Empowering women is a huge focus of the government, according to President Dr. Irfaan Ali and it is for that reason he says focused strategies are being deployed to guarantee that women are better supported.
The President addressed the opening ceremony of a ministerial forum on gender equality and empowerment on Wednesday.
There he spoke about the efforts being made by his government to ensure that Guyanese women are better supported.
According to him, there has been a focus on providing women with more training and education opportunities by offering more scholarships through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) or other training through other means.
In fact, the Head of State said 70 per cent of the more than 20,000 persons in the GOAL scholarship programme are women. He believes this is allowing more women to get equipped with the necessary skills and certifications needed to get better employment opportunities and financial independence.
He also pointed out that the government has been finding ways of guaranteeing that women are better empowered to form consortia and capitalise on new opportunities in several sectors including agriculture, construction and catering.
And the President said there is evidence that these strategies are working.
“It is not guesswork, what Guyana is doing,” he said.
He pointed out that more women are getting involved in the construction sector and owning new businesses. He also noted that many of the new agricultural ventures, including the shade house initiative and the expanding livestock sector, are seeing more women and youth involved.
Moreover, he said almost 50 per cent of the housing sector allocations are being made to women- a noteworthy achievement, Dr. Ali said, since housing is a key way of empowering people.
With these gains and more, President Ali is showing how the government is empowering women and achieving strides in gender equality. And he promised that the government would continue to pursue such strategies to guarantee that the goal of gender empowerment and equality is advanced.
