Support our women, says Marape

PRIME Minister James Marape has urged his Cabinet and all members of parliament to continue supporting women in their communities, starting at home with their spouses.
Marape made the call when he met with spouses of Parliamentarians and women entrepreneurs on Tuesday at the parliament State Function Room in Port Moresby, a side event of the annual summit on Ending Gender-Based Violence in Papua New Guinea.
“Advocating for the empowerment of sisters and mothers is a step in the right direction,” he said.
“Empowering women is empowering our community.”
Marape observed that women were now coming out in large numbers and saying they wanted to go into business and contribute towards the development of PNG’s economy. He said that was why he was happy that, for the first time, spouses of MPs were connecting with each other.
Marape said it was appropriate to get spouses involved so that they could take the same message for women to go into business back to their own electorates.
“The SME (small to medium enterprise) fund that we put aside is earmarked and we have already informed our partner banks that 50 per cent of the fund is for women.”