Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan on Friday expressed the country’s readiness to collaborate with UN Women in fulfilling the vision outlined in the Beijing declaration and attain ambitious targets for 50/50 gender parity in leadership.
President Samia said that although Tanzania has not yet achieved gender equality during her tenure, she will direct more efforts in the area to achieve it.
She made the remarks at the State House in Dar es Salaam during her meeting with the Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director for UN Women, Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on strengthening partnerships ahead of the Generation Equality Forum.
The Generation Equality Forum is a civil society–centered, global gathering for gender equality convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France.
The forum kicked off in Mexico City on 29–31 March 2021, and will culminate in Paris, France, on 30 June –2 July 2021, to secure a set of concrete, ambitious, and transformative commitments to achieve immediate and irreversible progress towards gender equality. The landmark effort will bring together governments, corporations and change to define and announce ambitious investments and policies.
Towards the summit, the participating countries are working on six Action Coalitions of the Generation Equality Campaign working areas, whereby President Samia has agreed to be a leader in the area of Economic Justice and Rights.
The Action Coalition themes are Gender-Based Violence; Economic Justice and Rights; Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights; Feminist Action for Climate Justice; Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality; and Feminist Movements and Leadership.
President Samia also expressed gratitude to UNWomen for its willingness to assist Tanzania in tackling the coronavirus pandemic. Action Coalitions are global innovative, multistakeholder partnerships that are mobilising governments, civil society, international organisations, and the private sector to catalyse collective action, spark global and local conversations among generations, drive increased public & private investment, and deliver concrete game-changing results for girls and women.
Dr Mlambo-Ngcuka invited President Samia to participate in the forum that will respond to the fact that—despite the commitments made in Beijing in 1995 to take strategic, bold action on gender equality, progress and implementation have been slow.
“Not a single country today can claim to have achieved gender equality. With women’s rights at risk of rolling back further as a result of the COVID-19 crisis—due to heightened poverty and risks of gender-based violence, the Forum is a rallying point to finally achieve the human rights of all women and girls,” she said She also expressed gratitude to Ms Samia for her support of the women’s rights movement and has promised that UN-Women will support those efforts.
Earlier, Dr Mlambo Ngcuka had a meeting with members of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) Tanzania Chapter, where they discussed some game-changing actions and innovations for gender equality taking place in the build-up to, and during the Forum.
“AWLN is very important to leverage the opportunities in the country to push for women agenda,” she remarked AWLN Co-chair and Executive Director for Women Fund Tanzania, Mary Rusimbi said more work needs to be done to align the network with the ongoing initiatives in the country as they complement efforts.
“We sincerely appreciate the support we have been getting through UN Women Tanzania which has been great in making AWLN push for gender equality, and women empowerment in the country is a real show of sisterhood,” she said AWLN Tanzania Member, Dr Getrude Mongella called on women to work hard and support President Samia from their respective positions to help her move forward and achieve more in the highest post in the nation.
“Violence against women doesn’t look at the position you hold, so let’s work hard to support and protect our president. If she fails we have all failed,” she said
