Dr. Charity Binka, Former Board Member, African Women Development Network (FEMNET), a feminist advocacy group, has encouraged women to rise up against discriminatory actions and change the narrative.
She said this at the opening of a four-day feminist conference in Accra, organised by the FEMNET, dubbed “Feminist COP”.
For decades, feminists and activists had worked tireless to challenge and dismantle structures and systems of exploitation, extraction, discrimination and ensuring a world that is just, inclusive, sustainable and transformative.
The Feminist COP is co-convened prior to the up-coming 28th session of the United Nations (UN) climate conference of Party (COP28), which would be an opportunity for feminists, climate activists, indigenous leaders, girls and young women advocates to connect, reflect, strategise and co-design ways to engage, disrupt and show up at up coming COP 28, November in Dubai.
FEMNET, made up of 35 participants, is discussing issues of concern that are affecting women.
The Former Board Member, who is also the Executive Director, African Women leadership Network, Ghana (AWLN Ghana), said discrimination had affected the lives of women for many years, hence it was time to rise up to change the narrative.
She said: “We need to be intentional and deliberate on issues affecting us, and fight for a better place. We need a different group of women and men who believe in the gender issue, the discrimination and challenges we face due to our absence from the decision making table.
“We have all it takes to be in leadership positions, we have all it takes to change the narrative, so let’s be disruptive as we can to make sure that our voices are heard.”
Anna Songole, FEMNET Member, told the Ghana News Agency that key strategy for the feminist COP was to bring women into spaces where they were able to speak freely and ensure that they understood the structural issues affecting them.
“We are facing a lot of challenges in society, knowing fully well that we are not going to achieve many of these things at the moment, we need to strengthen advocacy to enable more people understand the structural issues to keep up the fight until our voices are heard.”
The Feminist conference is expected to result in the development of concrete demands and recommendations, which will serve as a valuable advocacy tool, compelling decision-makers, for COP28 organisers to take gender-responsive and equitable action in climate policies and negotiations.
Participants include community activists at the frontline of the climate crisis, African feminists and climate activists, journalists, and implementing partners of the African Activists for Climate Justice (AACJ) project from Ghana, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Central African Republic, Nigeria and Mozambique.