8 March 2012 - With a focus on rural women, International Women's Day was celebrated across South Sudan today with marches, speeches, military parades, songs and traditional dancing.

The focal point of celebrations this year was Wau, representing the Greater Bahr El-Ghazal region, where National Minister of Gender and Social Development Agnes Kuaje stressed that women should empower themselves to end hunger in South Sudan.

She added that women, who made up about 60 per cent of South Sudan's population, needed support, training and proper tools to effectively accomplish this.

The Wau event highlighted a demonstration by local women who had been trained by the Western Bahr El-Ghazal State fishery department to cast nets in making their livings. (For full story, see /node/100040819)

Celebrations in Yambio, Western Equatoria State, began with a procession from the state Ministry of Social Development to Freedom Square.

Noting that women had supported men at home and on the front line during the civil war, State Minister of Social Development Normal Mundra Fodul told the gathering in Freedom Square that the event was a chance to review how far women in South Sudan had come in struggling for equality, peace and development.

Emphasizing that women needed knowledge and skills to ensure peace and stability in their areas, Minister Fodul urged the government to ensure girls' education was a priority.

"Educating a man is educating an individual, but educating a woman means educating a nation," the minister said.

Marking the Day in Torit, Eastern Equatoria State, women asked the government and international agencies for initial capital to boost production and fight hunger.

"All the goods in the market are expensive and we have little money to buy those goods, but if there were farms we could produce them ourselves," said Lucy Iromo Bruno, representative of Torit County women. "We formed a cooperative society to work together in farming, handicrafts and businesses, but we have a lack of funds."

The Torit event was celebrated under the theme "Eastern Equatoria State women unite against tribal violence and hunger".

Acting Eastern Equatoria Governor and State Minister of Agriculture Jerome Surur said women were key players in the state's economy. "Women work on the agricultural land, women build houses, women cut grass, women take care of the cattle, women cook the food and women take care of the children," said the minister, calling on men to partner with women in their day to day activities.

In the Upper Nile State capital of Malakal, the Day began with a march from the Episcopal Church playground to Malakal Stadium, to be followed by speeches, traditional dances and drama related to gender-based violence.

Addressing the crowd, Governor Pouch said his government would appoint capable women to higher positions, raise their representation from 25 to 30 percent and construct houses for widows.

State Minister of Gender, Social Welfare and Religious Affairs Martha Nyimal said her ministry had a plan to empower rural women. "My ministry has developed a three-year work plan aiming to empower the rural women in vocational training and to create small business skills."

Ms. Nyimal also called on the government to introduce a law that would discourage gender based violence in communities.