quote:
Key challenges for women in the next five years. There needs to be more of a shift in investing in programs that help more women get elected to office and appointed to leadership positions in government to build stronger democracies.
First Education:
Education leads to job opportunities – opportunities that are critical to the empowerment of women.
Second Judicial Representation:
Gender equality is essential to the dispensation of justice.
Third Law Enforcement:
We need women in the police force and also police stations entirely run by women to address the difficulties and social stigma women face when wishing to report crimes against them.
Fourth Media:
Many women are ignorant of their rights. An advertising campaign can inform women that violence against them by their family members is illegal.
Fifth Hostels for Women:
Women’s hostels are important so that women have a place of shelter if abused by members of their family.
Sixth: Availability of child care centers to facilitate women who wish to work.
Seventh Credit for Women:
Women need access to credit to establish business of their own.
My Government opened a woman’s bank, run by women for women, -- although men could keep their money in it too if they wanted - because we believed that economic independence is the key to social equality.
This is the model of an Islamic society that must be sustained as one billion Muslims reach a critical path in development.
There is a choice.
Education or ignorance.
The past or the future.
And central to this fork in the road is the status of women in Islamic societies. Because where opportunities for women flourish, extremism withers.
And at this critical time, this time of crisis, I see signs of change that make me optimistic about the future.
The model to expand rights for women has been embraced by several young, progressive, reformist leaders -- King Mohamed VI of Morocco, King Abdullah of Jordan, Sheik Hamad of Qatar and the leaders of the United Arab
Emirates. These leaders are engaging in the delicate exercise of pushing women forward to jump start societal change.
Step by step, empowerment cannot be denied.
Economic empowerment,
Legal empowerment,
The right to vote.
The right to hold office.
The right to lead.
Do women lead differently.
And I do think that women lead differently.
Maybe it’s stereotypical, but I think that women leaders are more nurturing and sensitive to the social needs of society. Invariably, women’s rights lead to further modernization of society as educational, housing and health needs are finally met.
The US and the Islamic world can accelerate this process by making democracy and pluralism a center piece of bilateral relations.
But let us be frank. Democracy -- alone -- is not enough.
Empowerment is not only the right to become a Prime Minister.
Empowerment is the right to be economically independent.
Empowerment is the right to be educated and make choices.
Empowerment is the right to have the opportunity to select a career.
Empowerment is the right to own property, to start a business, to flourish in the marketplace.
Empowerment is the right to rationally plan and balance profession and family.
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posted 09 March 2006 03:26 AM
