Majority of African women illiterate - OAU official

More than 60 percent of African women were illiterate, and discrimination was the cause, an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) official was quoted as saying in news reports on Thursday. "The discrimination, of which the women are the victims, concerns access to education," said Julienne Ondziel, rapporteur on women rights for the OAU and the African Commission on Human and People's Rights.

"The amount of participation from women in public decision-making is tiny, although they represent more than half the African population", Ondziel was quoted as telling delegates at the opening of a consultative meeting of central African nations.

Ondziel said that civil wars had "reduced African women to a state of extreme poverty". The consultative exercise, to continue in Brazzaville, Congo, until Friday, was aimed at boosting the charter's defence of African women's rights, the report said. Among those taking part are central African ministers presiding over human rights, social affairs and the promotion of women, it added.