DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Hundreds of women take to the streets of Kinshasa to mark Women's Day

Record ID: 453147

  • Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Hundreds of women take to the streets of Kinshasa to mark Women's Day
  • Date: 10th March 2009
  • Summary: TWO CHILDREN IN FESTIVE COSTUMES
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAB3YA6VS663BZHG5OQPU5FFPMZ
  • Story Text: Hundreds of women gathered in Dr Congo's capital, Kinshasa on Sunday (March 8) to march and mark International Women's Day.
    The march in Kinshasa was just one of hundreds of events planned across the world to mark women's achievements and highlight areas where more needs to be done to protect women's rights.
    Various women's and civil society groups took part in the event which was attended by DR Congo's First Lady, Olive Kabila.

    "It's our day today, for the Congolese and women all over the world, we are the wives of the military personnel, and we are very happy today," said Honoree Mbole Mashane, president of the country association of army wives.

    "It's really traditional, because these days women are talking about leadership and taking charge of things, women amaze men today and that is why we are very happy," she added.
    Congo is a special focus for women's groups because of the insecurity in the country's east.
    With some of the highest levels of killings, rapes and child soldiers anywhere on the planet, small wonder that UNICEF calls east Congo "the worst place in the world to be a child" and women's groups say the same for women there.
    Women living on the street in Kinshasa, the nation's capital say they also being mistreated.

    "Today is the day for women, but we no one came to see us from the NGOs that usually take care of us, nobody came to see us today. On top of that when we are out here in the street, we are molested by policemen and men in military uniforms, they steal our goods and the things we try to sell and beat us up with a lot of force, they violate us and there is no one that stands up against that, we suffer a lot and don t know how to feed our kids," said Ugette, who lives on the capital's streets.
    International Day for Women was first observed in 1911 when over a million people conducted a march in various parts of Europe.
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