President Dr Mohamed Waheed has called on all citizens to be committed to help today’s girls become tomorrow's responsible leaders. He made the statement in his message on the occasion of this year’s International Women’s Day.
The national theme for this year’s Women’s Day is Women – Shaping the Nation.
Noting that women make up half of the population, President stressed the importance of women’s contribution in nation building.
In his message, the President said that at this time of political changes in the country, political empowerment of women was crucial. He added that this was an opportunity to gear up women’s role in development and decision making by making responsible use of the freedom of expression.
The President offered his encouragement to all Maldivian women to increase their participation in development effort at both community and national level. He further noted that such goals and aspirations could only be attained through the collective efforts of the people and with an enhanced spirit of solidarity. He especially noted that men should play an equal role alongside women in nation building efforts.
Reflecting on government’s efforts to bring gender equality, President Waheed observed that this task could not be attained through the work of one particular government institution. He therefore, urged all government offices and departments to pay special consideration to remove gender bias and increase gender empowerment in their work.