National

The recently appointed regional coordinator of women parliamentarians in Africa, Faith Mukakalisa, has called for greater empowerment of women in Africa as the only means of making them take up leadership roles.

Mukakalisa, a Rwandan legislator, was appointed to the position by the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), during its 126th sitting held in Kampala, Uganda early this month.

 “The proportion of women in parliaments is 0.5% worldwide, and at this rate, gender equality will not be attained unless something is done to change this trend,” she said in an interview yesterday.

IPU is a world organization of parliaments which acts as a global forum for Parliamentary dialogue, cooperation and action.

Mukakalisa said she would look at policies that will increase women participation in decision making organs, and explore measures that may increase women’s participation in parliaments and governments from local to national levels.

Analysts have observed that in order to increase women participation in African politics, there was need to look at challenges and obstacles faced by women, in many spheres and examine the culture of citizens towards women’s political participation.

The legislator attributed her rise to the position to Rwanda’s distinguished success in gender promotion, particularly in the lower chamber of Parliament where women representation stands at 56.3%, the highest in the world.

IPU’s geographical regions include; Africa Region, Arab Region, Asia-Pacific Region, Eurasia Region, Latin America and the Caribbean Region and each region is headed by two persons, with a term of office of 4 years.