2006年VOA标准英语-West African Female Politicians Learn Leadershi

By Efam Dovi
Accra
22 August 2006

Women ministers and members of parliament from Anglophone West Africa countries are meeting in Accra to sharpen their leadership and advocacy skills.

The Accra meeting, being organized by the Network of African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians is also being used to press for the inclusion of more women in decision-making positions in the region.

A member of Ghana's parliament, Akua Dansua says several factors have prevented African women from fully¹ participating in the political process.

"Is the socialization, the culture and you know how expensive politics is, we lack the resources, politics in Africa now is big business and women generally don't have the kind of resource that men have, so its very difficult for us women and we need to begin to tackle these problems seriously," she said.

Dansua called for the establishment of a fund to support more women trying to take up leadership positions on the continent.

Patricia Macauley, national coordinator² of the network in Sierra Leone says it is important for every country to efficiently³ use all of its human resources.

"You definitely need men and women to bring development. You cannot just have just men running things," she noted⁴.  "You need to have the women because women look at various issues. They look at the reproductive health and rights of the people, they look at how we have maternal⁵ mortality monitoring, babies are alive, mothers are alive, if you notice women are more concerned with all of these."

Liberian Minister of Gender⁶ and Development, Jabah Gayflor, told VOA her country's economy has improved tremendously since the election of Africa's first female president in that country.

She stressed the importance of appointing qualified⁷ women to decision-making positions.

"When we talk about gender equality, we say look around whether you can also find capable women; if they are there, give them the opportunity to serve in [that] capacity," she said.  "Because we [are] talking about giving the necessary support and having the skills to do those things that need to be done. We need to have people who have the capacity to do so, so I think if they are really qualified and they are educated and are given the opportunity to serve, you find another face added to the process where you have a human face."

About 28 participants from Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone are attending the five-day training workshop, being sponsored by the U.N. Fund for Population Activities.

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

3 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

6 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

7 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。