Africa-Press – Tanzania. FLASHING back, it is still fresh in minds of Tanzanians of how President Samia Suluhu Hassan in June last year met over 10,000 women in Dodoma in a unique meeting that had never occurred in the country, with the realisation that women are not only a force to reckon with, but also have the capacity to deliver.
Gracing the meeting, President Samia urged and told the participants not to remain behind, just because of their biological creation, for what matters at the end of the day is merit to deliver. Right!
Looked at keenly, women deserve support and not segregation because in any fast analysis, they reinvest 90 per cent of their income into the family in comparison to 30 to 40 per cent by men. This means women spend more on their children—food, shelter, and education—which creates long-term social and economic gains for their communities.
This makes them an integral part of ending the cycle of poverty. In fact, if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farm by 20 to 30 per cent.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations- a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security, if women in rural areas had access to the same technology, financial services, education, and market as men, they could increase agricultural production to feed up to 150 million hungry people.
In fact, if politics and unverified opinions are put aside, women’s empowerment can change the world and to revisit Eleanor Roosevelt’s quotation: “A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.”
Making that reference, President Samia was precise when she said a woman’s true strength comes to the surface when she gets into hot water (read an opportunity) and then you’ll see her real strength coming out. No wonder sensitive areas like Speaker of the National Assembly, Defence and National Security, Health and Clerk of the National Assembly among others are entrusted to them.
It should be noted that all people, in all their diversities, should be free to live their chosen lives, thrive socially and economically, participate and take a lead as equals in Tanzania, a country Mwalimu Julius Nyerere liberated from the colonial yoke.
Equally, we should realise that women and girls are key agents of development and change. Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls is vital to building fair, inclusive, prosperous and peaceful societies everywhere.
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