The United Nations has commended Tanzania and Zanzibar for making ‘great progress towards increasing women’s participation in decision making’.
UN Women Country Representative to Tanzania, Hodan Addou, gave the commendation at the opening of a four-day training on ‘Transformational leaderships and Violence Against Women Politicians (VAWP)’.
The training, it was gathered, was conducted for members of the Zanzibar House of Representatives (UWAWAZA).
‘Tanzania, and indeed Zanzibar, have made great progress towards increasing women’s participation in decision making…this is commendable’, she said.
The UN representative specifically commended President Samia Hassan and her Zanzibar counterpart Hussein Mwinyi for their commitment in ensuring more women get leadership roles at all levels.
She reminded participants, most of them new women leaders, that on several occasions, President Samia has committed to advance gender equality and appoint more women to leadership positions, and that her commitment has been echoed by Mwinyi.
Addou told the gathering that studies have shown that when women are empowered as political leaders it leads to more gender-responsive policies and budgets, with countries experiencing higher standard of living, and more resources allocated to social services including health, education and community development.
‘Furthermore, the increased visibility of women in public life has the potential of changing patriarchal mindsets, creating greater opportunities for women to occupy leadership spaces beyond politics and the public service’, she said.
Ahead of this year’s International Women’s Day, representatives of Tanzania’s government, civil society, development practitioners and youth organisations joined the national chapter of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN Tanzania) to call for the greater inclusion of women in peace processes as an imperative.
AWLN Tanzania and the Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Academy convened an inter-generational dialogue in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with the support of UN Women to discuss women’s meaningful participation in decision making, peacebuilding and peacekeeping.
Source: Daily News
Photo source: FCS
