MPs urged to help empower women
Jun 10, 2008
Be part of the global campaign to empower women, Danish ambassador Stig Barlyng has urged MPs.
By Carol Kezaabu
Be part of the global campaign to empower women, Danish ambassador Stig Barlyng has urged MPs.
The envoy made the call on Tuesday during a breakfast meeting he hosted at the Kampala Serena Hotel to drum up support for the MDG3 Global Call to Action Campaign.
The campaign, an initiative of the Danish government, was launched in March.
It aims at promoting gender equality and empowering women, which is the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and one of the eight set by world leaders in 2000 to reduce poverty by 2015.
Barlyng said gender equality was core to accelerating progress on all the goals.
It is well documented that women’s access to education and income has a positive effect on children’s education, nutrition, reduction of child mortality, fertility rates and therefore poverty eradication, he observed.
“It is bad economics to exclude up to 50% of the population, simply due to their sex.â€
The MPs pledged to use their position as policy makers to enact laws that promote gender equality, focusing on reproductive health, the economic empowerment of women, female genital mutilation, domestic violence and girl-child education.
“We shall do surgery on the Bills in our committees and get a result that satisfies us all,†said Winnie Matsiko, the Rukungiri Woman MP and head of the women parliamentary association.
The executive director of the investment authority, Maggie Kigozi, promised to continue empowering women entrepreneurs through training.
Three of the MDG3 torch-bearers, the Nnabagereka (Queen) Sylvia Nagginda and Atuki Turner of the Mifumi Project and Josephine Okot of Victoria Seeds, vowed to empower women through their projects.
Be part of the global campaign to empower women, Danish ambassador Stig Barlyng has urged MPs.
The envoy made the call on Tuesday during a breakfast meeting he hosted at the Kampala Serena Hotel to drum up support for the MDG3 Global Call to Action Campaign.
The campaign, an initiative of the Danish government, was launched in March.
It aims at promoting gender equality and empowering women, which is the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and one of the eight set by world leaders in 2000 to reduce poverty by 2015.
Barlyng said gender equality was core to accelerating progress on all the goals.
It is well documented that women’s access to education and income has a positive effect on children’s education, nutrition, reduction of child mortality, fertility rates and therefore poverty eradication, he observed.
“It is bad economics to exclude up to 50% of the population, simply due to their sex.â€
The MPs pledged to use their position as policy makers to enact laws that promote gender equality, focusing on reproductive health, the economic empowerment of women, female genital mutilation, domestic violence and girl-child education.
“We shall do surgery on the Bills in our committees and get a result that satisfies us all,†said Winnie Matsiko, the Rukungiri Woman MP and head of the women parliamentary association.
The executive director of the investment authority, Maggie Kigozi, promised to continue empowering women entrepreneurs through training.
Three of the MDG3 torch-bearers, the Nnabagereka (Queen) Sylvia Nagginda and Atuki Turner of the Mifumi Project and Josephine Okot of Victoria Seeds, vowed to empower women through their projects.