Allow me to thank the FES, the organisers of this workshop, for the job well done. I certainly hope this interaction will continue, and that you come up with recommendations that will eventually help us reach our target of 30% representation by women at the forthcoming parliamentary elections. For the visitors, I welcome you all, and at the same time I wish to invite you to take some time off from your busy schedules and explore the beauty of our country and its friendly people.
Namibian politician
Angelika Kazetjindire Muharukua (12 January 1958 Opuwo, Kunene Region – 1 October 2017) was a Namibian politician. An ethnic Herero from northwestern Namibia, Muharukua joined the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1979. She was a surprise choice by President Sam Nujoma for the 2nd National Assembly of Namibia in 1995 and remained in the National Assembly since. In May 2004, she was chosen to replace Marlene Mungunda as deputy minister of Women Affairs and Child Welfare, later renamed the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare. In September 2012 Angelika Muharukua contravened international human rights laws such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples when she publicly announced that indigenous peoples such as the Himba and Zemba would not have the right to choose their own traditional leaders.
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The programmes should also be aimed at women themselves, especially poor and uneducated women who have been so socialised or bound by a “culture of poverty” that their attitude is one of dependence – rather than of being proactive in order to mobilise themselves for change and progress. In addition, since socialisation begins at home, sensitisation efforts should also target family members and local communities.
It is a well-known fact that women in most parts of the world face a multitude of injustices, disparities and discrimination, unlike their male counterparts. Women workers, for example, face many barriers on their way to equal participation and leadership because entry to that world is based on credentials– which many women have never obtained.
Today, the inequalities in the socio economic set-up have created further negative consequences when it comes to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is taking its toll on our nation’s productive and reproductive women and men. The disease is preventable, but some cultural beliefs and traditional norms encourage its spread. Women are generally less well-informed than men: the majority of women live in remote rural settings and in poor living conditions where they are less likely to get adequate information about how to protect themselves from unsafe sex, and how to empower themselves to say “No” to sex. Moreover, men continue to have an upper hand on matters of sexual relations.
The Namibian government attaches great importance to gender issues, with the aim that women can operate on par with their male counterparts. To illustrate this, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Welfare was created, with one of its core functions being the mainstreaming of gender into all government and private institutions.
It is really both a privilege and a delight to have this opportunity of being here at the Southern African Regional Workshop on the Situation of Gender and to have the opportunity of spending a few moments with you this morning, while trying to share some information that would nodoubt be useful in our work.
Kunene is marginalized all the time. The electricity coming from Ruacana via Etoto, those people have not benefited. People in Okahozu and Okaupaue were also supposed to benefit but they did not. There is a need for rural electrification in the region. Most people here are not enjoying the cake of Namibia, only a few have benefited
They are there de-bushing in Windhoek. Why can't they also go to their hometowns and villages and de-bush there? This is why I say they are not fighting the land issue the way they should. The youth wing of Swapo used to fight for development and not what we are currently seeing. They must stop politicising the land issue
As children, they suffer discrimination within their own family, which is followed by a lack of opportunity in education and training. As young women, they suffer the consequences of their lower levels of literacy, education, legal understanding, confidence and awareness by finding only poorly paid jobs that require a low level of skill. As young mothers, they put up with their lack of financial autonomy and free time to honour their family commitments. Constrained by their reproductive role, when they return to part-time employment after a period of motherhood, they frequently experience what is known as downward occupational mobility, and get stuck in lower-grade positions.