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Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 03, 2016 (SKNIS): The Honourable Wendy Phipps, Senator and Minister of State within the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender Affairs and Social Services, said she will continue to advocate for women to ensure that there is gender balance and equity in St. Kitts and Nevis.

 

“What we want to see is that the rights of women and girls are being respected so that they can achieve their full potential, that they can be included in all forms of human endeavour,” said Senator Phipps, while appearing on the Government’s weekly radio and television programme “Working for You” on Wednesday, March 02.

 

Minister Phipps touched briefly on the sub-theme for International Women’s Day (IWD) 2016, which will be observed worldwide on Tuesday, March 08.

 

“Even though the overarching goal of International Women’s Day or the theme for International Women’s Day 2016 is “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality”, the sub-theme for this year is “Pledge for Parity,” said Minister Phipps. “In other words, within that, we want to make sure that the public understands what we are going after is parity.”

 

She explained one of the reasons behind the sub theme.

 

“One of the reasons for that is because the World Economic Forum, for example, has discovered or surmised rather, that even though we have made great strides in terms of inequality for women based on their assessment as to how the Member States have been progressing either through legislation of programming and so forth, or the actual statistics which show the lot of women improving, their assessment at the World Economic Forum is that they do not believe that we would have attained that type of parity before the year 2133.”

 

She made mention of the United Nations (UN) eight millennium goals that were articulated in 2000, some of which cater specifically to women.  She noted that UN Member countries had up to 2015 to ensure that serious strides were made towards the realization of the goals.

 

The goals include: the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary education; promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women; reduction of child mortality; improvement in maternal health; combating HIV and AIDS; ensuring environmental sustainability; and the development of a global partnership for development.