By Omar Bah
Gambia Moral Congress leader has called for urgent, comprehensive land reforms that would guarantee women’s right to own agricultural land to assure food security and ameliorate incidents of poverty.
“This is critical, particularly for the majority of poor rural women,” Mai Fatty said in a statement dedicated to Women’s Day.
He urged the government to create an equitable economic system that removes barriers to women’s financial independence and enables women to access credit facilities to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
“Focus on substantially reducing infant mortality and enhancing women’s universal access to affordable, proper healthcare facilities. This is urgent in view of the high mortality rate per capita during labour and pregnancy complications that are totally independent of any perceived harmful traditional practices,” he stated.
He also advised the government to increase investments in access to education for girls and by systematically promoting girls’ education to progressively eliminate disparities engendered by a low literacy rate.
“Promote women’s access to decision-making opportunities in both the private and public sectors through gender-sensitive affirmative action programmes; integrate gender-sensitive initiatives in all aspects of national development policy, including creating special incentives to facilitate women’s participation in publicly contested political elections at all levels; and build the resilience of rural women in adapting to and coping with the adverse effects of climate change,” he added.
