Gender Parity: Minister Advocates Better Attainment Actions

“The Prime Minister, Head of Government, His Excellency Philemon YANG, this Wednesday 31 October 2018 chaired this month’s Cabinet Meeting at 9:00 a.m. at the Prime Minister’s Office. The meeting was attended by the VicePrime Minister, Ministers of State, Ministers, Ministers Delegate and Secretaries of State. Two items featured on the agenda namely: 1. Statement by the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family on “Gender record in the Administration and public and parapublic bodies”; 2. Statement by the Minister of Social Affairs on “The strategy to promote national solidarity”;

Speaking after the introductory statement by of the Head of Government, The Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family said that since 2015, Cameroon has been sampling the gender record in the Administration.

The purpose of this is to collect and analyse information on discrepancies between men and women in public positions. This record is both an advocacy tool for better policies on gender equality and a measuring instrument of the progress made by Cameroon in this area, in accordance with international conventions. The publication of the first and second editions of the Record in 2015 earned Cameroon the Pan African Prize of Public Service under the category “promotion of gender approach in the Public Service”.

The Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family noted that compared to previous editions which were limited only to ministries, the third edition of the Gender Record published in 2017 includes data collected from 23 public administrations and sovereignty admi nistrations like the Senate, the National Assembly and the Prime Minister’s Office. Out of the 9 943 positions sampled, 7 611 are occupied by men and 2 336 by women.

However, there have been outstanding achievements in the education, health and social sectors, where positions occupied by women represent 40% of total numbers sampled. To round off, she advocated better actions towards gender parity, so that all social classes should be able to contribute to nation building, in accordance with the guidelines given by the Head of State.

The floor was later given to the Minister of Social Affairs for her statement on the strategy to promote national solidarity. She said that national solidarity is aimed at meeting the needs of the socially vulnerable as far as aid, subsidies, social transfers, or psychological assistance are concerned. It is enshrined in the Constitution and builds on the principles of the respect of dignity and fundamental human rights, equal chances, and consideration of gender and vulnerable approaches.

From this stand point, national solidarity actions are close to all aspects of social life and first apply to the most vulnerable classes of society which are early childhood, the elderly or handicapped, and victims of natural disasters. Talking about strategies to promote national solidarity, the Minister of Social Affairs insisted on (i) facilitating the insertion of vulnerable peop...