Gender equality vital to attain Vision 2030

Staff Reporter

Gender equality has been underlined as a vital cog in the attainment of Vision 2030, a major highlight as the nation and the international community prepares to celebrate the International Women's Day.

Speaking through a press statement yesterday, Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Sithembiso Nyoni indicated that her ministry had programs that ensure women participate in all sectors of the economy.

"My Ministry has put in place a number of programmes to ensure that women effectively participate in agriculture, mining, tourism, trade and manufacturing sectors. These are being implemented under a Broad-Based Women Economic Empowerment Framework (BBWEEF) which calls for the participation of women in key economic sectors.

"To achieve these, we should revisit our social protection systems access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality. Develop innovative ways to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women, particularly in the areas of social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure," said Minister Nyoni.

The Minister emphasised the need for a robust stakeholder engagement in as much as gender responsive approach is concerned.

"I call upon stakeholders to collectively work together for the greater good. Let us be bold and gender-responsive in our approach to invest in socially inclusive systems, efficient services and sustainable infrastructure to accelerate the empowerment of women and girls," said Minister Nyoni.

Minister Nyoni informed the nation that this year's celebrations would run under the theme, ‘Digital: innovation and technology for gender equality,’ which is in tandem with the vision of the new dispensation which emphasises on economic recovery and making Zimbabwe an Upper Middle Income country by 2030.

Meanwhile, the Second Republic, in its quest to achieve an upper middle income economy by 2030, is living no stone unturned and living no one behind. Hence gender inclusivity comes in handy in the attainment of Vision 2030.