GENDER AWARENESS DAY CELEBRATION AT EGERTON UNVERSITY

The 15^th Gender Awareness Day was held at Egerton University, Main campus on 17^th October 2015. The gender awareness day is an annual event that is used to highlight gender issues that affect both men and women. The event is sponsored by the Institute of Women, Gender and Development Studies (IWGDS), which is based at Njoro Campus. The theme for the event was “The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: Challenges that affect the Implementation and the Empowerment of Women”

The event creates a forum to reach out to the community, development partners, schools, students and all other stakeholders to gain more knowledge in gender equality. During the celebrations, Kilimo Primary school students presented a song in Chinese language, to the pleasure of the crowd. The children who presented at the event were learning Chinese language, taught by Zhang Xia, who is a Chinese language Professor at Confucius Institute of Egerton University.

The speakers invited at the event referred to the Beijing declaration that was established 1995, which was 20 years ago. The keynote speech was delivered by Justice David Ndung’u who emphasized on the importance of such a function to ensure that human rights are granted to all people no matter their gender.

Amongst dignitaries at the event were Prof Rose Mwonya, DVC (AA), Dr. Damaris Parsitau, Director (IWGDS), Dr. Josephine Kulea, Board Members of the Institute and leaders from Nakuru County Government. The climax of the event was the launching of two programmes; Youth and Transformational Leadership Development Programme that was launched by Dr. Josephine Kulea. The second programme was Women and Transformational Leadership Programme launched by the Chief Guest Justice David Ndung’u.

Present at the event were pioneer women who form the Global Women Leadership Network (GWLN). The members encouraged the audience to fight for their rights, forge forwards towards achieving their dreams. Dr. Parsitau appreciated the involvement of the women in every aspect in society, however, she challenged more women to take up leadership roles in society without fearing for their families or marriages

Prof Rose Mwonya, DVC (AA) inspired the audience by informing them that even after the several campaigns for gender equality, there was still a gender disparity in the clergy and in the justice system in Kenya. She encouraged more ladies to join these professions as they were currently male dominated.

At the venue of the event, students and companies had showcased their products, programmes that were in line with the theme of the day. From Egerton University students to the members of the community visited the tents, learning what the community is doing to spread the word of gender equality to all visitors.

-          (Luke Toroitich)