Women have to start empowering themselves instead of tasking the government to do the job for them.
This is the challenge national agriculture minister Betty Achan Ogwaro left to their sisters while launching a three-day workshop on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.Resolution 1325 urged UN member states to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict.
Ms Achan said women should not wait for invitations to participate in workshops but just turn up in order to empower themselves.
She called on the Government to involve women in conflict resolution negotiations because they talk of development, food security and health while men tend to focus on guns.
Eve Chairperson Rita Martin said the workshop aimed to empower women to be fully involved in decision making and implementation in the national economic development process.
She said women want to create a conducive environment for South Sudan to ban war for ever.
Ms Martin said the challenges women face today must not be justifications for excluding women from decision making posts.
She added that women without formal education are capable of making sound decisions.
The three-day women empowerment workshop organized by Eve, Organization for Women Development, in Juba, drew over 100 people from all the states of South Sudan.