Empowering women doesn’t necessarily stops at financial resources, but also include reforms to give women equal rights to economic opportunities, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws, enhancing the use of enabling technology to promote empowerment of women.
Indeed, the importance of women in the sustainable development of any society is more than just a mere say or intellectual discussion. It is a campaign that unites women in the awareness of their fundamental role for this sustainable development to be achieved. Women actively contribute in all sectors of productive activity, side by side with men, seeking equality based on respect and recognition of their role in society.
Based on their active and responsibilities, there is no initiative worthy of support more important than women empowerment initiatives. It is fact that women issues in many developing countries especially when it comes to making decision are undervalued and underrepresented.
Women are active in many sectors and are excelling well. They are also key actors and caretakers of household food security, particularly in rural areas of many developing countries.
Therefore, supporting our local women is not only a right thing to do but the rewards that it comes with.
In our today’s edition of The Point, there is a story about women gardeners of Jiboroh village in the Kombo East District, who have abandoned their five hectares garden since 2015 due to lack of proper fence to prevent animal intrusion into their gardens.
This five hectares garden has a borehole with twenty -four (24) reservoirs across the garden. What is even more incomprehensible is that they have made any attempts to seek support from government and its partners, but to no avail.
We believe that there are many institutions out there who could volunteer to support them once they know of their plight. Better still we remind authorities about what the consequences of abandoning the mighty agricultural site would be. Already, reports have it that it has turned over 200 women jobless for the past five years.
Some used monies generated from these gardens to pay for their children’s school fees, while others buy clothing for their families, among a host of others.
This is indeed disheartening. Government and development partners should immediate intervene and support these women. It is discouraging and frustrating to spend all your resources and efforts on something only to be a ‘white elephant’.
Animal intrusion into gardens appears to be a perennial problem facing many women farmers in the peri-urban and rural areas. This sometimes rendered their efforts and resource spent in their respective gardens useless due to animal intrusion in their gardens.
The worst aspect of it is that some of these women are the only breadwinners in their respective families.
Let’s support and empower our women. Supporting our women is contributing to national development.