By PASSY HAACHIZO –

THERE is need for women to be drivers of the anti- Gender Based Violence (GBV) agenda by making use of the women empowerment funds to provide necessities for families.
Gender Permanent Secretary Edwidge Mutale said GBV cases would still remain on the rise if the spirit of hard work was not promoted among housewives.
Ms Mutale said in an interview in Kabwe that because of the dependence syndrome, most women pushed men against the wall when they asked for everything instead of also being contributors.
She however, hoped that the ongoing women empowerment programme to be spread across the country would liberate the women who are not in formal employment from being victims of GBV.
Ms Mutale said the Ministry of Gender and Child Development was working hard towards ensuring that men and women work together in harmony.
She said that the ministry had also partnered with other organisations such as the Women’ Lobby and the Non-Governmental Organisation Coordinating Committee towards supporting women in governance issues.
Ms Mutale also assured women that had applied for block-making machines, hammer mills, sewing machines and other things, not to lose hope as the Government would honour its promise.
“We are now empowering women in terms of funds and we took note of those who applied for hammer mills, block making machines and sewing machines which require huge amounts of money and at the moment we have not yet dealt with them,” she said.
Ms Mutale said the funds that the Government was distributing should not be politicised because they were being distributed during the campaign period.