By Joseph Banda –
THE United Party for National Development (UPND) has backed the Marriage and Child Code bills which are expected to be presented to Parliament with an aim of addressing early marriages.
UPND president Hakainde Hichilema said in a statement yesterday that Zambia had one of the highest child marriage rates with 42 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 married by the time they were 18.
“This figure stands at closer to 60 per cent in some areas, notably Eastern Province. It is clear we have our work cut out to deliver change,” he said.
He said in 2015, 13,000 girls below the age of 18 left school early because of pregnancy or child marriage, and female literacy rates remained at around 12 per cent lower than that of boys.
He said the figures showed that girls struggled to reach their full potential with maternal mortality rates higher among younger mothers and those forced to leave school early were more likely to struggle to find work.
Mr Hichilema said UPND was strongly committed to 50-50 opportunities in the work place and equal pay for equal work, but that it would be a hard dream if the road for girls remained more challenging than for boys.
“We are convinced of the transformative potential of empowering women in society.
“At home we have some truly inspirational success stories of young women who have grown up and been educated in Zambia and have gone on to start their own businesses, providing employment as a means of making a living to many of their fellow citizens,” he said.
He said internationally, there was a research to support claims that empowering women accelerated economic growth, and that because women were more likely to reinvest their earnings in productive areas such as education and healthcare for family members,  the benefit to society was bigger.
“The approach we take to delivering equality in practice must work across many sectors, but it started with education because it was the key to making sure women had the same opportunities as men,” Mr Hichilema said.