Gambia’s record on women’s rights to face scrutiny by UN committee

GENEVA – The Gambia’s record on women’s rights will be examined by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on Thursday 9 July in meetings that will be webcast live.

The Gambia is one of the 189 States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and so is required to submit regular reports to the Committee of 23 independent experts on how it is implementing the Convention.

The Committee will engage in a dialogue with a delegation from the Gambian Government of on questions relating to the promotion and protection of women’s rights in the country, and will also hear from NGO representatives. The session will take place in Conference Room XVI at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 10:00 - 17:00 (08:00 – 15:00 in The Gambia).  The live webcast can be viewed at http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/. 

Among the possible issues to be discussed are: Women’s access to justice; measures to tackle female genital mutilation and other forms of violence against women; measures to promote women’s participation in political and public life; decriminalization of abortion; support for women living with HIV/AIDS; situation of rural women; incompatibility of customary and personal laws with the Convention, particularly in regard to marriage, divorce and inheritance; measures to combat child and forced marriage

GAMCOTRAP Engages with the Lived Realities of Rural Women

resume on October 14 for hearing.

Nine hundred women and religious leaders in the Upper River, Central River and Lower River Regions are targeted to increase awareness on the lived realities of rural women within the context of QIWAMAH AND WILAYAH.   The Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (GAMCOTRAP), funded by The Tides Foundation, through the New Field Foundation will build the capacity of a critical mass of male and female religious leaders, women leaders and women of reproductive age in the rural areas to foster exchange of experience and mutual support of women’s rights and justice within their communities.  This is within the context of the project entitled "Increasing Awareness and Documentation of Women's Rights Issues on the Life Stories on Qiwamah and Wilayah in Three Districts of Rural Gambia."  The project is specifically targeting 450 religious scholars and 450 women.

In 2012, GAMCOTRAP as a member of MUSAWAH, a global movement to promote Equality and Justice in the Muslim family undertook a research project on the lived realities of thirteen Gambian women within the context of QIWAMAH and WILAYAH (QIWI).  While QIWAMAH and WILAYAH are contextualized as legal responsibilities of men providing protection and upkeep of the family, the data collected from the lived realities of the women revealed different narratives.

The data collected, revealed how women struggled in their daily lives to survive and support their families irrespective of whether the husband is alive or dead, or whether he is around or travelled or whether divorced or inherited. This is irrespective of geographical location, educational background, age or status. The high illiteracy rate among women, the prevalent rate of violence on women, and the strong adherence of deep-rooted culture and traditional practices exacerbate the problem. These coupled with women’s limited knowledge about their rights in their religion all have negative impact on women’s health and livelihood.

This is the main aim of the project sharing experiences and providing evidences of how QIWI concepts actually acts out or manifest for Muslim women in the Gambia.  The voices of the thirteen (13) respondents have been developed into a video documentary and a booklet funded by New Field Foundation.  These will be used as resource materials to raise the awareness of women, religious and Islamic scholars to effect change.  The resource materials will be widely disseminated for people to appreciate what women experience. It will also serve as resource material for feminist analysis within the framework of Islam and Human Rights of women. 

Source: GAMCOTRAP

Life Stories Use as a Tool of Advocacy in the Right of Women in Islam

 

Life stories of women documented on Qiwamah and Wilayan in The Gambia has been used to advocate for the rights of Women in Islam.

The first ever in the Gambia, Qiwamah and Wilayan is Musawah’s initiative to make knowledge and advocacy strategies relating to family laws and practices and women’s rights in Islam more accessible. 
It’s a groundbreaking analysis of family law, based on fieldwork in family courts, and illuminated by insights from distinguished clerics and scholars of Islam, as well as by the experience of human rights and women’s rights activists.

Through this life stories, GAMCOTRAP, a women’s right NGO,   during the weekend gathered women from the Kanifing Municipality on the project “creating awareness and documenting issues on the, life stories of women on Qiwamah and Wilayan in the Gambia”,  implemented in collaboration with the New Field Fund of Tides Foundation that supports the advocacy to reach out to hundreds of women.

This advocacy targets 150 women leaders, women of reproductive age, religious leaders and village heads.  It was a moment filled with emotions as some of the participants reveal some of their stories.