WOMEN have a reason to smile as the government promises to take five important steps to promote gender equality and protect rights of women in the country.
important steps includes, among others, enacting new laws and amending policies and outdated laws discriminating and oppressing rights of women.
The announcement was made over the weekend by President Jakaya Kikwete when speaking at the Global leaders meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: A Commitment to Action attended by different heads of states at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, United States.
The five steps in promoting gender equality and protecting rights of women will be implemented between 2015 to 2030, include making major amendments of laws oppressing women and enacting laws that promote gender equality and will be part of implementation of the post -2015 development agenda, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Among steps to be taken include amending or removing laws that continue to oppress women such as the marriage act, heritage acts and enacting new laws that will curb violence against women.
President Kikwete said at the meeting organised jointly by China, Denmark, Mexico and Kenya, that the second step that will be taken by Tanzania is to ratify all international agreements on rights of women, especially on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW).
Other steps that will be taken in the next 15 years include supporting and promoting 50-50 gender parity between men and women in all decision making levels, seeking and use of correct data and information in enacting policies and making decisions that will end gender based discriminations.
More steps target enactment and implementing of monitoring systems of gender based rights and women’s rights agreed at the internationally and local government levels.
Mr Kikwete also gave detailed account on steps already taken by Tanzania in recent years to build gender equality in the country, which includes amendments to the Land Acts of 1999 and its 2004 amendments, giving women the right to acquire, hold, use and deal with land to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as rights of any man.
He said other steps include giving women equal opportunity as men in decision making and leadership levels in all spheres including politics and economic, adding that currently, the number of women MPs has increased from 21.5 per cent in 2005 to 34.5 per cent in 2015.
Women ministers have increased from six in 2005 to 26 in 2015, while women judges have increased from four in 2005 to 41 in 2015. Other measure taken by the government includes reducing maternal deaths, enacting laws against gender-based violence and violence against women and children.
Preparation of national budgets that takes into account needs of women and empowering women through establishing the Tanzania Women’s Bank (TWB), with the sole purpose of providing low interest loans to women operating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is yet another such measure.
Culled from Daily News
