WOMEN?NEED?TO be empowered to live their lives free of the threat of violence and discrimination and have access to employment.
This assertion was made yesterday by Barbados’ principal delegate and vice- president of the Inter-American Commission on Women (CIM), Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner.
She was addressing a workshop on Women’s Leadership in celebration of the Day Of Women Of The Americas, at the Almond Bay Resort.
Sandiford-Garner pointed out that “if a woman is allowed to make her own decisions [it] will impact on how she performs duties in the workplace and her life”.
She further said that the commission concentrated much of its efforts on the elimination of violence against women, and had always highlighted the importance of women participating in all facets of life.
“We need to make equal opportunities for women and men an integral part of all areas of policy because this is the only way that the society would become truly developed. We cannot promote one sex without the other. The equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes should be our major goal,” the senator maintained.
In the meantime, CIM has launched a hemispheric policy dialogue on the implications of the exercise of women’s full citizenship for democratic systems and development.
This dialogue will also examine the challenges for the state and for democratic institutions of guaranteeing and protecting human rights.
Beginning with a high-level policy forum, to be held in Washington, DC from April 4 to 6, this dialogue aims to place women’s voices, visions and rights at the centre of political reform, democratization and state modernization processes.
In a message to mark the observance of the Day Of Women In The Americas yesterday, secretary general of the Organisation of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza noted that over the last decade, democracy and governance in the countries of the hemisphere have seen both progress and setbacks.