Closing statement By Wariaru Mbugua office of the special adviser on gender issues and the advancement of women United Nations, New York: at the 7th African regional conference on women

Abstract

Office of the Special Adviser to the Secretary General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, a statement at the closing session of a very successful 7th African Regional Conference for Women reviewing the ten-year implementation of the Dakar and the Beijing Platforms for action. This conference in setting the agenda to promote the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women in Africa. Achievements over the ten years since the Dakar and the Beijing Platforms for Action were adopted have been lauded, gaps have been identified and the lessons we have learned have been shared and discussed. But there are new aspects of this conference which seem to signal that to achieve gender equality in Africa, all of us- that is governments, civil society, and the development partners- recognize that we must cease doing things in the usual manner. Allow me to make two or three observations to underscore this point.