International Women’s Day 2022: Gabon’s President Ondimba on striving for gender equality in Africa

Gabon’s model of society, which empowers and protects women, serves as inspiration for the whole of Africa, says President Ali Bongo Ondimba

Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba and his wife Sylvia (Getty)

Congratulations on Gabon’s ranking in the World Bank’s 2022 report Women Business and the Law. Is creating equal opportunities for women in Gabon a priority for both the development of human rights and for economic progress?

Promoting women’s rights and ensuring their equality with men is an obligation for moral fairness and social justice. It is also a necessity for boosting our economic development. If a country aims at progressing and being competitive, it has to rely on 100% of its population, not only 50%. That is something we understood quite fast. That is why, as soon as 2015, I decreed woman’s decade in Gabon. We are now harvesting the fruit of that initiative.

In 2015 you instituted the Gabonese Women’s Decade. Can you briefly explain the initiative’s mission, and how far it has already gone to realise those aims?

Woman’s decade, which I decreed in 2015 and which is considerably an outcome of the exchanges that I had with my wife, our First Lady Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, who is absolutely engaged in that issue, was meant to induce a powerful political awareness. Whatever public policy we are trying to implement, we ought to make sure that both women and men are enjoying equal rights, no matter if it is in their economic, social or political life, regardless of the law and the facts. Since I took that decision, our legislation has profoundly evolved, in civil law, in penal law, as well as in labour law. Now, everywhere, women are in charge at the highest positions. We have gone a long way. We still have miles to go.

When the campaign’s decade is up in 2025 will there be a subsequent work building on it? Or will the mark of its success be that there is no need for a subsequent campaign?

We will see what milestone we have reached in 2025. Yet, implementing gender equality is not a definite acquisition. Some setbacks might occur. That is why we should watch over what we have already achieved and bring an endless fortification to the edifice. In Gabon, our aim is clear : ensure equal rights to women and men. We are even more ambitious : we want that equality to be firmly settled.  As long as I haven’t reached that target, I will never stop.  

Do you feel that a legal environment that supports women is more important than ever, in a post-COVID world?

The Covid-19 crisis has shed light on the importance of women in all sectors. Women are particularly involved in medical occupations. In Gabon, as well as elsewhere, the Covid-19 crisis has been overcome mostly thanks to women. Globally speaking, a world where both women and men progress is a much better place.

Gabon is moving successfully towards a model of society that promotes women's rights and gender equality. How do you hope the rest of Africa will respond? 

The situation of equality of rights between women and men in Africa is an important issue. But what we do is firstly for the benefit of Gabon. Yet, we do it for the profit of the rest of Africa as well. Because African countries look at each other and compare with each other.  This is normal. We call this benchmark. A reform or an advancement is more likely to be imitated by an African country if it comes from another African country. It is less likely when it comes from Europe or from Asia. Thus, there are good motives for Africans to be creative about that issue. It is their responsibility to do so. It cannot be imposed from elsewhere. Gabon is regarded as a role model by other African countries when it comes to equality between women and men. 

Do you believe that by strengthening Gabon’s legal environment to protect women against the violence a great cultural shift is taking place in how society - and crucially men - view women?

It is frequent that law follow facts and changes. But, sometimes, when there is real need, law must be amended to change mentalities. Like many societies in Africa and in the world, the Gabonese society is conservative. But if it is showed the way in some domains, it will readily follow. This is particularly the case as regards young people. That is why, as a leader, I believe in volunteering. Women have always played an important role in Gabon. But these last years, the limits have been exceeded. It is now accepted that a woman can be a business manager, a surgeon, a mayor, a governor, a prime minister and hopefully, much more.

What is Gabon’s message to the world, this International Women's Day?

Participating in fostering women’s rights is beneficial for everybody, both women and men.

One way to help #BreaktheBias is to help the next generation of females to grow up without the same barriers. How does Gabon inspire and help the next generation of women to achieve even more?

One of the best ways to help women go beyond the limits is making girl education an absolute priority. That is what we do in Gabon. Girls must be given the same chances as boys. Either in fields of excellence or in standard learning, there should not be fields committed to ones and not to others. Education is the key solution for overcoming those obstacles which have artificially been set in the way for girls. After that, as I said, we need volunteering. For instance, the President of the Republic has the power to appoint people for service. I use that power for promoting women to the highest positions.

Gabon is a global leader when it comes to women’s voices being heard at the highest levels of public life. Do you believe the best outcomes are achieved when females are involved?

I said that developing education is a key issue. We have to give both girls and boys the same chances. We should not forget to modelize the roles. If I choose a woman as my prime minister, she should be capable to inspire that young girl who is sitting on a school bench the dream of becoming a prime minister as well. It is also our duty to break mental barriers.

Gabon is a global leader when it comes to women’s voices being heard at the highest levels of public life. Do you believe the best outcomes are achieved when females are involved?

Actually, the major weakness that women have to handle is their self-censorship. Let’s not induce adverse effect either. What really matters is not being a man or a woman. What matters is your inner-personality, your mindset. Yet, I have observed from my own experience that women often prove to be strict and very responsible. Maybe because they give life and care for their children more than for themselves. 

Would you like to see the same happen in other African countries?

Of course. I wish my country and my continent to be successful. But that is not my end. I  am fundamentally a universalist. The things that I wish for my country and my continent, I wish them for the rest of the world as well.

Do you feel hopeful for the future of women across the continent?

To paraphrase a great thinker, I would say ‘hope is not a method’. As a leader, I don’t have to hope. I have to do. I said it, I believe in political volunteering. Therefore, I will not stop working if the woman is not yet considered to be equal to the man in Gabon. I do believe that we will gradually reach that target in Africa. That is how history goes.