First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has urged the government to accelerate the empowerment of women and girls to enable them participate in economic development.
Speaking while delivering a keynote address during a high level dialogue dubbed “when women lead”, held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi on Wednesday, she urged women leaders to explore ways of leveraging their strategic positions to ensure women have access to healthcare services and income.
“Empowerment is critical for women and young girls to make a meaningful contribution to our economies,” the First Lady said.
She said educating the girl child is an investment that will help address social protection and gender disparity concerns.
The First Lady said her Beyond Zero initiative has initiated interventions, that have helped lower structural barriers to women empowerment across all sectors.
“Notably, it is the reduction in maternal deaths from 698 in 1994 to 362 per 100,000 live births today and reduced child deaths from 96 in 1994 to 52 per 1,000 live births in 2014.“HIV prevalence was at a high of 10.5% in 1996 and today we have seen a significant decline in adult HIV incidence,” the First Lady said.