Empowering women

These were the words of Her excellency, President Dr Hilda Heine, of Republic of Marshall Islands during her keynote at the opening of the 13th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women in Fiji last night.

“We simply cannot afford to leave out, or in some cases exclude, half the population of our economies,” President Heine said.

“It is bad economic policy no matter which way you look at it.”

“The staggering imbalances in our economies between men and women clearly reflects why progressing gender equality has been slow.’

Dame Meg Taylor, in marking International Women's Day, said when young women were empowered they were free to make their own decisions.

She said the flow-on effects were enormous.

Dame Meg said increased female labour force participation would lead to faster economic growth, while evidence shows that when more of the household income is controlled by women the beneficial spending on children improves.

She said she and the forum leaders are committed to advancing gender equality across the region.

Gender equality will bring massive return to Pacific - UN