Women still without political clout, power

Despite accounting for 52 percent of the country's three million people, women in the Republic of Congo (ROC) still do not have a strong presence in official public life. While women contribute a substantial portion to the family income and are a major force in the economy, they hold almost no power in politics or at the decision-making level. Ideas and decisions are still controlled by men. The ROC constitution of January 2002 embraces the universal declaration of human rights and stipulates equal rights for both sexes. Government figures show that women account for 60 to 80 percent of the nation's agricultural production. Women do practically all traditional food processing and the so-called weaker sex handles 74 percent of informal commerce. However, since ROC's independence in 1960, and after the ascent of democracy that followed, not a single woman has been called to higher office. Examples abound in the mass media: Congo has two television chains - one public, one private; and four radio stations, one of which is government-owned and two which are strongly linked to those in power. A woman holds not a single position at the top of these media outlets. "In almost all administration, it is men who run the show, as if women don't have the capacity to manage," Nadege Ambombi, a female journalist for Radio-Congo, said. "I don't believe that the current state of the press helps to remove the inferiority felt by women." After the national conference of 1991, which paved the way for a multi-party state, the press was liberalised and new newspapers were established quickly, some of them by women fighting for emancipation. Roseline Lebela Babela runs the journal, "Nzele", a magazine dealing exclusively in women's issues. However, she said it is a struggle to keep the journal going. "I receive no subsidies," she said. "The same women who are featured in the journal can't afford to subscribe to it." This makes it difficult for her to publish Nzele on a regular basis. Other magazines, like "Bantuenia", started by Carole Makaya, went broke and ceased production. Out of a dozen magazines published in Brazzaville, only one is headed by a female - "Femina". It is edited by Tendresse Nzila. Male editors even lead newspapers that were once created by women. "It's difficult to explain why - the written press pays very little for a lot of work," a local journalist, who requested anonymity, said. "Women prefer to work in [broadcast] media, where they are noticed by the public on radio and television." The only exception in a male-dominated world is Yvette Loembe, who works for Deutsche Welle, an international radio station broadcasting from Germany. Similarly, women are thinly spread in politics. When a new government was formed on 7 January 2005, only five of 35 ministers were women. In the national assembly, women only account for 15 percent of the 129 seats, and about the same percentage exists proportionally in the Senate, with its 60 members. Although the constitution provides for it, none of the government commissions is presided by a woman. The Council for the Liberty of Communication, for example, has 11 members, with Marie Jeanne Kouloumbou as its only female. She holds the post of executive secretary. The same goes for the armed forces - gendarmerie, police, army, navy and air force: a woman commands not a single unit. With the goal to involve women more actively in government decision-making, one of the five female ministers, Emilienne Raoul, in charge of humanitarian affairs, created the Centre for the Promotion of Women in Politics in 2002. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has donated US $60,000 to the centre. The main office is in the capital, Brazzaville, with six branches in towns in the rest of the country. "The creation of the centre came in response to a simple fact - the weak representation of women in the world of Congolese politics," Scholastique Dianziga, the centre's treasurer, said. "Acceptance of women in politics does not come overnight," Chantal Itoua-Apoloyo, the vice president of the centre, said. "It's a fight and results will come over time. We don't lead a fight against men. We want women to develop more freely because they did not benefit from the same progress in society like men did." She said the centre promotes hope and competence. Jeanne Marie Lekomba Lometa probably holds the most important job. She is the minister in charge of the development of women and their integration into development, ostensibly a rare exception in Congolese politics. Since the dawn of democracy in the country, one woman has dared to run for president - she is Angele Bandou. In the 1992 presidential race, she failed to receive a single vote. In 2002, she campaigned again and received 2 percent of the vote, in third place behind President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, with 80 percent; and Kignoumbi Kia-Mboungou, with 3 percent of the vote. Bandou was killed in 2004 in a Brazzaville suburb.