The National Parliament has approved a grant of $1,000 for the ‘empowering rural women’s economy’ program because a lack of economic freedom was a major problem for women.
The proponent, Member of Parliament, Albina Marcal Freitas said many women in rural areas were victims of domestic violence but felt unable to report the crimes as they were financially reliant on their husbands.
“We save $1,000 for the public transfer so the Secretary of State for Equality Promotion (SEPI) could do their job to empower rural women,” said Freitas, at National Parliament.
She appealed to SEPI to set good guidelines for empowering women in rural areas to take control of their economic futures.
MP Osorio Florindo recommended that SEPI establish a clear framework so funds could really benefit female groups in rural areas.
“The guideline policy for the funds should be set so it would not be for female political groups only but so that it really improves rural women’s economy,” said Florindo.
Secretary of State Idelta Maria Rodrigues, thanked the proponent MPs for proposing the grant to support women’s development in rural areas.
She said the money would be used to prepare women for participation in civic life, because they need to develop themselves and support civil societies to create education for the prevention of violence against women, in particular domestic violence.
“We don’t have money; we rely on the UN for money, therefore I think we need to prepare women for participation in civil life,” she said.
“There are women who are involved in public life who have gotten there through having good preparation,” she said.
Based on SEPI’s data, collected from its establishment up to 2013, there were 227 female groups in 13 districts that had taken the advantage of the money for grants allocated to SEPI every year.
She acknowledged that from 227 groups, some could run programs successfully while others could not.
