ABU DHABI, 8th March, 2021 (WAM) -- Rwanda and the UAE share a common vision on women empowerment, according to Rwandan Ambassador to the UAE.
In a statement marking International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on 8th March, Emmanuel Hategeka said, "Today, we celebrate women in leadership positions across national, regional and global institutions."
He cited the recent election of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a Nigerian-American economist and international development expert, as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, and Rwandan Economist Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa as the vice-chairperson of the African Union Commission, as examples.
"One can draw parallels with the equally laudable successful Hope Probe Mission to Mars and the magnificent groundbreaking Expo 2020 officially starting in October of 2021 in Dubai – both historic with women leaders at the helm," Okonjo-Iweala said.
With high levels of women participation in the UAE Cabinet and women making up 66 percent of the public sector workforce in the Emirates, according to the UAE Gender Balance Council data, the country is arguably leading the region in gender parity, the envoy pointed out.
He explained that after the devastating effects of the 1994 genocide, which destroyed the socioeconomic fabric of Rwanda, the government placed gender equality and women’s empowerment at the forefront as full recovery could only be possible with women and men equally contributing to the country’s vision for development.
Rwanda is now a global leader in women participation in legislative decision-making positions with 61.3 percent female members of parliament and ranked ninth globally in closing gender gaps according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, he said.
"Also, 52 percent of the Cabinet members are women, among the Judges and clerks, women stand at 49.7 percent while in the local government leadership, women occupy 45.2 percent as Members of District Councils," he added. "As we mark the International Women’s Day of 2021, a lot remains to be done to achieve gender equality, let us all together strive for a world where equality and equity prevail." - WAM/Binsal Abdulkader/MOHD AAMIR
Kenyan women in the tech industry were honored Monday by America's Vogue magazine for their role in the technology industry in Africa.
“A group of Kenyan women is working to increase the visibility and influence of women in tech by providing the mentorship and skills that young women need to not only succeed in one of the most competitive tech markets in the developing world but have their contributions recognized as well,” said Vogue, a monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine.
The women include Linda Kamau, a co-founder of Akirachix, a coding school founded in 2010 by a group of women who were passionate about changing the landscape of the technology field and creating a community that supports, connects and inspires women in the tech space.
Linda told Vogue: “When you give women a fair chance, they thrive. Women who have gone through our program only needed someone to show them a path, and then they took it and ran with it.”
Fatima Mohamed Abdulkadir, who graduated from Akirachix, told Vogue that the tech industry used to be a male-dominated field.
“It used to be such a boys club, but now we are able to run women-only hackathons and have people participate. We gave the women confidence to do the other hackathons open to everyone.”
The young women under Linda Kamau challenged the status quo by encouraging and facilitating more women to take up careers in technology-related fields.
Other female coders honored by Vogue magazine include Ory Okolloh Mwangi and Chao Mbogho, an award-winning computer science researcher and educator.
Mbogho found KamiLimu, a non-profit organization, whose mission is to bridge the skills gap between classroom learning and global competitiveness through structured mentorship in personal and professional development, innovation skills, and scholarship expertise. - Andrew Wasike, Anadolu Agency
Meghan says Royal Family had concerns over her child's skin colour
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Meghan Markle has revealed there were conversations about the colour of her son's skin before he was born, in an explosive tell-all interview with TV chat show host Oprah Winfrey.
The Duchess of Sussex claimed her husband Prince Harry told her that members of the family had spoken to him about how "dark" their son's skin might be when she was pregnant with their first child.
It's just one of a series of shock claims made by the duchess, a year after she stepped back from formal royal duties in the UK.
She also said that her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, was the one to make her cry, and that there was a point where she felt like she did not want to be alive anymore.
Here are some of her biggest claims.
Meghan 'didn’t want to be alive anymore' - and could not get support
In a devastating moment, Meghan revealed she considered taking her life.
Meghan said: “I just didn’t see a solution. I would sit up at night, and I was just like I don’t understand how all of this is being churned out and again I wasn’t seeing it, but it’s almost worse when you feel it through the expression of my mom or my friends or them calling me crying just like ‘Meg, they’re not protecting you’.
“And I realised that it was all happening just because I was breathing. And, I was really ashamed to say it at the time, and ashamed to have to admit it, to Harry especially, because I know how much loss he suffered.
“But I knew that if I didn’t say it that I would do it, and I just didn’t…I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.
“And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. And I remember, I remember how he just cradled me and I was… I went to the institution, and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that I’ve never felt this way before and I need to go somewhere. And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution.”
Meghan revealed she attended the premiere of Cirque du Soleil's 'Totem' at the Royal Albert Hall because she could not be left alone. (Paul Grover/Reuters)
She said she did not know who to turn to during the "very scary" time and eventually spoke to a friend of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
Speaking about one evening in particular, where she had to attend an engagement after telling Harry how she was feeling, she said: "Every time those lights went down in that royal box, I was just weeping. He was gripping my hand and it was ‘Okay an intermission’s coming’ … and you had to just be ‘on’ again.
