EASTERN PROVINCE NYAGATARE — Women in Nyagatare have appealed to authorities to extend vocational and literacy training opportunities to them in order to be empowered. Talking to The New Times on Saturday in Tabagwe Sector, a number of selected women noted that literacy skills will enhance their competition on the labour market. They hailed government’s emphasis on education of girls in the last ten years, but stressed that they also needed special adult vocational training to empower them. Rose Kampire, who noted that lack of basic education is a hurdle to their emancipation, said vocational training is a key to self employment. “This is the real path to prosperity which can help keep our emancipation campaign on track,” she said. The women also stressed the importance of reforming the national women empowerment programme, to allow them to take vocational skills with sufficient practical training as opposed to intellectual enrichment. The women argue that with skills, they can take charge of their lives instead of relying on handouts from men and the government. To demonstrate their determination, some women have taken up business usually considered as a preserve of the males. In 2006, Nyagatare’s first women’s sweater-making enterprise opened and it is managed and staffed entirely by women. The business run under Zamuka Munyarwandakazi Association, guarantees widows’ rights to a better lifestyle, and protection against discrimination and domestic violence. The Association’s chairperson, Joyce Kantarama, explained that its creation was geared at enabling genocide widows overcome bitter memories and despair. “If we can manage to produce products which out-compete those of our rivals on market, I think we would be prosperous entrepreneurs,” she said. Even though the lives of eleven women from poor families have improved, they say that it is still difficult for them to compete in certain jobs that need skilled labour. According to the women, the role of rural women in Rwanda’s development is still restricted by illiteracy and work opportunities that are still mainly limited to the urban areas. Ends
