SILVER JUBILEE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF ERITREAN WOMEN
By Yoseph Tekle

June 24, 2004 – (Shaebia.org) With more than 200,000 members, the National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW) leads the way in promoting the economic, social, cultural and political position of women in Eritrean society.

NUEW engages Eritrean women in a wide variety of activities, including integrating demobilized women fighters back into society, literacy promotion, vocational training, income-generation, food production, and mobilizing women's platform to increase participation in national elections.

It is with all these objectives and activities that the organization will celebrate its 25th anniversary in November 2004. The Union, which grew out of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, has spent the last 25 years highlighting gender issues and charting the path for political and economic empowerment of women in the country.

Ms. Dehab Suleiman, head of the Research and Information Office of NUEW, says NUEW was created to narrow the gender gap that existed in all aspects: economically, socially, culturally and politically. “Women traditionally were oppressed and the Eritrean Revolution opened a way for women to participate in all fields,” she said.

The organization says it encourages Eritrean women to participate actively in political, economic, and social spheres; to take part in local, regional, and national dialogues; and bring about consensus on methods of addressing discriminatory social practices and shaping the country’s institutions in ways that are responsive to the needs of all citizens.

Recognizing the importance of women’s financial independence, the group also grants financial aid to women starting small businesses.

According to Dehab the major opportunity that the organization opened for women is educational opportunity. “Women were denied of basic education in traditional Eritrean society; they were expected to serve their husbands and raise children,” she says. “But these days women have access to education, even in the remote rural areas. Education is a gate for everything.”

The NUEW was established in 1979 as one of the mass organizations of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front. In its current form, the NUEW is ‘an autonomous non-governmental organization dedicated to improving the status of Eritrean women.’

According to the Union’s Website, during Eritrea’s liberation struggle, NUEW succeeded in organizing and encouraging women’s participation in the war effort. During decades of war, Eritrean women shared responsibility and power in both military and civilian life.

Since independence in 1991, NUEW has continued to enhance the role of women by raising their political consciousness through literacy campaigns, credit programs, English language lessons, and other training.

With Union members from all walks of life (including the Eritrean Diaspora in Europe, the Middle East and North America), the NUEW pursues gender equality at village, district, sub-regional and provincial levels.

Contesting the traditionally subordinate position of women in Eritrean society, the NUEW works extensively at a grassroots level to promote the establishment of women's fundamental rights to land, political participation and a say on family and marriage practices, Dehab said.

Additionally, the NUEW strives to ensure women's equal access to education, employment and skills development, as well as health and childcare services. Although most of these efforts are made at a rural level, the NUEW also lobbies persistently for women's interests at a national level and forges international ties with sympathetic organizations around the world.

Currently, the NUEW is spearheading numerous progressive projects, Dehab says. The NUEW's literacy campaign, for example, targets an estimated 85-90% Eritrean women who are functionally illiterate. Under the logistical support of the Education Department of the NUEW, the literacy effort seeks to develop language skills, which would in turn foster business and management skills and aid women in pursuing productive employment.

The literacy campaign is complimented by vocational training programs in the areas of tailoring and typing with future efforts aiming at such non-traditional areas of work for women such as carpentry, masonry, electrical and plumbing services.

Dehab believes that the organization was a milestone in the improvement of women’s status. “If the organization did not exist the status of women would have been at its traditional low level,” she says. “We can see the organization as being a big facilitator.”

However, one cannot claim that the problems of women are entirely solved with the coming of the organization. Dehab agrees with this. “We can only say that the organization laid a safe foundation so that every new generation can build on it,” she added.

There is a long way to go before incorporating women from different regions of the country. The present membership (about 200,000) is not yet satisfactory considering the 25 years of the organization’s existence.

From: http://www.shaebia.org/artman/publish/article_2863.html