Herstory - The Journey of Feminist Movements in Advancing Gender Justice and Experiences in Multilateral Spaces

By the mid-1990s, FEMNET had already established herself as a convenor of bold and strategic feminist dialogues contributing and influencing different multilateral spaces. For instance, in the lead-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, FEMNET played a central role in organizing the African Regional Conference and NGO Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1994. This was a timely space where African women came together to interrogate the structural barriers holding back the continent’s progress, from gender inequality, poverty and structural adjustment programs, to militarization, deforestation, toxic dumping, population pressures, poor governance, language divides, and the systemic exclusion of young people from leadership.

The collective reflection in Dakar, and later in Nairobi and Addis Ababa in the early 1995 culminated in a powerful position statement, capturing the key demands and priorities of African women. This statement was refined and endorsed at the African Women’s Tentduring the Global NGO Forum in Huairou, China, and later presented to world leaders at the Beijing Conference itself. One of the significant milestones was the successful lobbying by the African delegation for the Girl Child as one of the twelve critical areas of concern in the BPFA. This milestone continues to shape advocacy and policy influencing in ending injustices faced by African girls including female genital mutilation, child marriages and gender-based violence. Post-Beijing, FEMNET members have engaged and contributed to the review processes of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action through the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Since 1996, FEMNET has contributed to the CSW preparatory meetings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and New York. As the lead co- facilitator of the African Women Caucus, FEMNET continues to mobilize and facilitate the active engagement of African women’s rights advocates and activists at CSW, serving as an information hub, mobilizing African women to participate, submitting written and oral statements, organizing side events, advocating for a progressive CSW outcome document and following through implementation of the recommendations by state and other non- state actors.