workshop

I attended a very interesting workshop over the weekend dealing with working women’s rights, the new constitution and CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination on all forms of Discrimination against Women). On the first day, we discussed the categories of sex and gender. For most participants, it was the first time that they had heard of gender being a social construct. Many could not understand (nor want to believe) that men and women are taught their behaviours – men are not ‘naturally’ superior and women ‘naturally’ inferior. Some of the men were getting very angry and I think threatened by the discussion. I was getting frustrated because the issue is nothing really to discuss to me – it’s just fact. I quickly realized that if I want to work with gender issues/women’s rights while I am here, I need to learn how to discuss this topic without getting frustrated. It may take a long time for people to understand but it is essential if we are to help women.

The discussion became equally interesting when we started discussing human rights and what it means. Again I thought it was obvious – equal and fair treatment of all regardless of sex/gender/race/sexual orientation/religion and so forth. When stating our definitions everyone but myself said that human rights were given from god. We got into a lively debate when I tried to explain that I was uncomfortable with that definition as they were using the Christian god and what about all of those people who didn’t believe in that god? They were equally confused (and some outraged) with my category of sexual orientation.

Learning about Swaziland’s new constitution was very interesting for all of us. While it states it is a democratic country, there is a section giving the king ultimate authority and being above the law. It states he and anyone he orders to do anything will not be subject to the laws nor have to appear in court and so forth. There is also a section on social objectives. Within this section it states that “the state shall ensure gender balance and fair representation of marginalized groups in all constitutional and other bodies” along with other equally important social promises. Right before these sections is this little beauty “the provisions of sections 57 – 63 inclusive are not enforceable in any court or tribunal.” Lovely……..

We all left the second day discussing the various aspects that we had found so interesting. I know everyone learnt something and that we all realized there is a lot of work to do, especially in the realm of women’s rights.