Themes around barriers to youth and women’s progress have featured prominently in the early conversations at the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) in Kigali, with delegates exploring best avenues on how the youth and women can leverage existing opportunities to achieve their aspirations. Figures indicate that 60 per cent of the population in Commonwealth member states are aged 29 and below, underlining the significance of placing young people at the centre of not only discussions at the gathering but also in national programmes. Equally, more than half of Commonwealth citizens are women and, aside from the fact that women inclusion is simply a human rights’ issue and therefore not by any means a favour, excluding more than half the population is shooting oneself in the foot. Women, children and youth bear the biggest brunt of all social ills, from dire consequences of climate change to social inequality to conflict to public health crises, among others. A 2019 Commonwealth study found that the bloc had generally made “impressive improvements” in women’s access to maternal health, enrolment in primary school and participation in the workforce. However, it highlighted their continued vulnerabilities to climate change, including the impact of water and energy shortages on women’s reproductive work, the effect on food security due to drought, floods, access to health services and unpaid care for the sick. It also noted that persistent gender stereotypes and prejudices in policymaking, budgeting and service delivery were disrupting progress, adding that only one in five Commonwealth parliamentarians was a woman, while only seven of 10 girls attended secondary school. Thirty-two countries were also found not to mandate equal pay for work of equal value. Since then, the Commonwealth community and the rest of the world have had to contend with the devastating consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has generally eroded progress in so many areas. Therefore, that CHOGM organisers have placed issues affecting women and youth at the heart of deliberations and involved them in conversations around possible solutions is a welcome move. But women and youth need to continuously stake a claim to their deserved place and make the most of the available opportunities to create and share their own realities and future.
