Southern African countries way ahead on discriminating gender violence in sports

Report of Southern Africa Women and Sport Consultative Meeting in Lusaka, Zambia 28^th to 29^th April 2011

It was a pleasure to see that women in southern African counties do not want to tolerate gender based violence any more. IWG participated in the consultative meeting of Southern Africa Women and Sport that was held in hotel Intercontinental Lusaka. IWG was also invited for a presentation to this meeting which was organized by Nowspar (National Organisation for Women in Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation) funded mainly by Norway. Aim of this meeting was to create resolution statement for the development of women at all levels. IWG was presented by LiiKe –Sports & Development organization’s Executive Director Mr. Ari Koivu.

Major topics of the conference were neglected in presentations concerning the gender based violence. Key speaker was Professor Kari Fasting from Norwegian School of Sports Sciences. She is well known researcher on gender based violence and she has conducted large researches in for example Norway and Czech Republic. The donors from Norway and Netherlands were also present in the meeting.

Professor Fasting highlighted especially the impact of gender based violence among the coach-sportsperson relationship. Sexual harassment during the younger years of sports person may lead into mental and physical imbalance of teenagers and even older female sports persons. “This kind of violence cannot be tolerated anywhere, especially not in Africa” said Matilda Mwape, the executive director of Nowspar organization. Therefore we are all here to sign the resolution of stopping the gender based violence in sport” Mrs. Mwape continued.

Six out of ten countries of Zone six (southern African zone) were present in the consultative meeting in Lusaka. Only Zaire, Swaziland, Lesotho and Angola were not present. The validity of the consultative meeting was highly appreciated and all participants (37 women and three men) were motivated in order to develop the safety of women in sports. Some of the highlights in resolution were that sport can help broader gender objectives, women and girls have right to safe sporting environment and freedom from all forms of gender violence and participation of women and girls are recognized as human rights. Resolution was signed by almost all participants of the meeting. IWG supported also the resolution and welcomed all participants to participate in the IWG congress to be held in Helsinki in June 2014.

The resolution is such a high standard statement that even the representatives of Kenya promised to take it into consideration in central African zonal meetings. It is to be seen whether the resolution will be signed and put into practice in all African countries during the ongoing decade.

Almost 90% of 15-25 years old HIV positive people living south from Sahara are females. We have to bear in mind that sexual harassment is still a problem in Africa and it is inevitable that gender violence need to be seriously addressed.

First Lady of Zambia and Ari            Participants                                   Professor Fasting