Chinese embassy hails Kenya’s efforts to empower women

NAIROBI, March 9 (Xinhua) — The Chinese Embassy in Kenya on Wednesday
praised Kenya’s commitment to achieve gender equality, while hailing the
booming China-Kenya relations for aiding the cause.

The embassy on Wednesday held a reception for female dignitaries drawn from
politics, business and academia to celebrate progress achieved in gender
parity ahead of March 8 International Women’s Day. Liu Xianfa, Chinese
Ambassador to Kenya, and his wife Li Ping hosted female dignitaries from
the East African nation led by Margaret Lusaka, the wife of Speaker of the
Senate Kenneth Lusaka, business executives and grassroots leaders at the
reception. Li said in her opening remarks that Beijing has rallied behind
the global quest to achieve gender equality. Since 1949 when the People’s
Republic of China was founded, China has adhered to the basic state policy
of enhancing gender equality,” Li said. She added that China has made
concerted efforts to empower women as evidenced by their huge contribution
and increased political participation.

Li also hailed Kenya’s commitment to achieve gender equality through
enactment of progressive laws and policies. She noted the blossoming
Sino-Kenya ties have impacted positively on the quest to empower women and
attain gender parity. On her part, Lusaka said Nairobi is keen to learn
best practices from China to advance gender parity in line with sustainable
development goals (SDGs). “We need to tap into drastic achievement from
China; benchmark the drastic achievement in terms of empowering women. Each
category of Kenyan women can learn from China,” Lusaka said. She added
that Kenyan women could tap into China’s entrepreneur edge to boost their
financial independence. Other Kenyan women leaders who spoke at the
reception proposed robust ties with China to hasten progress in achievement
of UN 2030 goal on gender parity. Waithira Chege, a member of Nairobi
County Assembly, said robust trade ties between Kenya and China should be
harnessed to empower women and girls.