Stepping forward towards Equality
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Women participants to the Workshop on Empowering of Women Leaders felt empowered and motivated after attending the workshop for women leaders.
The aim of the workshop is to provide the women leaders and potential women leaders in the region with training and organising skills to assist them in their trade union work. The participants were also trained on how to handle and approach problems strategically. In addition, the workshop also helped to improve the participants knowledge and information on the issues faced by women in the region
Sister Therese Bryant from SDA Australia Vice President of the UNI APRO Women Committee delivered a presentation on the Subject of Sexual Harassment. The presentation was well received and drew a lot of enthusiasm from the participants. They were also very impressed by the mechanism the union has on dealing with sexual harassment issues
The workshop was also designed to enable the participants to have a feel and to participate in the UNI Apro women committee meeting which was held during the period of the workshop. The participants welcomed the opportunity to attend the UNI Apro Women Committee meeting and were exalted over the idea and appreciated the experience.
They also realised from the meeting that they can also contribute to fulfilling the UNI objectives by implementing the action plan formulated at the previous UNI Apro Women conference.
The workshop also provided a good avenue for transfer of learning between the participants and the women leaders in the region. Sister Denise Mc Guire the World Women President and Sister Veronica Mendez the new Head of Women UNI, Sister Maxine Gay from NDU New Zealand and Sister Honda from JSD made presentations on the women situation in their countries. They also participated as panel speakers on the subject of Gender Equality in the workplace. Sister Louise from Africa women Committee also extended fraternal greetings at the workshop. According to Sister Ta Thi Bich Lien a participant from Vietnam” the session was very informative and the information sharing was interactive and very useful.”
In the group discussions the participants came out with two action plans one for South Asia and the other for South East Asia. In addition each country represented in the workshop also came out with a country action plan to promote gender equality and mainstreaming in their respective countries.
The workshop was coordinated by Sister Alice Chang the Director of Women and Youth, Sister Magdalene Kong Consultant and Bro Hashim Lobe Director Trade Union Development Activities UNI Apro.