Windhoek
DTA president McHenry Venaani has called upon members of the women’s league in the official opposition to work towards achieving gender parity.
He says this will bring about fundamental social and economic change for the benefit of all Namibian women.
“Women constitute 60 percent of the electorate in our country, and for this reason alone it is essential for a political party such as the DTA to have formal structures in place that work to achieve gender parity and fundamental social and economic change for the benefit of all Namibian women,” said the DTA president.
Venaani made the comments at the opening of the two-day DTA Women’s League (DTAWL) congress that took place over the weekend, in a speech delivered on his behalf by the DTA secretary of finance, Nico Smith.
The congress was attended by four delegates from each of the country’s 14 regions, as well as current members of the DTAWL national executive committee.
The congress elected 16 executive members to serve for the next five years.
Long-serving member Rosa Mbinge Tjeundo was elected chairperson to be deputised by Anna-Marie Imelda Snyders; Loide Iipenge as secretary general to be deputised by Celeste Hochobes, and Albertina Ndjoze as secretary for finance.
“The expression of the preference of the Namibian electorate is necessarily an expression of the preference of Namibian women,” said Venaani.
“This serves only to underscore the imperative role that women can and should play in decision-making in our country, and highlights the importance of female engagement in public matters and issues of national concern,” he added.
Venaani said women are traditionally seen as caregivers and homemakers.
“They are the mothers to our children. In large part these three sources, from which female identity is drawn, have not only come to dominate how women are perceived, but have also influenced the opportunities extended to them.”
However, he said, over the past 25 – 30 years women across the globe have transcended traditional beliefs about their role in relation to the family, and have established themselves as equally productive members of society in relation to their male counterparts.
“All the while women have remained the primary caregivers in an overwhelming majority of cases, shouldering much of the burden of child-rearing, as they juggle the demands of professional life.”
He said that not only has the role of women in society become much more significant, “but I believe that I am justified in saying that women are the cornerstone of the Namibian house”.
Venaani says the Namibian economy is characterised as male dominated, and while much has been said about the economic advancement of women, there remains a real and ever pressing need to raise women out of informal and subsistence economic activities, and into those that offer the potential for socio-economic advancement, the betterment of livelihoods and an improved quality of life.