Machar urges South Sudan women to be at the helm of the ship and on the captain’s bridge
March 10, 2011 (JUBA) – The Vice President of South Sudan, Riek Machar, has urged women in the region to push for girl-child education and to be proactive in public life including in the private sector.
Machar made the key note speech on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Tuesday 8th March 2011, which was celebrated in Juba under the theme:, “Equal Access to Education, Training, Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women.”
Hundreds of women delegates from all the ten states of South Sudan converged at Nyakuron Culture Center to commemorate the day and express their vision for women across the region. 20 women, 2 from each state, were honoured during the occasion for their tremendous achievements in their respective states.
Machar, who was the Guest of Honour of the event, said the South has had inspirational women who made it to universities half a century ago and encouraged them to continue being inspirational. “We have many inspirational women in our history. Let me mention one particularly inspirational example, that of Victoria Yar Arol, who was the first woman graduate from the south at the University of Khartoum in the 1960s.”
GOSS Vice President said the government has come up with a policy of promoting women membership in the governance. He said the interim constitution “requires all levels of governance in Southern Sudan to ensure at least 25% representation to redress the imbalances created by history, customs and traditions.”
Machar underscored that feminine membership has increased from 25% to 28.5% in the recent Elections in both legislature and executive bodies. He further said Southern Sudan now ranking in the top ten African countries in terms of Women’s representation in Parliament.
In Executive Leadership positions, “Women now form twenty percent of Ministers, but just one in ten of our State Governors. We now have one third of our Undersecretaries who are women,” he added.
Machar said improving women’s access to education is key to equitable development opportunities for women.
He pledged to include ambitious targets for gender equity for the post independence period in order to ensure women participation at all levels of South Sudan’s institutions and build a strong nation.
“Ladies and gentlemen, as we move forward to draft our South Sudan Development Plan for the period 2011-1013, as well as finalising our National Vision 2040 to guide our future process of nation-building, we must ensure that we set ambitious targets for gender equity, he said.
Adding “For it is only when we enable women to be at the helm of the ship, on the captain’s bridge, as well as in the engine room, that we will truly see strong national progress, based on an inclusive developmental process which recognises the equal rights of all citizens, and takes bold action to address existing social and economic inequities, most especially those related to gender.”
(ST)