Sundaymail Editor
Sunday Mail Correspondent
SPEAKER of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda, has showered praises on Rwanda for having more women than men in parliament.
Adv Mudenda is in Kigali, Rwanda, for the 145th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, which is running under the theme “Gender Equality and Gender Sensitive Parliaments as Drivers for a More Resilient and Peaceful World”. In a presentation to the Rwanda Parliament, he commended the Central African country for exceeding the 50 percent threshold for women in Parliament, as females constitute 62,8 percent of Rwanda’s legislature, way above the global average of 26,8 percent.
“Congratulations Rwanda, especially when this sterling achievement has been attained after the debilitating genocide. Rwanda has concretely proved that adversity can be a springboard for wholesome human development that is cognisant of gender parity.”
Adv Mudenda said Zimbabwe, under the leadership of President Mnangagwa, has made significant strides to empower women.
He noted that Zimbabwe’s Constitution espouses gender parity in its Bill of Rights, which shows the State’s desire to ensure that women are not left behind, in line with Cde Mnangagwa’s mantra of “leaving no one and no place behind”.
“Sixty seats in the National Assembly are constitutionally guaranteed to women, up to 2030, on the basis of proportional representation, in addition to constituency representation. As a result, our Parliament now has more than 34 percent of female Members of Parliament compared to 26 percent before 2013.”
Advocate Mudenda said as part of efforts to support and protect women, the recently enacted Marriages Act No. 1 of 2022 prohibits early child marriages and makes it illegal to marry a girl below 18 years of age. IPU is a global organisation comprising 178 member parliaments and 14 associate members.
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