First Lady Promises More Support for Girls Education and Women Empowerment
Friday 21st April 2006

In observance of the 25th anniversary of the Women’s Council and Bureau, the Council, in collaboration with the National Commission for UNESCO, the National AIDS Secretariat (NAS) and the Department of state for Education, recently organized a three-day National Women conference at the Paradise Suites Hotel.

The theme for this year’s Women’s International Day is “Self-employment in the Private Sector”. Some of the objectives of the occasion was to prepare for the AU summit to be hosted in Banjul in June this year, and the First Ladies’ conference on the way forward for African Women with a focus on the sub-theme: “Women Economic Empowerment and Quality Education for Girls”.

There will be one-day national presentation on Women and HIV/AIDS during the conference, which will be organized by NAS, according to Gambian First Lady Madame Zainab Jammeh.

Madam Jammeh said during the First Ladies’ forum in the AU Summit in June, there would be also an opportunity to discuss the way forward for Gambian women, women of other African countries living in The Gambia and the Girl child. “Therefore, I consider this partnership as fundamentally critical for facilitating a shared and common position on issue of vital importance on women’s empowerment and educating the African girl child on the theme for the First Ladies forum during the Banjul AU Summit,” she said.

 She added that it was equally important, after 25 years of the existence of the National Women’s Council and Bureau, to take stock of “our achievements, highlight the challenges to the attainment of the set goals for women and men in this country” and take a forward-looking strategy to ensure the realization of the objective for the establishment of the Women’s Bureau in The Gambia in 1980.

She further said the womenfolk in The Gambia have achieved a lot over the years, adding that many women are now serving in key positions of decision making.

 A lot of capacity has been built for both men and women in the country through the Bureau, and awareness on women and gender issues created and enhanced, the First Lady said. “Yet still women have not taken their rightful roles in the socio-economic development of the nation critically challenged by socio-cultural barriers and lack of skill and decision making powers by women,” she added.

She however said the future looks bright for women not only in the Gambia but the world over.  In this she elaborates: “In the Gambia, His Excellency the president of the Republic of the Gambia since 1994 has been empowering women and youths, and most importantly this year, he has initiated a Women’s Empowerment [target], and we the First Ladies will be supporting this course in Africa.

“I equally in the Gambia will do my best in partnership with all stakeholders to fully promote the education of the girl child and the empowerment of women”

She called on the Bureau to continue to fight for the improvement of the condition of women and girls in the country for them to make more contribution in the development of the country.

This conference, Madame Jammeh posited, would also focus on economic growth, poverty reduction, ownership, leadership and addressing of the material needs of women as well as child mortality and gender based violence.

The conditions today, she said, are different from the conditions that existed in the 1980s. “This conference thus presents an opportunity for us, stakeholders, to not only distil the lessons from the 1980s but to also explore what the key underlying principles are and focus on [what] the successes or strategies should be,” she noted.  Therefore the validation of the Women’s Bureau and the five-year Action Plan should be taken into consideration, she concluded.