.WINA

By CHARITY MOONGA –

NEWLY-APPOINTED Vice-President Inonge Wina has urged women to work very hard and use every opportunity to reassert themselves.
Ms Wina thanked President Edgar Lungu for appointing her to the second highest office in the country and urged her fellow women to educate themselves and strive for highest positions in politics and public sphere.
She said this in Lusaka yesterday at the solidarity march in her honour as the first female Vice-President of Zambia.
Ms Wina said through her appointment, Mr Lungu had challenged the notion of men superiority and had shown that women were as capable as men and reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to elevate women to higher positions.
The Vice-President said women should also fight unwanted pregnancies and avoid early marriages.
As a woman Vice President, Ms Wina said she would strive to ensure that the interests of woman and girls were taken care of.
It was important to change the scenario in councils where women were few and that issues of women should be addressed in the development agenda.
The Government would maximise the use of the women’s movement and civil society organisations to improve skills and capacities of women.
Ms Wina urged the women’s movement to support her and work with the Government in promoting women and fighting gender inequality. Ms Wina would ensure gender equality and equity.
“I am encouraged by your support as the women’s movement and together we should work hard to ensure that we have half of our Parliament full of women in 2016,” she said.
Non-Governmental Organisations Coordinating Cooncil (NGOCC) chairperson Sara Longwe said for many years now, women in Zambia had been marginalised and their participation in decision-making remained low.
Zambia National Women’s Lobby Beauty Katebe said the women’s movement was expecting greater commitment from the Government to ensure more equitable representation of women in decision-making processes in Zambia.