By Adia Jildo
As South Sudan joins the rest of the World to celebrate the International Women’s Day, women are calling for inclusivity in the decision making in the government and private sector.
The women said there is no full participation in decision making.
Aya Warille, the National Minister of Gender Child and Social Welfare in an interview with No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper said women’s participation has been hindered by a lot of challenges such as few women involved in decision making.
“The government is a unity government and we have made progress as member of women in positions but decisions are made at the party level and very few women are in position are involved in decision making,” Warille said.
She said that the struggle to wipe out these challenges is about making the community aware which will take time.
Warille called on women to continue pushing for their inclusivity in order to pursue the 35 percent affirmative action and reach the implementation of the peace agreement.
Yar Telar Ring, a Member of Parliament said it has been hard for women to participate despite being in positions.
She stated that culture has made it hard for women to participate in politics because of laws made by men.
“We need more women in decision making processes where the women make the decisions by themselves, you cannot make decisions on behalf of women,” she said.
Yar cited that the society dictates women speaking out on sensitive issues such as sexual harassment which hinder them.
“We need to push for safe spaces where women can discuss this security wise because you can speak about perpetrators will follow one up,” she added.
She stated that women politics should continue advocating for more women to join politics and take up the 35 percent affirmative action.
Yar Telar said that women are coming up to take positions but are not enough to take up their positions and percentage.
She however called on women to work together to lift each other for their process and positive changes to happen.
“It’s a woman who sets standards of everything and if we decide to be united then trust me, then the men will follow,” she said.
Yar defined the international women’s day as a day where women reflect, look back to where women empowerment started and also see ways to improve the way forward.
Amer Manyok Deng, chairperson of women’s block South Sudan women said women are faced by a lot of challenges such as barriers by cultures and economic hardship that make them to leave politics.
“Few women are in the decision-making table, we really don’t know most of changes but what we see is most of the challenges,” she cited.
She added that women from the society and politics need to raise their voices to impact changes in the country.
“There is a fear where if I raise my voice, I might loss my voice so women tend to lag behind than speaking out,” she said.
Amer called on women to stand for their position as they advocate for the voice of the voiceless.
“There is no body who will change the situation of this country and change the situation of women, it is women themselves because they are a majority who are suffering due to the 2013 crisis. They need to correct the things that are happening now,” Amer said.
She called on the women in politics to unite with the women in the grass level to search for change for the future.