Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he is concerned with the slow progress towards establishing equality for women, and in particular, their ability to own land in Zambia. [20945/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The issue of ensuring equality for women is a challenge facing every country in the world to a greater or lesser extent. While the situation in Zambia is of serious concern, I am confident that it is moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. Ireland is active in the drive towards greater equality in Zambia though the work of Irish Aid there. Zambia is one of Irish Aid's programme countries and we will be providing € 21.65 million in development assistance under that programme in 2010. In addition to that, we fund civil society and missionary organisations directly from Irish Aid headquarters. In 2009 nearly €3 million was provided in this way. I should point out that the Government of Zambia, with which we work closely, is committed to addressing gender inequality at all levels.

The problem with gender inequality in Zambia is that it is culturally entrenched. In general, women and girls are regarded as subordinate to their male counterparts and tend not to fare as well as men in relation to the important indicators. Boys stay in school longer than girls; HIV prevalence is higher among women than men; and a greater proportion of female headed households are extremely poor. More than 50% of women have suffered physical, emotional or sexual violence.

The difficulties faced by women in relation to land ownership in Zambia are both legal and cultural. Statutory law does allow women, whether single, married or divorced, to own and inherit land. However, culture and customary law favour male ownership, particularly in rural areas. Women are further disadvantaged in obtaining credit, largely because of the land ownership problem. More generally however, it should be noted that only about 12% of small scale farmers, whether male or female, have legal title to their land. This is due to the fact that procedures for acquiring land and title are cumbersome and bureaucratic.

Gender equality is one of the cross-cutting priorities throughout the work of Irish Aid in all countries, and as such, permeates all our work, at every level. A few examples of this are that Ireland provides funds to the UN's Joint Gender Support Programme of the 'Gender in Development Division of Government' in Zambia; Irish Aid advocates with the Zambian Ministry of Education, which has now contributed to the setting up of an equity advisory group to address gender exclusion; and Irish Aid has supported training for 33 small and medium sized businesses for women entrepreneurs in collaboration with the Zambia Development Agency.

For its part, the Government of Zambia has committed to address gender inequality at all levels and has made some significant progress at the institutional level. A national gender policy was introduced in 2000, which, among other things, aims at improving representation of women in decision making positions and for at least 30% of land allocations to go to women. A draft Anti-Domestic Violence Bill is currently going through a national consultative process. Audits have just been completed in three of the major Ministries, Education, Agriculture and Lands, to identify how they can better contribute to women's empowerment. Zambia is now on track to reach the Millennium Development Goal target of eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education.

Overall, the national response has focussed on policy and institutional development and has not yet delivered significant results for women throughout the country, especially in rural areas. However, these efforts are at an early stage and it is well recognised that gender equality requires long-term and sustained strategies, along with sustained commitment and action from government. Ireland will continue to support and encourage the Government of Zambia, and indeed all the people of Zambia, in this endeavour.