International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day
The Kisumu East MP Hon. Shakeel Shabbir presided over this year’s International Women’s day which was commemorated on 8th March 2019 at Chiga Dispensary.
The purpose of International Women’s Day is to bring attention to the social, political, economic, and cultural issues that women face, and to advocate for the advance of women within all those areas. As the organizers of the celebration; The Kisumu Gender Technical Working Group states, “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for change” The day is often also used to recognize women who’ve made significant contributions to the advancement of their gender; the theme of the event being” Balance for Better” underpinned by the idea that balance drives a better working world.
Gender stereotyping, perpetuated across almost all societies for centuries, is one of the main reasons more women do not pursue disciplines requiring significant intellectual rigor. And this, in turn, is why women are still under-represented in many fields. That such stereotyping is already internalized by girls in kindergarten and in relatively less patriarchal Western cultures is gut-wrenching and validates the need for campaigns like International Women’s Day (IWD)
During the celebration, it was noted that however Despite the commitment to achieving gender equality, gender inequalities persist at many levels and in many arenas across society. This is due to;
- Financial barriers
- Lower levels of confidence
- Lack of Education, training and capacity-building
- Caring responsibilities and childcare
- Structural and institutional discrimination
- Low value attributed to women’s community work
At 3w we are committed to emphasizing the rights of girls and women to live in safety and protected from harms that hinders them. WHAT a man can do, a woman can do better” is a popular cliché which seeks to juxtapose the two genders, nevertheless gender inequality is still a real phenomenal in Kenya. To heed to the call for balance for better, it is essential to ensure empowerment and opportunity without any form of disparity or gender bias.
