First Ladies from the COMESA region have urged Member States to expand women’s economic empowerment opportunities and create conditions or an enabling environment that make women progress and have access to new technologies, information, support systems, financial services and credit.
The First Spouses have since expressed concern that women in the region continue to have limited access and control over productive resources such as land, finance, credit and related services. They have also regretted that women continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS and gender- based violence.
This was contained in the final communique issued at the close of the eighth COMESA First Ladies Roundtable hosted by Her Excellency Mrs Roman Tesfaye, the First Lady of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
“Despite the severe odds they are up against and in addition to the reproductive role and household management responsibilities they shoulder, women continue to contribute substantially to household income and national economic growth through various engagements as producers, workers and consumers,” Mrs Tesfaye said during the Roundtable discussion.
She added that empowering women and girls promotes economic growth, improves infant and child health, education, enhances women’s skills as mothers and opens opportunities for women’s economic and political engagement.
The Roundtable, whose theme was: ‘Economic Empowerment of Women: A key to inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development: was held on the sidelines of the 18th COMESA Summit of Heads of State and Governments.
The First Ladies pointed out that women earn significantly lower wages than men at all levels and hence industrialization would bring with it the opportunity for the economic empowerment of women so that they are not left behind in the industrial revolution of Africa and COMESA as a whole.
The Roundtable has noted efforts by Member States to improve living standards of women such as the setting up of the women’s economic empowerment fund, supporting girls education and literacy and forming the social cash transfer programme among other initiatives.
They have called upon Member countries to encourage women and girls to enroll in science and technology related fields and empower the Youth, especially young girls.
Other First Ladies that participated at the eighth Roundtable are Mrs Getrude Mutharika of Malawi, Mrs Jeannette Kagame of Rwanda and Mrs Voahangy Rajaonarimampianina of Madagascar. They were joined by Mrs Joy Dlamini, Spouse of the Prime Minister of Swaziland, the Minister of Gender from Malawi Patricia Kaliati, three other Ministers from Ethiopia and the Assistant Secretary General for Administration and Finance at COMESA Secretariat Ambassdor Nagla El-Hussainy.
The First Ladies Roundtable is a platform for dialogue and sharing of information on existing barriers, challenges and good practices on economic empowerment of women and other social development sectors.
