AGRA: Since the idea of women empowerment swept the world, women are becoming powerful every passing day and now more than ever, it is about improving the way the world perceives the strength of women, said Prof Namrata Pradhan of the Royal University of Bhutan.
She was delivering the keynote address at the international virtual conference on ‘Women Empowerment, Gender Justice and Role of International Law’ organised by the Law Society, Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
Prof Namrata pointed out that women were advancing in each and every field and the world was slowly marching towards gender justice which was indispensable for development, poverty reduction and human progress. She highlighted how a Woman Health Minister in Bhutan, Dechen Wangmo, successfully averted the Covid-19 crisis in the Himalayan country. With no coronavirus-related fatalities reported, Bhutan contained the pandemic despite limited resources.
Prof Namrata discussed laws relating to women in Bhutan. Sharing her life experiences, she elaborated on the role of her mother in making her a successful person. Inaugurating the conference, AMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Tariq Mansoor highlighted the contributions of women leaders in various nations in tackling the coronavirus outbreak.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, female leaders at the helm of different countries have effectively handled the Covid-19 crisis. The actions of female leaders in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway and Taiwan are cited as supporting evidence that women are managing the crisis better than their male counterparts,” said the Vice-Chancellor.
He added that as women have come a long way in the past four decades, be as it may, a lot of work has to be done in order to achieve gender justice. Prof Mansoor pointed out that nowadays, more women were joining the legal field as judges and lawyers in the apex and other courts of the country. Director of the conference Prof Shakeel Ahmed Samdani (Dean, Faculty of Law) highlighted women’s rights in Islamic law.
He mentioned that the religious scriptures guarantee property, remarriage and educational rights to women and curbed the practice of female infanticide. Chief Guest Wafa Rashid Al Alyani, Director, Student Affairs Department, University of Buraimi, Sultanate of Oman delineated laws for the promotion of gender justice in Oman. She pointed out that 42 per cent of women in Oman were employed in various sectors.
Attending the conference as the Guest of Honour, Sadaf Khan, Princess Nora University, Riyadh, discussed reforms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for women empowerment. Shad Ahmad Khan, Chair, Staff Professional Development, University of Buraimi, Oman, introduced the theme of the conference to the participants.
Over 3,000 academicians, researchers and advanced students from all over the world participated in the conference.
