First Lady Margaret Kenyatta pledges to continue advocating for gender equality

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta today reaffirmed her commitment to continue championing initiatives that will accelerate gender equality and women empowerment in Kenya.

The First Lady said she supports the removal of barriers preventing women and girls from realizing their full potential.

“We envisage a country where every woman and girl enjoys gender equality; a country where all legal, social and economic barriers that hinder the progress of women and girls are removed,” she said.

The First Lady spoke today at the high-level segment of the ongoing 2019 Global Gender Summit in Kigali, an event that that was also addressed by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and his Ethiopian counterpart Sahle-Work Zewde. 

The event was also addressed by Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame, the President of the African Development Bank Akinwumi Adesina and the Chairman of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat.

The biennial summit organized by the African Development Bank under the theme “unpacking constraints to gender equality”, is exploring mechanisms for scaling up innovative gender friendly financial solutions among other related subjects.

The Kenyan First Lady expressed optimism that the conference would help unlock the potential of women and girls to enable them contribute effectively to the realization Africa’s development agenda.   

“This is the spirit of Africa’s vision towards accelerating its path to sustainable socio-economic development. Our collective commitment to ‘leave no one behind’ is a new chapter in our struggle towards achieving gender equality,” First Lady Margaret Kenyatta said.

She highlighted her advocacy work on maternal and child health through the Beyond Zero initiative saying access to basic healthcare, good nutrition and wellness is critical to transforming the lives of a country’s citizens.