Rural women key to development: Min Mutsvangwa

RURAL women must be empowered as they are playing a crucial role in the development of Zimbabwe through their hard work and socio-economic activities, a Cabinet minister has said.

Speaking at commemorations to mark the International Day of Rural Women in Chiredzi district yesterday, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said Government and the private sector should continue to improve support to rural women.

“It is you, rural women, who will fuel socio-economic development and my ministry is alive to women empowerment through a number of programmes. We want you to benefit from more and more projects,” she said.

“We have a lot of programmes across all provinces, with provincial development officers, same as at district level, who oversee the sustainability of projects and recommend what women might need in terms of skills and financial inclusion so that those businesses can be successful. Take advantage of these initiatives and grow.”

Minister Mutsvangwa said the Constitution of Zimbabwe is progressive in terms of advancing women’s rights.

“It contains an expansive Bill of Rights, gender equality notions and specific and elaborate rights for women-based gender parity.

“And, as a woman myself, I am very passionate about women empowerment and I have no apologies about that because I know when you ask for women empowerment or gender parity, it’s not just a human right issue, but a process of facilitating socio-economic development.”

Empowerment of women, she said, contributes significantly to national development.

“Where women have been empowered, there has been development. If you move around properly built homes, you will know that there is an empowered woman at that house. We need to empower women. When we empower rural women, that’s a game changer.”

The International Rural Women’s Day is a United Nations calendar event celebrated annually on October 15.

It is set aside to reflect on contributions that women in rural areas make to the country in all spheres of life, including participation in social and economic activities, as well as politics and decision-making.