THE government is set to launch the National Gender and Development Policy in a bid to strengthen the country’s human capital through women empowerment.

Dr Dorothy Gwajima, Minister for Community Development, Gender, Women, Elderly and Special Groups said this in Dar es Salaam yesterday at the 6th Annual Leadership Conference 2024, themed ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress’, adding that the launch takes place tomorrow in Dodoma Region as part of International Women’s Day celebrations.

“The government has implemented this agenda through various projects, including financial inclusion. In this area, the government has invested in communication infrastructure and energy, especially rural electrification so as to inspire the use of digital technology which is a vital pillar in financial services delivery,” she said.

Dr Gwajima also said the government has rolled out formalization of micro financial services to ensure women are empowered economically and decrease gender-based violence in the country.

She said that the government has executed various programmes to empower women so as to increase more economic opportunities, building their capacity to do business, availability of capital, markets and loans.

“As you all know, President Samia Suluhu Hassan is the champion of the Generation Equality Forum in the world. As a nation, we have created a generation equality programme which is being implemented by the government in collaboration with the private sector so as to inspire change in the status of women by 2026,” she said.

“I call upon the Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE) to continue with the provision of leadership training to women and to champion gender equality at the workplace.”

Patrobas Katambi, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (Labour, Youth, Employment and Persons with Disabilities), said that in order to have good policies, it is essential for the government to review the present laws and amend those that hinder women’s progress.

“We expect to review all laws through every ministry to ensure women’s position is prioritized. The review will involve the removal of bad laws that prohibit women’s access to opportunities,” he said.

Katambi said that through the ministry, opportunities for women have been created where he referred to President Samia’s intention to see more women in leadership positions in all pillars of the government namely the executive, parliament and the judiciary.

Susan Ndomba-Doran, Chief Executive Officer of ATE said that gender equality is not only a good thing but it is the right thing, adding that various studies have shown that companies and businesses that observe gender equality make more profits than those that do not.

“According to an article by the International Labor Organisation (ILO) entitled ‘Women on Boards: Building the female talent pipeline’, there is a strong link between women on boards and better financial performance. Inclusive and gender balanced boards can bring diverse perspectives to the table, understand customer preferences better, ensure greater due diligence, and as a result make better decisions,” she said.