Zambia Must Do More for Female Empowerment

In rural parts of the country teenage pregnancies continue to rise. A total number of 24,731 teen pregnancies were recorded in Eastern Province with Chipata ranking first with over 5 thousand, followed by Lundazi with 4, 898 cases.

Petauke had 3, 792, Katete 2, 675, Nyimba 1, 481, Chadiza 1, 419, Mambwe 1,198 while Vubwi recorded the lowest with 560 cases.

Chief Chamuka of Lenje people has noted that this has comes about through a lack of female empowerment.

At present in Zambia women are not encouraged to own their own land, create their own incomes or strive for a higher level of education. What’s more the government has done little to reduce gender-based violence, as demonstrated by the General Kanene controversy.

Chief Chamuka has sought to correct this problem amongst his people by giving women land to work on. By giving women financial independence he has seen a reduction in teenage pregnancies and an increase in education amongst young girls.

He is urging Zambian financial institutions to do more when it comes to supporting women financially.