"You have no idea what’s going on for someone behind closed doors. Even the people that smile the biggest smiles and shine the brightest lights, it seems."
Speaking about the 'institution' as both a person and a series of people, she added: “I went to one of the most senior people just to get help.
“And that you know… I share this because there’s so many people who are afraid to voice that they need help.
“And I know personally how hard it is to not just voice it, but when you voice it to be told ‘no’. And so I went to human resources, and I said I just really, I need help, because in my old job there was a union, and they would protect me.
“And I remember this conversation like it was yesterday, because they said ‘My heart goes out to you because I see how bad it is, but there’s nothing we can do to protect you because you’re not a paid employee of the institution’. This wasn’t a choice. This was emails and begging for help, saying very specifically ‘I am concerned for my mental welfare’.
“And people were like ‘oh yes yes it’s disproportionately terrible what we see out there to anyone else’, but nothing was ever done. So we had to find a solution.”
Watch: Meghan says it’s liberating being able to speak for herself in new Oprah interview clip
Meghan says it’s liberating being able to speak for herself in new Oprah interview clip
Meghan Markle has said it is liberating to talk for herself as she reveals why she is choosing to do an interview now, a year after stepping back from royal duties. In the latest clip ahead of the interview on Sunday, Winfrey revealed she called Meghan in early 2018 asking for an interview - but Meghan said it was not the right time.
There was 'concern over how dark Archie's skin would be'
In a shocking moment, Meghan has claimed there was concern behind palace walls about the colour of Archie's skin when she was pregnant.
She said there were "also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born".
Asked whether there were concerns that her child would be “too brown” and that would be a problem, Meghan said: “If that is the assumption you are making, that is a pretty safe one.”
She did not name anyone involved in those conversations, but said the comments were relayed to her by Harry after he spoke to his family.
Harry and Meghan with their son Archie, who Meghan said was the focus of conversations about his skin colour before he was even born. (Toby Melville/Reuters)
Meghan said: "That was relayed to me from Harry, those were conversations the family had with him, and I think it was really hard to be able to see those as compartmentalised conversations."
She said it would "damaging" to the person to reveal who said it.
She also claims she and Harry did not say they did not want a title for their son - who is simply called Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
She said: "It’s not their right to take it away."
She said "the idea of the first member of colour in this family not being titled" brought pain to her.
Meghan claims convention was being changed for their son, saying he would not "receive protection".
Archie, who turns two in May, is still seventh in line to the throne. Meghan and Harry were receiving royal security when they were working royals.
Meghan said the palace 'perpetuated falsehoods'
Meghan was asked how she thought the palace would react knowing that she was going to "speak her truth".
She replied: "I am not going to live my life in fear.”
She added: “I don’t know how they could expect that, after all of this time, we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.
“And, if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean… there is a lot that has been lost already.”
At another point in the conversation, Meghan was asked "were you silent or were you silenced?"
She replied "the latter".
Meghan said she was silenced by the palace. (CBS)
She said: "Everyone in my world was given very clear directive from the moment the world knew Harry and I were dating, to always say ‘no comment’.
"That’s my friends, my mom and dad. And we did. I did anything they told me to do, of course I did, because it was also through the lens of ‘And we’ll protect you’.
"So even as things started to roll out in the media that I didn’t see that my friends would call me and say ‘Meg this is really bad’, because I didn’t see it I’d go ‘don’t worry I’m being protected’.
"I believed that and I think that was really hard to reconcile because it was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to understand that not only was I not being protected, but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family.
"But they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband."
Kate made Meghan cry, she claims
Asked about the many stories suggesting she had made the Duchess of Cambridge cry, Meghan said they were not true, and that it was Kate who had made her cry.
She said: "No. The reverse happened.
"A few days before the wedding she was upset about the flower girls dresses and it made me cry and it really hurt my feelings
"She owned it and bought me flowers."
Meghan said it was Kate who made her cry in the run up to their wedding in May 2018. Pictured here at Princess Eugenie's wedding. (Owen Humphreys/AFP)
Asked about the story surrounding a flower girl's dress fitting before the wedding for Princess Charlotte, Kate's daughter, she added: "Everyone in the institution knew it wasn't true. I am not sharing that piece about Kate to be in any way disparaging about her. I would hope that she would want that to be corrected.
"She's a good person. If you love me, you don't have to hate her. If you love her, you don't have to hate me."
But she said the situation was a "turning point".
She regrets believing she'd be protected
Meghan revealed her one regret from the last few years is "believing them [the palace] when they said I would be protected".
She said: "And now because we’re actually on the other side, we’ve actually not just survived but are thriving, this.. miracles.
"I think all of those things I was hoping for have happened. And this is in some ways just the beginning for us.”
Asked if the story does have a happy ending, Meghan said: "Greater than any fairytale you’ve ever read." By Rebecca Taylor
Royal Correspondent, Yahoo News
Oprah with Meghan and Harry airs in the UK on 8 March at 9pm on ITV.
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