Mozambique: First Lady calls on women to be more active in fighting for their rights – AIM report

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Mozambique: First Lady calls on women to be more active in fighting for their rights – AIM report

6:56 CAT | 03 Mar 2020

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day (8 March) is, “I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights”. [Photo: TVM]

Mozambique’s First Lady, Isaura Nyusi, on Monday challenged Mozambican women to be more active in fighting for their rights, and to serve as a reference and inspiration for all of society.

She issued this challenge in Maputo at a ceremony launching “Women’s Month”, which is being held under the slogan “I am Generation Equality”. The ceremony was preceded by a march of several hundred people through the streets of the capital.

Although she recognised that there have been advances in women’s empowerment and in gender equality, Isaura Nyusi urged women to do more to advance the cause of equality.

She said that although many women now occupy senior positions that are key for the development of Mozambique, this is not enough, and “women still have many challenges ahead of them”.

The First Lady stressed the need to strengthen activities to prevent and fight against child marriages, teenage pregnancies, gender-based violence, and other social practices that damage women and children.

É lançado hoje o Mês das Mulheres pela VExce Isaura Nyusi, Primeira Dama de Moçambique. No país, 54% dos Secretários de Estado, 47% dos Ministros e Governadores e 42% dos deputados são mulheres. A Década de Ação por um mundo 50/50 é possível! Estamos Juntos 🇲🇿🤝🇺🇳 #DecadeOfAction pic.twitter.com/Ki4bsJGyLf

— Nações Unidas em Moçambique (@ONUMocambique) March 2, 2020

The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Welfare, Nyeleti Mondlane, said the country has made considerable progress in women’s empowerment, as shown by women’s active participation in politics, in parliament, in diplomacy, and in the country’s economic, social and cultural life.

As for women’s participation in key decision-making bodies, she stressed that the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, is headed by a woman (Esperanca Bias), and that 116 of the 250 deputies (46.4 per cent) are women.

As for the executive, ten of the 21 ministers (47.6 per cent) are women. Six of the 15 deputy ministers (40 per cent), three of the ten provincial governors (30 per cent) and six of the 11 Secretaries of State (54.5 per cent) are women.

For her part, the representative in Mozambique of UN-Women, Marie Kayisire, said the country is taking great steps towards gender equality, while the French ambassador, David Izzo, praised Mozambique for having a higher percentage of women parliamentarians than France does.

Mozambique, he said, ranks 13th in the world for the percentage of women in its parliament.

Source: AIM