Activists say women, who make up more than half of the population, need more than 25% of official positions. “The 25% affirmative action is definitely not enough and we need the pledged 30% to be enshrined in the constitution currently under going review.” One impact of two decades of war is that women now make up over 60 percent of the eight million people of South Sudan, says the Government of Southern Sudan's Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare. And while women fought alongside men during the conflict with the north, or helped the effort in other ways, after the ceasefire, many women feel they did not get the same recognition or respect as men. Merekaje Lona, an activist for womens rights in South Sudan, thinks that even the interim constitutional guarantee of one quarter of public positions going to women isn’t enough.
For more information, please visit: VOANews.com
Activists say women, who make up more than half of the population, need more than 25% of official positions. “The 25% affirmative action is definitely not enough and we need the pledged 30% to be enshrined in the constitution currently under going review.” One impact of two decades of war is that women now make up over 60 percent of the eight million people of South Sudan, says the Government of Southern Sudan's Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare. And while women fought alongside men during the conflict with the north, or helped the effort in other ways, after the ceasefire, many women feel they did not get the same recognition or respect as men. Merekaje Lona, an activist for womens rights in South Sudan, thinks that even the interim constitutional guarantee of one quarter of public positions going to women isn’t enough.
For more information, please visit: VOANews.com