Issue #0

Demanding dignity

women confronting economic reforms in Africa

Plot

In the debates leading to the design and implementation of economic reforms and structural adjustment programs in Africa, one important group was left out of the discussions: women. African women were excluded from the discourse on privatization, trade liberalization, and export processing zones.
The Gender and Economic Reforms in Africa (GERA) Program, launched in 1996 in Accra, Ghana, brought together African researchers, advocates, women's groups, and community leaders to give African women a stronger voice and to carry gender issues into the heart of the debate on African economic reforms.
Demanding Dignity: Women Confronting Economic Reforms in Africa tells the story of thirteen remarkable GERA-supported projects in ten countries across sub-Saharan Africa. Teams of researchers and advocates spent more than two years conducting and analyzing new research on the primary economic forces and programs shaping Africa's future. The findings documented in this final report have challenged the assumptions of governments (local and national) and international financial institutions about the gender impacts of reforms and have strengthened women's capacity to influence economic policy.
Initially launched by Canada's North-South Institute, the GERA Program's new host is Third World Network-Africa in Accra, Ghana. The original working group and the current participants are only more determined to give African women a voice and the capacity to transform economic policies.