‘Close gap between urban and rural women’

Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
The Government and its development partners should implement more programmes to boost the capacity of rural women so that they can compete on an equal footing for economic opportunities with their urban counterparts.

In an interview, Beitbridge Senator, Cde Tambudzani Mohadi, said there was a huge gap between women in rural areas and those in cities and towns when it comes to accessing resources.

She said women should also be at the forefront of empowering each other to grow both economically and in leadership positions.

“When it comes to leadership positions, women are always propping up men.

“This affects decision making where women issues are concerned and as such we need to change that focus and lift each other as women. This should start at village level,” said Cde Mohadi.

The Senator added that women should position themselves to fully participate in economic opportunities that come with devolution.

“The difference in levels of participation in economic matters by women in rural areas and those in towns is very worrying,” said Cde Mohadi.

She said there were many opportunities for women to exploit in mining, natural resources management, agriculture and services industry.

Cde Mohadi said those in disadvantaged positions need to be capacitated to improve productivity and self-reliance from house hold level.

“For instance, those women in rural areas can do a lot in agriculture and natural resources management considering they have access to these resources.

“However, the missing link is capacitating them with the requisite skills and the creating markets so that they fully become part of the supply chain,” said Sen Mohadi.

She said the ruling Zanu-PF party through its women’s league was already rolling out a number of initiatives to socially and economically empower women by developing their entrepreneurship skills.