Men hesitate to give women posts in which have the final say: Vice President

Vice President (VP) Mohamed Waheed Deen has said that the biggest obstacle to empowerment of women is men’s hesitation to appoint women to postsin which they have authority and the final say on issues.

The VP said this while speaking at the opening ceremony of the Women Councillors Forum at Billabong High International School today.

He said that several efforts have been made to introduce local governance system in Maldives, and that these efforts were met with various challenges; however, the efforts were successful due to the assistance and hard work of a woman.

He highlighted that the government recognises that men and women have equal rights, and thatthe Maldives has endorsed several international treaties in this regard as well; nonetheless, the biggest obstacle faced by Maldives as well as other countries is that men hesitate to appoint women to posts in which they have the final say.

“We love them, we give them roses, write poems for them, compare them with the stars and the moon – but when it comes to employment posts, we hesitate. This is obvious at the parliament, only five MPs, and at the cabinet. We should be ashamed,” he said.

Deen said that compared with countries in the SAARC region, all past governments of the Maldives have treated women well, and that laws are in place to protect women’s rights. He noted that the only thing required now is a slight change in attitude.

The VP said that when the local governance system was introduced, efforts were made to ensure that 30 percent of councillors should be women by law. These efforts, however, were unsuccessful.

He said that efforts will be made in the future to amend the law.

He urged women councillors to work together to solve problems faced by women.

The forum, which is organised by UNDP and will continue from today until Thursday, will focus on providing information on empowerment of women. It is attended by women councillors of various islands.