First Lady urges parental care

THE First Lady, Penehupifo Pohamba, has urged parents, especially women, to be more supportive towards young girls who fall pregnant to prevent baby dumping or suicides.

Pohamba was speaking at the second Rural Women’s Parliament With Male Partners in the capital yesterday where more than 39 delegates from all 14 regions across the country have gathered to deliberate on women-related social and economical issues It ends tomorrow.

She said parents also play a role in many young people’s lives, influencing young girls’ decisions to commit suicide since they don’t educate their children about social issues at a young age and only react when it’s too late.

“Parents are quick to punish and shut out young girls once they fall pregnant, instead of giving them the support they need. Doing this will only push the child over the edge to abort the baby or commit suicide,” she said.

Pohamba said no woman should feel that her prospects are so limited that her only option to turn to is selling her body, killing herself or dumping her baby and urged women and girls to open up to someone they trust should they have problems. Or when I hear about young people killing themselves, my heart gets torn into pieces,” she said,

The First Lady also urged women to speak up on their right to owning land and not leave it up to their male counterparts to own land.

She explained that men are still the ones regarded as ‘heads of household’ and the members of the family who apply for allocations of communal land, while women still struggle under the triple shift of paid work, unpaid housework and unpaid childcare.

“I acknowledge that the government has an important role to play in promoting gender equality but so too does the community,” she said.

“We need to educate our people and teach them that living in a society, which advocates and promotes gender equality, is one of the essential keys towards realising our full development potential. We need to continue to promote women’s participation in public leadership roles as well as their equal status in the family,” she said.

The Rural Women’s Parliament With Male Partners, which was first introduced in 2012, resulted from a commitment made at the 56th UN Session on the Commission of the Status of Women (CSW) of 2011. The National Council Women Caucus led by Deputy Chairperson of National Council Margaret Mensah-Williams organises rural women to come and debate various issues of concern such as baby dumping, women empowerment, gender based violence, human trafficking and other social issues affecting women in Namibia.