Minister calls for women’s solidarity
Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Jean Kalilani has urged women to show solidarity in advancing their agenda to empower women to take up leadership roles in the country.
She said this yesterday in Lilongwe during the country’s first ever women’s assembly held by the Women Manifesto Movement (Woman) Malawi in Lilongwe.
Said Kalilani: “As women, we need to support each other. That is the main purpose of this assembly. We need to be courageous and speak out on issues pertaining to women taking up positions in power. We need to support each other in the upcoming elections.”
The assembly sought to draft key areas affecting women to put in a manifesto that will be used as an advocacy tool that takes duty bearers to task in the implementation of policies and projects affecting women.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, a female political aspirant Lucy Mauluka said many women in influential positions were too scared to speak up against inequalities that women aspiring for political positions face.
Mauluka said: “We are still facing oppression from a male-dominated system that does not want women to lead mostly at the grassroots level. We need to speak on the atrocities we are facing as women and be able to stand by each other.”
One of the key thematic issues discussed was women leadership, politics and governance.
Other themes included women issues in sectors of health, education, economic empowerment, business, labour and employment, agriculture, violence, access to justice, vulnerable and marginalised groups, and water and natural resources.
