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| Gambia, firm believer in gender mainstreaming, says VP
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Banjul, Gambia (PANA) -
The Gambia is a firm believer in the importance of gende
r mainstreaming and the promotion of gender equality, especially for women, Vice
President Isatou Njie-Saidy has said.
Dr. Njie-Saidy made the remark here on Thursday at the eighth African Regional C
onference on Women, Beijing +15, stressing that womenâ?s special importance in a
dvancing Africaâ?s socio-economic growth and development in this millennium coul
d not be over-emphasised.
She said The Gambia served as a model where women empowerment was not grounded i
n empty rhetorics but in respect for the dignity, potential, status, rights and
r
ealities of the female citizen.
According to her, the presence of ministers and high level representatives from
around the continent demonstrated the growing political resolve and determinatio
n
to empower African women and ensure that they enjoyed what she called their ina
l
ienable rights to equity, justice and equality, in order to realise their potent
i
als.
â?Beijing is one of the global cornerstones ensuring gender equality and indeed
a powerful pathway to empower women and girls, improve their living conditions
a
nd by extension, humanity as a whole,â? she argued.
She said 15 years after the adoption of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Acti
on, the meeting in Banjul created a forum to review progress realised so far, re
v
isit strategies and come up with necessary adjustments to enable them deal with
t
he pressing gender issues prevailing in Africa, collectively.
Njie-Saidy stressed that the dynamic traits of resilience and assiduity that cha
racterised the typical African woman had to be nurtured and sustained to, if the
gender agenda is to be what they expected it to be.
She urged that women should be provided with equal opportunities to access the m
eans and factors of production, as in land, credit, knowledge and technology.
Under the current global food, economic and financial crises, she said the call
for collaboration at bridging the gender gap at national and regional levels was
even more urgent.
â?The transformation of this continent cannot and will not take place if our pe
ople, in particular, women folk, remain poor, hungry, illiterate and from the co
m
bination of all these, marginalised,â? she stressed.
She pointed out that one of the factors that continued to dissipate their effort
s was undue reliance on borrowed ideas that were often incompatible with the rea
l
ities of their context and culture.
While it cannot be refuted that there are constraining factors inherent in some
situations, the vice president stated that it was counter productive to try conc
e
pts and strategies that would not work.
â?Africans are what they are and must seek solutions that are responsive to the
ir peculiar circumstances,â? she charged.
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| Banjul - 19/11/2009 |
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