UNMISS Urges Governments, Civil Society To Commit To Gender Equality The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Coordinator in Eastern Equatoria State (EES), Madam Winnie Babihuga has urged Governments, civil society and the private sector to commit themselves to gender equality and empowerment of women in order to enjoy fundamental human rights17 March 2012 UNMISS chief in EES, Madam Winnie addressing the public in Torit [©Gurtong]By Peter Lokale Nakimangole TORIT, 17th March 2012 [Gurtong]
She clarified that while the Government must create good perhaps favourable polices and laws which do not discriminate women or hinder women participation in critical decision making, the civil society should do more advocacy and the private sector must also play a bigger role by creating employment opportunities for all irrespective of sexes to ensure gender equality is felt. While recalling the UN Secretary General’s message on the International Women’s Day marked in Torit, the State capital of EES, the UNMISS coordinator commented that the energy, talent and strength of women and girls represent humankind’s most valuable untapped natural resource. She commented that even those countries with the best records still maintain disparity in what women and men are paid for the same work, and witness the continuing under-representation of women in political and business decision-making. Madam Winnie whined that plights of rural women and girls across the world symbolizes that of women and girls throughout society – from the persistence of the glass ceiling to pervasive violence at home, at work and in conflict; from the prioritization of sons for education to the hundreds of thousands of women who die each year in the act of giving life for want of basic obstetric care. She believes that investing in rural women is a smart investment in a nation’s development as she explained that discriminatory laws and practices have continued to affect not just women but entire communities and nations “Countries where women lack land ownership rights or access to credit have significantly more malnourished children. It makes no sense that women farmers receive only 5 per cent of agricultural extension services,” the coordinator elaborated. She complained that the women perform most of the unpaid care work in rural areas. Rural women have continued to be held back in fulfilling their potential and protests that if countryside women had equal access to productive resources, agricultural yields would rise by elevated percentages, strengthening food and nutrition security and relieving as many as millions people from hunger. “Rural women, if given an opportunity, could also help end the veiled growth tragedy of stunting, which affects almost 200 million children worldwide,” Madam Winnie reiterated. “While adding up to almost half a billion smallholder farmers and landless workers, rural women are a major part of the agricultural labour force in the world,” she added. However, in his part of his one page message on International Women's Day, the UN Secretary General, Banki Moon notes that gender equality and the empowerment of women are gaining ground worldwide with more women becoming heads of State or Government than ever, and the highest proportion of women serving as Government ministers. He observes that women are exercising ever greater influence in business as he notes that more girls are going to school, and are growing up healthier and better equipped to realize their potential. Banki Moon’s message continues that despite momentum being, there is still a long way to go before women and girls can be said to enjoy the fundamental rights, freedom and dignity that are their birthright and that will guarantee their well being saying that this is more noticeable in the rural areas. Posted in: Home, Foreign Relations -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
