Dear Editor,
After the international women’s day, allow me express why it is important to economically empower women.

Women empowerment comes along with economic empowerment. I do not know if we can surely achieve the term empowerment or (women empowerment) if we ignored the "economic’’ part of it. I think it’s high time we replaced ‘women empowerment’ with ‘’women economic empowerment’’.

Why replace women empowerment with ’women economic empowerment’’? Because empowering a woman economically lifts our entire families, the communities we live in, and our countries too. And this would pull our countries out of poverty.

Has it ever crossed your mind that the best way to end poverty in the world is by economically empowering women?  It is the best thing we can do to end world poverty in Rwanda, Africa, and in the entire world.

This is not only because women are at a greater risk of being poor, but also because research has shown that women in developing countries are more likely to spend their income on food, education, and healthcare for their children - giving families a lasting path out of poverty.

Therefore, there is great need to economically empower women. Apart from the above, when a woman is economically empowered, she gains the confidence to speak, to stand out, and as women activists call it, women economic empowerment leads to ‘I can do it’.
The best way to do this is first of all identifying and addressing the unique economic barriers that women face, like unequal property rights, low wages and bad working conditions, lack of access to credit.

Then the economic empowerment comes in to clear the way for the women by removing the barriers. It is a beautiful way to have women who can take very good care of themselves, their children, their families, and take part in their own country’s development, hence leading to a healthy nation.
Therefore, I think policies that foster economic opportunities for women can be a great tool to empowerment and poverty reduction.

Winnie Muhumuza

(National coordinator Rwanda women network)
Kicukiro.