General
Source: Tanzania Daily News
BLOG and social media owners have been urged to use their forums in pushing the gender agenda by bringing changes to various issues that have been affecting women.
The call was made in Dar es Salaam by Acting Executive Director of the Tanzania Gender Network Programme (TGNP), Ms Lillian Liundi, while opening a two-day training that is meant to bring awareness on gender issues among blog owners in the country.
She said the social media including blogs are one of the main sources of news which informs a large number of people day to today issues, thus when used effectively it can help in bring changes on issue that have being affecting women.
"The social media are very powerful and indeed we cannot undermine their role in pushing forward the gender agenda however still there are a lot that need to be done, that is why we have decided to meet with the owners of blogs so that we can share the experience but also learn on how we can achieve gender equality," she said.
She added that still a great number of women who are 51 per cent of the country's population are marginalised and deprived of their rights thus there is a need of educating the society on social-cultural issues that have being affecting women.
"The fight towards gender equality have always been so tough but with collaboration with various stakeholders including the media much have been achieved however we still need more support in achieving the target," she said.
For his part, one of the bloggers, Mr Josepath Lukaza, said the training was very important, especially at this time when the nation was preparing itself for the general election whereby more efforts were needed in educating marginalized women about various election issues.
"The training comes at the appropriate time as we have various national events, like the general election and the referendum for the proposed national constitution, both matters need to be covered while also observing gender issues," he said.