Seychelles can become a hub in the region for advocating gender equality, the Minister for Youth, Sports & Family, Marie-Celine Zialor, has said.

She made the remark after speaking as a guest of honour at a special event themed ‘When women thrive, humanity thrives,’ at the Women Pavilion at the Dubai EXPO on Thursday.

Organisers of the ‘Fireside chat’ are also considering the creation of a sisterhood club which will bring women together for networking and support.

The talk show ‘Visions and Journeys’ speakers’ series presented Minister Zialor with the opportunity to share Seychelles’ story in achieving gender equality.

This series of chats at the Women’s Pavilion has been developed under the patronage of the United Arab Emirates Gender Balance Council and is sponsored by Cartier.

In this series, prominent personalities share their visions, strategies, and policies for a more gender equal future.

The guest speakers also share their journey in overcoming and working towards

eradicating gender inequality and discrimination.

The ‘Fireside chat’ was moderated by Hind Al Owais, the vice-president of the International Participants Department at Expo 2020 Dubai responsible for the coordination and participation of international and intergovernmental organisations as well as individuals at the event.

Also present for the event, which was attended mainly by women, was the First Lady, Linda Ramkalawan; members of the Seychelles delegation at the Seychelles National Day at the Dubai EXPO; members of the Seychelles diaspora in Dubai as well as representatives of key organizations including UN WOMEN.

The minister was invited at the event as her ministry holds the gender portfolio. Minister Zialor used the event to share some success stories and key achievements from Seychelles, such as Seychelles having its National Gender Policy, girls outperforming boys in schools, women in important positions,

where she gave the example of the Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles, Caroline Abel, who has also won prestigious awards for her work.

“I think I can comfortably say that if you are born a girl in Seychelles you are not disfavoured or disadvantaged in any way, and you have an equal chance to succeed in life just as the boy child,” the minister told the audience.

Minister Zialor used the event to also share messages to women and what they should do to better themselves. Self-love, self-discipline and loving others are simple things that the minister stressed on, adding that women should also stand for and support each other. These can be done through initiatives such as sisterhood clubs – or ‘Ser Kordon’ group which the Seychellois in the room could

relate to.

The session also included an interactive session with the audience.

At the end of the chat Minister Zialor said that through such an event “Seychelles can become a hub in the region for advocating gender equality. The difficult conversations that need to happen regarding women issues can be made easier in our beautiful shores”.

“It does not matter what sex you are born with to achieve your mission on this earth,” the minister concluded.

The accompanying photos show Minister Zialor at the Women

Pavilion side event at Dubai EXPO and a souvenir photo with the First Lady.

Source: Seychelles Nation