Kagame challenges African countries to focus on gender equality

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has challenged his peers on the continent to take the issue of gender equality seriously. He was speaking at the opening of the first Global Gender Summit to be hosted at the Kigali Convention Centre.

The main objective of the summit is to share best practices and investment to accelerate progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa and around the world.

Rwanda is a country that is being commended for gender parity, one of the few countries on the continent that has ensured that both the executive and Parliament is well balanced. The three-day summit is organised by the African Development Bank with other multilateral partners.

Held under the theme, “Unpacking constraints to gender equality,” the summit will dig deep into three dimensions in which gender equality and women empowerment can be achieved.

The dimensions include scaling up innovative financing, enabling legal, regulatory and institutional environments.

Kagame says there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of narrowing the gender gaps that still exit.

President of the African Development Bank Akinwumi Adesina says women are the best investment any society can make.

Speaking at a panel discussion Ethopian President Sahle-Work Zewde said more still needs to be done to ensure that women occupy critical leadership positions in the society.