Every year on 8th March, the world celebrates the achievements realized on women empowerment and gender equality during the UN International Day of Women. This year, the celebrations were held under the theme, Pledge for Parity to mobilize stakeholders to contribute towards helping women and girls achieve their ambitions, call for gender-balanced leadership, respect and value difference and develop more inclusive and flexible cultures.
In line with this, on 5th March, 2016 Global Peace Women Kenya in collaboration with St. Thaddeus Child Care Society marked the International Day of Women with 50 women and 40 high school girls in Komarock slums in an event that attracted the participation of mentors from Mount Kenya University (MKU), the Global Education Fund and Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK).
The event engaged women in discussions on their role in peacebuilding and development from the family level to the community level highlighting their feminine values as a strength in contributing to social transformation. In her remarks, Ms Joyce Nyaruai from the Association of Media Women in Kenya challenged the women to take up more leadership roles in their communities.
“The Kenyan constitution acknowledges the need for gender parity and gives room for women involvement in leadership. It is now upon us to embrace this opportunities and support each other to remain effective in our positions of leadership”- Ms. Joyce Nyaruai, Communications Officer, Association of Media Women in Kenya.
High school girls had an open forum with mentors to discuss issues affecting them. Among the topics discussed include: career choices, adolescence, self-esteem, reproductive health, & relationships.
“I have never taken part in a mentorship session before so today has been a very good learning experience for me. I have learnt to base my choices on values and beliefs rather than what my peers are doing or what seems fashionable. I hope we can have more of these talks” concludes Elizabeth a form 2 student at St. Thaddeus School
Participants received donations of food, sanitary towels among other toiletries as gifts from the Global Peace Women International office and the Chandaria Foundation.