratulate the civil society for its role in Kenya�s political transition.
The dinner last night was hosted by the National Council of NGOs and Mwelekeo wa NGO (Mwengo), whose board of trustees Mrs Machel chairs.
The women�s network took part in the first assembly of the African Union in Durban, South Africa.
The purpose of the network meeting here was to create common ground for African women�s networks, according to Mrs Machel.
She stressed the need to define women�s integration in the AU.
"It is one thing to have women sitting in parliament but quite another having them discuss and make decisions that are of importance to women," she said.
The network is concerned with having women in all AUprogrammes.
The network meeting is a follow-up to the Maputo AU summit earlier this year.
Mrs Machel noted with concern that there were no women presidents in Africa, few ministers of foreign affairs and very few women ambassadors in Addis Ababa, the AU headquarters.
At least 27 member countries need to sign the AU Protocol if the Pan African parliament is to take off on schedule. As at Maputo, only 21 countries had signed the protocol.
Mrs Machel questioned the legitimacy of women�s advocacy groups which were not rooted on the continent. (IRIS)
"Our legitimacy has to come from the mandate we receive from the grassroots or at least from the sub-regions we come from."
She said: "You have to move to a point where your legitimacy comes from people�s representation. You are not speaking on their behalf, but you represent them."
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