Economic Empowerment
First Lady Salma Kikwete has encouraged women in the country to continue pushing for their basic rights in an effort to achieve social and economic freedom for themselves and for their country.
She made the remarks at a New Year party she hosted for spouses of ambassadors and other members of the diplomatic corps. The party was held in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday.
In her statement, the First Lady said “In the past year women in Tanzania joined others around the globe to celebrate 100 years of the International Women’s Day.”
The celebrations, she said, marked a significant milestone to gauge successes towards realisation of women rights and roles in the development process, noting that “indeed, much has been accomplished.”
The rights of women were now being recognised than any other time before, she observed, urging women to forge ahead with the fight for their basic and other human rights.
“Because of previous efforts we have made, our roles are more visible now than any other time before. To date, many initiatives are in place to deal with issues of women from global level to the grassroots. More resources are being allocated and better coordination of programmes, such as UN WOMEN and the universalisation of rights, are more evident,” she noted.
Mama Kikwete said that women’s struggle for their rights remains more relevant today than any other time before because they have great contribution to the national and global development.
According to the World Bank, women constitute 50 per cent of today’s global population and 40 per cent of the global work force. In Africa, she said, majority of farmers are women, who produce about eighty per cent of continent's food, yet women own only one per cent of the world's wealth.
“These statistics, in a nutshell, informs us that gaps remain in so many areas. In their totality, they call for more efforts to address the structural imbalances that hinder the realisation of women rights and welfare.
“I am pleased to note that the 2012 World Development Report prepared by the World Bank will be focusing on women,” said the First Lady.
Mama Kikwete commended the World Bank for such a commitment to women’s plight, observing: “I believe the report will give a befitting profile to the women and development agenda. We, at the WAMA [women and development foundation] are looking forward to echo the recommendations of the report and to raise our advocacy for the agenda - women and development.”
For that reason, she said, the WAMA Foundation continues to place the women and development higher on its agenda. “WAMA is grateful of the support and cooperation it receives from partners and stakeholders, some of whom are present in this occasion,” she added.
The First Lady expressed her satisfaction with the efforts by government giving deserved attention to the questions of maternal and child health as well as the overall question of women’s rights and welfare.
“We recognise, with admiration, its participation [the government] on the World Commission on Information and Accountability for Children’s and Women’s Health and the African Leaders Initiative Against Malaria (ALMA). These efforts altogether deserve special mention and our support,” she noted.
WAMA is looking forward to compliment government efforts in addressing the same to the needy and underprivileged women and girls who have not been reached by these and other similar efforts, added the First Lady.
