the future of Africa lies with its women
2015-8-3
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On Friday July 31 in Expo Milano 2015, the Angolan Pavilion celebrated African Women’s Day… an entire day of encounters and conferences, enriched by moments of festivity and spectacle. A full cultural program devoted to the fundamental role women are called upon to play in Africa’s future: their work in the fields is vital to feeding the community, and their civil commitment is fundamental to achieving gender equality, above all in access to land and credit. Inside the colorful Angolan Pavilion, speakers included the agronomist Madalena Fèlix, Agueda Gomes (African Women Physical Activity and Nutrition), Ditutala Lucas Simão, (Vice-Commissioner and Director of the Angolan Pavilion), Monique Kantiono (CIDEL - Coordination Libre des Initiatives Féminines pour le Développement Communautaire), Livia Pomodoro (President of the Milan Center for Food Law and Policy) and Albina Assisi Africano (Commissioner General of the Angolan Pavilion and Coordinator of all the Commissioners in Expo Milano 2015).
African Women: pillars of rural communities
African Women’s Day was opened by the agronomist Madalena Fèlix, who presented her book “Food and Nutrition in Angola. The paradox of potential”, where she deals with the theme of nutrition and poverty in the country, highlighting the key role of women, especially in rural contexts. Agueda Gomes, of African Women Physical Activity and Nutrition, then focused on the importance of ensuring that African women can carry out farming activities safely, without ruining their health. Given the extreme physical effort demanded by working in the fields – she explained – it is vital that they are taught how to work correctly, especially in regard to transporting heavy weights, but also in the production, sale and distribution of food.
Imagining personal autonomy, and then daring to assert it
Ditutala Lucas Simão, Vice-Commissioner and Director of the Pavilion, spoke about the contribution of women to developing family businesses: in most cases women take nearly all the responsibility for running small enterprises, which is why Angola has implemented a specific national program of education and support. Next came Monique Kantiono, representing the CIDEL association, coordinating women’s initiatives on female autonomy, illiteracy and social dignity: “We have to help women to imagine their personal autonomy, and then to dare to assert it – she argued – The Universal Exposition is a wonderful opportunity for finding partners, evaluating, dreaming and making the dream of free and autonomous women come true.” Women’s emancipation was also the subject of the speech by Lidia Pomodoro, who in 2003 contributed to the setting up of Angola’s youth protection laws: “No more bullying, no more hunger, no more visibly or invisibly enslaved women forced to confine themselves to their homes, used and exploited.”
Women are the future of the African Continent
The evening session, devoted above all to entertainment and shows, was opened by Commissioner General Albina Assisi Africano, who reminded her listeners of the many social changes brought about by women in recent years. Many women, however, remain invisible, especially in rural contexts: their unceasing efforts are infused with dignity and should be made more visible. Taken together, women represent the future of the African Continent, and they should be given many more opportunities for action through access to land and to credit, and offered possibilities for small-scale or large-scale business activities… all of which requires concrete and determined political action. In conclusion, the Commissioner of the Zimbabwe Pavilion Constance Zhanje highlighted the fact that gender equality is one of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals and is high on the agenda of next September’s “Sustainable Development Summit”.
