In Côte d’Ivoire, the first edition of the Festival of Consent, FestiCo, closed on Saturday 12 March. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the event was held at the University of Cocody and aimed to increase students’ awareness of the concept of consent and gender-based violence.
as reported from Abidjan, Sidy Yansane
For two days, the forum room at Félix Houphouët-Boigny University hosted workshops, conferences and artistic activities on women’s rights and their consent in their relationship with men.
The weight of patriarchy The lawyer and activist Sylvia Apata made a remarkable intervention and lamented the weight of patriarchy in Africa: “When we talk about the position of women, we are always quick to wave culture. Except that if we wanted to look at our religious rules, I assure you that, even no way, we would have had. It is customary guides and traditional customary chiefs who must take part in the struggle ”.
Youssouf Ouattara is a sociology student. For him, this festival is necessary: ”Meanwhile, there is still the woman in the kitchen. So, we see here through these various panels, the liberation of women who no longer want to be excluded from decisions but who now want their consent to be obtained before they act. , and all that ”.
“The power to speak” The event Stop au chat noir organized the event. Its president and founder Bénédicte Joan is pleased with this first edition: “Everyone reacted. They were students who from the beginning had no concept of consent. They started crying in my ears and today they can talk. So it’s really a pride to see , through these two days, that there are students who have interacted with the panelists and moderators ”.
According to Ivorian NGOs, Abidjan alone has had more than 2,000 cases of violence against women in the past two years, half of which were rapes.
►Also read: More than 400 Abidjan women were killed by their husbands in 2020, according to an Ivorian NGO
