Uasin Gishu woman Representative Eusilah Ngeny has urged parents in the county to educate the girl child and stop putting culture in the way of development.
Speaking in Eldoret town on Sunday, Ngeny said traditional cultural practices such as early marriages, female genital mutilation and the agriculture sector where girls work on farms instead of attending school hinder girl child empowerment.
"Parents should be in the forefront in supporting the government by ensuring that their daughters get education since there is free and compulsory education for primary and secondary day schools and so they have no reason to keep their daughters at home since all children are the same and should be treated equally," she said.
The county MP reiterated the barriers to girl child education such as poverty, gender-related practices such as FGM and early marriages can be prevented by parents by taking their daughters to school.
She said empowering the girl child is empowering the society.
"The benefits of educating a girl child benefits not the society but can also be felt worldwide. I urge countries in sub-Saharan Africa to embrace girl child education since most of them take it in vain and should educate them for the betterment of the region," she added.