First Lady inspires young girls on education
The First Lady Monica Chakwera has emphasised the need for young girls and women in the country to embrace education, saying it opens up opportunities in their lives.
She said this when she presided over the intergenerational dialogue for girls and women leaders as part of the Generation Equality Conference held from Wednesday to Friday in Lilongwe.
Chakwera, who launched the Education Plus Initiative, said although education alone is enough to address the multifaceted challenges faced by the adolescent girls and young women in the country.
She said: “This is why Education Plus is an important initiative for adolescent girls and young women in Malawi, focused on ensuring that every adolescent girl and young woman can complete a full cycle of quality education and is empowered to lead a secure, healthy, fulfilling, and productive life.”
According to the First Lady, the initiative seeks to ensure universal access to comprehensive sexuality education, fulfilment of their sexual and reproductive health and rights, freedom from gender-based and sexual violence, and school to work transitions for young women’s economic security and autonomy.
Speaking at the same event, Liberia’s Vice-President, Jewel Taylor said women across the globe need to be elevated to be among decision-makers on issues affecting them.
“That empowerment needs to start now, we usually say youths are our future but no, they are in the present as youths make up almost 60 percent of almost all countries population in Africa and beyond,” she said.
UN Women country representative Clara Anyangwe said too little has changed 26 years later since the 1995 World Conference on Women; hence, the need to step up efforts and awareness that gender equality was not about how strong women are but rather how the society perceives that strength.
The three day conference held under the theme ‘Growing and Glowing Against all Odds’ was opened by President Lazarus Chakwera on Thursday.
It attracted both local and international delegates and business captains including Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, Taylor, former interim Central African Republic president Catherine Samba Panza, and former Zimbabwe vice-president, Joyce Mujuru.
