Africa: Stakeholders Hold Forum on Women Empowerment

Hillary Clinton emerges from her party’s convention in Philadelphia with a restored lead over Donald Trump, having earned a 7-point convention bounce, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll. In a two-way head-to-head matchup, Clinton tops Trump 52% to 43%, and in a four-way matchup including third party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, Clinton leads 45% to 37% with Johnson at 9% and Zacheaus Somorin

African women gathered recently in Lagos to brainstorm on women empowerment in the continent, especially in Nigeria and Ghana. The Stakeholders forum which was organised by The Centre for Public Policy Alternatives (CPPA) had in attendance discussants and panelists cutting across different sectors.

CPPA is an independent nonpartisan public policy think-tank committed to rigorous research through which public policies and processes are examined, supported and best practices disseminated. The CPPA aims to help Sub-Saharan governments and their agencies realise the goal of rapid development and a prosperous future for their citizens.

While speaking at the event, the General Secretary of West Africa Women Association (WAWA) and founder, Hauk Explorer Schools, Lagos, Mrs Hauwa Shodeinde, pointed out that empowering women across the continent has become critical hence the need for appropriate orientation of the female child.

She pointed out that for women to be sustainably empowered, there was need for Stein at 5%.

Besides improving her standing against Trump, Clinton’s convention appears to have boosted the share of Americans who think her policies will move the country in the right direction (from 43% before either convention to 48% now), while Trump’s right direction number held roughly steady following the back-to-back political gatherings in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

Further, a majority of Clinton’s backers now say their vote is more to show support for her than to correct educational background. ‘We have problem with our education. Our educational system needs reform. Because foundation matters, educating female child must be tailored towards economic independence’.

As against general perception that husbands may impede their wives progress, she explained that woman need their spouses in their business involvements, saying with team work, women would be able earn the family’s respect and support.

While advising participants on entrepreneurship, she posited that women don’t need much money to be entrepreneur, saying with little savings and smart strategy, small businesses can be established and if well managed, would become big in the long run.

For Mrs Olanrewaju Oniyitan, Founder and CEO of W-holistic Business Solution (W-HBS), rural women in Nigeria need more help and support than their urban counterparts; pointing out that gender is not all about male and female, but about opportunities created. She stated that rural woman eke out their daily survival precariously through farming, saying more should be done in taking them out of lumpen poverty. oppose Trump, a sharp shift since early May. Back then, 48% said their vote was one of support for the former secretary of state, 58% say so now. While Trump also improved his numbers on that metric, his voters are more evenly divided, with 47% saying they’re backing him to show support and 50% saying it’s more to oppose Clinton.

More of Clinton’s backers also say they are certain to support her come November: 44% of registered voters are Clinton supporters who say their mind is made up, while 36% say they are solidly behind Trump. Only about 16% of voters say their minds could change in the 99 days left between now and Election Day.

Clinton’s convention appears to have helped her reverse the damage done to perceptions of her honesty during the GOP convention, but she did not improve those numbers compared with where they stood before either convention. Overall, 34% say they consider Clinton honest and trustworthy, up from 30% after the GOP convention but exactly where that figure was in a poll conducted before either convention happened.

Clinton made more progress on several other measures, however, with 50% now saying she’s in touch with the problems of ordinary Americans, and 48% that she will unite the country and not divide it. She gained three points -- a change inside the margin of sampling error for this poll -- compared with a poll conducted before the Republican convention on having the right experience, running for the good of the country rather than personal gain and as someone you would be proud to have as president.

On each of those measures, Clinton fares better than Trump, except when voters are asked about their honesty. Thirty-five percent say they see Trump as honest and trustworthy, just about even with the former secretary of state. On the rest of the attributes tested, the Democratic convention appears to have wiped out the significant gains Trump made on several of these measures, including being seen as in-touch with ordinary Americans, someone you’d be proud to have as president, running for the good of the country rather than personal gain and uniting the country rather than dividing it.

Nearly half of registered voters say what they saw or read of the Democratic convention left them feeling more likely to vote Clinton vs. 39% who said it turned them off from supporting her. Trump’s convention merited a slight negative tilt on this question, according to a CNN/ORC Poll released last week, with 42% saying they would be more apt to back him vs. 44% less likely.

The 49% saying the DNC made them feel more apt to vote for Clinton is the fourth highest in CNN/ORC and Gallup polling, dating back to the 1984 Democratic convention. It’s behind the 60% who said they were more apt to back Bill Clinton after the 1992 Democratic convention, 56% more likely to back Michael Dukakis after his 1988 convention and 51% who said they would be more likely to vote for Barack Obama after the ‘08 Democratic convention.

Clinton’s acceptance speech merited mixed reviews, with 44% calling it excellent or good, 20% just OK and 19% poor or terrible. Last week, a CNN/ORC survey found 40% calling Trump’s speech excellent or good. Clinton’s speech ranks well behind other recent Democratic acceptance speeches, 64% called Obama’s ‘08 address excellent or good, and 52% each called John Kerry’s 2004 speech and Al Gore’s 2000 speech excellent or good.

In the new poll, there is a wide gender gap in reviews of Clinton’s acceptance speech, with 50% of women calling Clinton’s speech excellent or good compared with 37% of men. There was no gender gap in perceptions of Trump’s speech. This gap isn’t merely a partisan divide, it exists within each party as well, and most notably at the extremes. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, 42% of women called her speech excellent vs. just 25% of men. And among Republican and Republican-leaning men, 28% called Clinton’s speech terrible, vs. just 18% of Republican and Republican-leaning women.