On November 20, 2018, Graça Machel used a high-level lecture in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, to press African women to demand real influence in public life and the economy rather than wait for it to be offered to them.
Speaking at the 22nd Eminent Speakers’ Lecture of the African Development Institute at the Babacar N’diaye Auditorium, the former South African president Nelson Mandela’s widow and Mozambique politician said Africa’s transformation will remain incomplete unless gender inequality and other gender-specific barriers are dealt with directly.
Machel, widely known for her work on women’s and children’s rights, argued that women should help shape national debate instead of remaining on the margins of decision-making.
“Women must re-design the table, and not just expect to be at the table. They need to be at the centre of our economies. They must also pro-actively seek to correct the status quo,” said the politician.
Her comments landed at a moment when Kenya’s Gender Bill was still facing resistance in Parliament. The proposal seeks to prevent one gender from being overrepresented in the legislature, in line with the Constitution, by increasing the number of nominated female MPs.
National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale was sponsoring the bill, which had already received backing from President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto, ODM leader Raila Odinga and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka.
The push for the law had repeatedly failed. Attempts to pass it had fallen flat on three occasions, leaving women waiting longer for stronger representation in both houses.
The 11th Parliament adjourned on July 25, 2017, ahead of the general elections, after passing 180 bills, adopting 50 motions, concluding 124 petitions and handling more than 50 questions, but it still did not resolve the Gender Bill.
That deadlock followed a March 2017 High Court ruling by Judge John Mativo, who said anyone could write to the Chief Justice to advise the president to dissolve Parliament. The case had been filed by the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness and the Community Advocacy and Awareness Trust against the National Assembly and the Senate over the delay.
