08/03/2023
𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐇𝐨𝐧. 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬, 𝐌.𝐏., 𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲
I join with the rest of the world in observing International Women’s Day 2023 and embrace the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”. While we acknowledge the need for the global community to adopt targeted and drastic measures to reduce gender inequality, we must also celebrate and highlight the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women over the past 100 years. We must also renew our commitment to gender parity and examine ways in which we can harness innovation and technology to help women reach their full potential, in keeping with this year’s theme. The Government of Guyana, through its policies and programmes, especially in health, education, housing, and the arts, has been making significant progress in bridging the gender gap with Guyana moving 18 points upward in attaining gender parity in just one year, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2022. With a renewed focus on digital technology, we can identify the gaps and examine ways to accelerate gender equality by promoting and encouraging greater participation from women. I honour the women heroes of the past century, who sacrificed their lives in the struggle for the rights and freedoms we now enjoy as women, and I applaud the contributions of women everywhere in achieving a world that is more safe, fair, equal, and where justice prevails.
