Seminar on women and gender wraps up

The Association of NGOs (Tango) and the Gender Action Team Plans recently concluded a two-day seminar on women and gender.

The forum was held to popularize local and international gender instruments and to attract involvement into the issue of women leaders, policy and decision-makers at the central and local levels.

Speaking at the ceremony, the executive director of Tango, Ousman Yabo, said he was delighted about the programme while emphasising the importance of the gender action team.

He added that they have gained a lot from the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, advising the women to make a difference in gender promotion.

He also urged the participants to support national instruments so they would be aware of it as “it is a collective challenge”.

For his part, a representative from Africa Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, Amadou Ceesay, said that to implement gender instruments, stakeholders should coordinate the gender action plan to achieve their objectives.

Coordinating is the only thing lacking to meet the efforts of the women, he says.

Sheikh Omar Fye, a lecturer at the Management Development Institute (MDI), defined gender as the characteristics of women and men that vary from society to society.

“Gender also focuses on partnership between men and women within a particular setting or environment,” he says, adding that the concept refers to equal chances or opportunities to access and control in the forum of social, economic and political resources “including protection under the law”.