Recently, the African Union (AU) secretariat came under fire from women groups who accused it of sidelining women when it came to filling decision making positions. At a time when we are talking of gender parity and it being one of the pillars of the Agenda 2030 and 2063, the AU should be the last place to level such accusations. If the complainants have ground to support the allegations, then the AU needs to act swiftly to address the situation. Rwanda has been a champion of women empowerment. Traditionally a patriarchal society like most African settings, it needed more than just legislation to convince the men that women were as good as men. Long are the days when the boardroom was the reserve of men and women relegated to secretarial duties. At the just-concluded Transform Africa Summit, women’s capabilities were again exhibited; from the extremely smart female panelists and the brilliant demonstrations by young women during the Miss Geek competition. But in a follow-up Gender Summit, it was pointed out that even though a lot had been done to emancipate women, some sections of society view them in a completely different lens; they are viewed and portrayed as sex objects – and many put up with it. The media, especially movies and music videos – even some sections of the print media – cannot seem to survive without parading women sexually. But in some cases, women are to blame for allowing their images to be exploited.
