VZCZCXRO1260
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHAN #1137 3120913
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 080913Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANTANANARIVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0639
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0943
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

UNCLAS ANTANANARIVO 001137 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP RYOUSEY, ALEMAR 
DEPT FOR DRL KGILBRIDE 
DEPT FOR AF/E MBEYZEROV 
DEPT FOR AF/RSA 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.  12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PHUM SOCI SCUL PINR PGOV MA
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT EMPOWERS WOMEN, WARNS SEX TOURISTS 
 
REF: A) ANTANANARIVO 1103 B) 06 ANTANANARIVO 405 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  October was a groundbreaking month for women in 
Madagascar.  Following the designation of the first ever female 
Minister of Defense (REF A), President Ravalomanana kicked off the 
opening conference of the Presidential Initiative on Women and 
Leadership with a sweeping speech calling on women to assume greater 
leadership across the board.  Asserting that gender roles must 
change to keep up with Madagascar's overall transformation, 
President Ravalomanana made women's empowerment critical to the 
success of the Madagascar Action Plan (MAP) for development (REF B). 
 He outlined the Government of Madagascar's (GOM) goals for family 
planning and micro-credit programs and issued a stern warning to 
would-be sex tourists to stay away.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. On October 29, the President opened the three-day conference that 
brought together 3,000 women from the country's 22 regions with a 
sweeping speech calling for change and women's empowerment across 
the board.  Calling the development of women's leadership capacity 
essential to the success of the MAP, he invited women to "work with 
me to get results - big results" by forming organizations to 
champion women's rights, changing men's mindsets, studying 
leadership and management, and participating in Parliament and civic 
affairs.  "Go out and get elected [in the December 12 municipal 
elections], and show your local community and the nation that 
sometimes women can lead even better than men!"  The President 
identified four major challenges women face in Madagascar.  First, 
men and women must have equal job opportunities.  Second, he 
stressed the need to educate women on family planning in order to 
meet the GOM's objective of three to four children per family to 
minimize social, economic and environmental strain.  Third, he 
asserted that all children, particularly girls, need to go to school 
and stay through university level if possible; it is "not a good 
thing" when parents keep their children out of school in order to 
work to feed the family.  Fourth, citing how traditional forms of 
discrimination lead to a bias against women obtaining credit or 
owning assets, he has directed the GOM to develop a micro-finance 
program aimed at helping women set up small businesses. 
 
¶3.  Lamenting the role parental encouragement has played in the 
alarming growth in prostitution, he cautioned, "All parents, all 
community leaders - in the government and the church - must help 
stop prostitution and help these young women to go to school or find 
jobs."  Issuing a stern warning to would-be sex tourists, he said, 
"To the foreigners who come here looking for young girls, I say 
change your behavior."  He noted a severe law   will be passed and 
enforced to rein in sex tourism. 
 
¶4.  COMMENT:  With his closing line, "The world is changing, 
Madagascar is changing, and the roles of men and women are changing 
-- and this is a good thing," President Ravalomanana squarely placed 
women's empowerment in his larger agenda to transform and align 
Madagascar with the more developed world.  At the head of a largely 
traditional society, this President's time in office has been 
characterized by rapid change requiring huge shifts in cultural 
mentality and greater personal leadership across the board. 
Ravalomanana himself, while making the bold move of naming a woman 
as Defense Minister, did not raise the overall proportion of women 
in his new cabinet (3 out of 19).  Still, Post hopes this high-level 
push will result in greater attention to women's issues within the 
GOM.  END COMMENT. 
 
MARQUARDT