As the world celebrates the International Women’s Day (IWD), South Sudanese women call for equal treatment and service delivery to citizens in the country.
This year the global theme for the IWD is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”, the theme celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
However the International Women’s Day Campaigner’s chose the theme for the day as “Choose to Challenge, A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change.
Minala Lucy a young South Sudanese female called for equal treatment between women and their male counterparts in the community.
She added many times when it comes to property inheritance women/girls are not allowed to own any property.
“We woman should be treated equally in the community when it comes to inheritance of property as a young woman we find it hard to start doing income generating activity coz we lack assets,” the 25 year old explained.
The 25 year old and a first time mother mentioned that this year’s theme “Choose to challenge” meant a lot for her as a woman and a young person doing her best to achieve her dreams.
“Yes we are living in a challenged world today, as a young woman, it means nothing comes on a silver plate, we all have to work so hard to overcome the challenges. It’s through all the challenges that I wake up every morning to make sure that my future and that of my family is well prepared for. All my challenges shape me into the woman I want to be tomorrow so I will embrace whatever life puts me through, it teaches me to be prepared for anything life may throw at me in future,” Ms. Lucy reiterated.
Another citizens Mamia John said during the pandemic many women lost their jobs and this year’s International Women’s day challenges women to invest in innovative ideas in order to keep striving.
“To me this day calls on women to realize that they should invest more on being innovative, use their skills to generate income, than to focus more on using the knowledge acquired from school. With that, they still earn a living even after losing their jobs due to COVID1-9,” Ms. John said.
She calls on women to protect young girls and nurture them for their future endeavors.
“It is quite difficult to protect young girls especially during this time that they are not at school. But keeping the girls busy at home through practicing some lifesaving skills, providing them with reading materials and assignments can help reduce the risk of being exposed to dangers and roaming on the streets,” Ms. John emphasized.
The 30 year old also mentioned that many South Sudanese women do not have equal opportunities of work in the country.
“Women in this country still have not gotten equal work opportunities . This is because they are either not educated, or unemployed. But we can change that by educating our young girls to be self-reliant generation of women. Secondly, women need to be empowered through skills training that can help sustain their income,” She said.
Esther Soma said women should celebrate their achievements and also ask themselves what they are doing at individual levels to promote gender equality in the country.
She added “unless everybody played their roles we will be able to make a difference to a more gender equal and a society where women are empowered and able to claim and assert for their rights”.
