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GOVERNMENT says it is committed to ensuring that the provision of equal rights and opportunities for women and men is guaranteed and enshrined in the new Constitution.
Vice-President George Kunda said since the Constitution is the fundamental law of the land, it is critical that all subsidiary legislation reflect the important principle of equal rights and opportunities.
Mr Kunda said Government is gratified to note that the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) is currently considering various submissions related to equity and equality between women and men.
He said it is Government’s firm belief that through the NCC, it is laying a better foundation for enhanced equal rights and opportunities for women and men.
Mr Kunda said this in Lusaka yesterday when he officiated at the commemoration of the International Women’s Day at Mulungushi International Conference Centre.
The theme for this year’s celebrations is ‘Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All’.
This year’s celebrations attracted over 200 companies with over 10,000 women and men participating in a march past.
First Lady Thandiwe Banda led the people who participated in the march past.
Mr Kunda said this year’s theme focuses on three important pillars of national development.
He said equal rights, opportunities and progress for all form the foundation of society and have continued to guide Government’s policy formulation and legal framework processes.
Mr Kunda said apart from the Constitution, the national Vision 2030, which was launched in 2007, reflects the aspirations of Zambians to become a prosperous middle-income nation.
He said the Vision fully articulates the principle of equal opportunities and gender equality underpinned by the principles of gender responsive sustainable development, democracy and respect for human rights.
“While the Constitution, Vision 2030 and the Fifth National Development Plan provide a framework for development, my administration has also put in place a number of policy and administrative interventions aimed at ensuring equal rights and opportunities to facilitate participatory development.
“In this regard, my Government made a deliberate decision to allow for accelerated implementation of the National Gender Policy by giving the Gender in Development Division enhanced financial capacity to co-ordinate gender programmes as provided for by Parliament in the 2010 national budget,” he said.
Mr Kunda said the increase in funding to the national gender machinery should be supplemented by gender responsive budgeting in all ministries, provinces, spending agencies, private sector and civil society organisations.
He said this must be treated as a national programme across all sectors.
Mr Kunda said Women’s Day should be a reminder to all stakeholders to ensure that their respective sectors mainstream all cross-cutting issues of gender, HIV/AIDS and environment.
He said stakeholders should continue working together to create a conducive environment in which men and women will have equal rights and opportunities to contribute to and benefit from the development of the country.
Mr Kunda, however, said that equal opportunities among men and women should not only be about education, water, sanitation and health, but should also be about participation and equal access to economic resources of the country.
He noted that one of the strategies that Government is implementing is the land reform programme.
Mr Kunda said the programme enables women to access titled land, which was previously predominantly acquired by men.
He said the programme benefited 5,722 women between 2005 and 2009.
“Access to titled land has empowered women as they are now able to use acquired title as collateral to obtain financial resources.
“I wish to encourage the Ministry of Lands and local authorities to continue with these progressive measures,” he said.
Mr Kunda said Government has established the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC), which is designed to support participation of citizens in economic ventures to contribute to the reduction of poverty.
He said it has been recognised that women have less opportunities for economic empowerment, hence the CEEC Act deliberately targets women as beneficiaries of the empowerment programmes.
Mr Kunda said Government remains committed to the African Union solemn declaration on gender equality in Africa, which requires member states to achieve gender parity in decision-making positions.
He said Government has also placed priority in ensuring girls and boys gain equal access to education and training.
“My Government has actively pursued policies such as free basic education, re-entry and affirmative action in favour of females at higher levels of education in order to create opportunities for girls and women to participate on an equal footing with boys and men in national development,” he said.
Mr Kunda said Government is building technical high schools for girls only in each of the nine provinces.
He said to increase women’s access to health services, Government has embarked on the construction of 19 district hospitals across the country.
Mr Kunda said the introduction of the retention scheme for health personnel is one of the interventions designed to address challenges which women face in accessing quality healthcare.
He said the integrated reproductive health programme has contributed to remarkable progress in achieving maternal health and safe motherhood as demonstrated by the drop in the maternal mortality rate from 729 per 100,000 live births in 2002 to 499 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2007.
“This makes it likely for the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goal number five of reducing maternal mortality rate to 162 per 100,000 live births by 2015,” he said.
Mr Kunda said Government is determined to institute interventions which will protect the nation from the negative impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
He said girls and women are the most affected by the negative impact of the pandemic.
Mr Kunda said the prevalence rate for women stands at 14.3 percent compared to 12 percent for men.
And Mr Kunda has urged all political parties in the country to ensure that during the 2011 general elections, women are given more opportunities to participate as candidates.
He said women should rise to the challenge and apply for adoption in their various political parties ahead of the general elections next year.
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