Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts, Premila Kumar, joined Dr Nur Bano Ali, Ms Tessa Price, Ms Anurashika Bari, and other special guests to address 200 women leaders and teachers, who had all come together to empower, learn from, and share with each other at the Women in Education Leadership Empowerment forum in Labasa, on 12 March 2022.
This was a special program dedicated to all women leaders, and to-be leaders in Education for 2022 International Women's Day.
Speaking at the event, Minister Kumar said it was despairing to know that even in this day and age, women continue to face discrimination based on cultural and socio-economic factors that hold them back from being more actively involved in the decision-making process.
“When you consider that women represent half of the population – it is just common sense that representation in leadership should be similar.” said Minister Kumar.
“In our patriarchal society, although women are, by all rights, born equal, we don’t always see that reflected in our treatment. That is not to say things aren’t changing for the better, but it is happening at such a slow pace, that these discussions on empowerment of women, gender equality, and better representation in leadership are still necessary.”
The Minister also talked about how women did not have access to education back in the day, and were kept at home while their brothers were allowed to go to school.
“Some three decades ago, women were not given equal opportunities for further education. Educating boys was considered an investment for the future, while education for women was seen differently.”
“When the financial burden is too much, parents opted to keep their girls at home and send their boys to school."
"However, today, through Government assistance, every girl child can go to school and realise her dreams.”
The Minister also highlighted that since 2014, with the introduction of Toppers and TELS by the Government, access to tertiary education has become possible for both male and female students to get an equal chance to pursue their dreams.
The Ministry of Education, Heritage, and Arts will host the third and final forum in the Western Division on Monday, 14 March at the FNU Lautoka Campus.