Senegal's Bineta Diop pushes African women into spotlight

DAKAR — A group of 12 women from Ivory Coast, Guinea and Uganda reduced members of an African Union panel to tears as they told their personal stories of rape and police brutality."I can tell you those ambassadors in Addis (Ababa in Ethiopia) were crying," said Bineta Diop, who organised the meeting about a month ago with the AU peace and security council to highlight the plight of women on the continent.The 61-year-old, who travels between conflict-torn countries in a gruelling schedule which leaves little time for her grandchildren, has dedicated her life to getting Africa's men, dictators and rebel leaders to listen to women.It is this work which saw her named amongst Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world for 2011.In her Dakar office, the walls are lined with faded photographs of leaders such as Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel who Diop has worked with over the years and who themselves have appeared on the list."I think it really took me by surprise. It is always me putting out the red carpet for the celebrities and heads of state," Diop told AFP in an interview at Femmes Africa Solidarite (FAS) which she founded 15 years ago.Born in a Senegalese village to a traditional, religious family, Diop's feminist mother -- one of the leaders of the then ruling party's women's wing -- taught her about breaking the mould.For Bineta Diop, this would become the relentless campaign for gender parity on the continent.These days she has offices in eastern Congo and Darfur and she has also worked in Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia and Sierra Leone to get women involved in peace-building.Diop says getting parity in the African Union was "one of my first battles" - but now there are five male and five female commissioners in the continental body.As African countries increasingly follow suit and boost their parliaments with women -- half of Rwanda's lawmakers are female -- Diop warns it is not all about the numbers."Women are making it in Africa, women are the backbone of development. But still there

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