MORE WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES NEEDED IN DECISION MAKING POSITIONS

Press Statement

For Immediate Release

LUSAKA Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Disability Rights Watch joins the rest of the world in celebrating International Women’s Day which falls under the theme: “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”.

We acknowledge that the theme is current with developments regarding women’s inclusion in all spheres of life. But we want to stress once more that there won’t be gender equality, inclusion, or democracy without women with disabilities.

Without the participation of women with disabilities in all sectors of life, gender equality will not be achieved because it talks about the equality between men and women, but we see that women with disabilities are still living at the margin of society and they are still living far beyond using the digital space for success, innovation and enterprises.

Women with disabilities continue to be underrepresented in schools, particularly those who have intellectual and mental disabilities, visual impairments, or are deaf.

We therefore implore the government to ensure that technology is usable by women and girls with disabilities, especially those who have visual impairment and those who are deaf, through the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services and the Ministry of Technology and Science.

We want to see more women with disabilities in leadership roles as directors and we have a lot of them who are teachers and can be school managers or operating at the DEBS and PEO offices.

We have noted quite several of them in enterprise and we also would like to see them joining organizations such as Women in Mining, Business, Law, and everything.

Women with disabilities are part of society and society must do everything to ensure that they are included.

Issued by

Wamundila Waliuya- Director