UN urges men to champion gender equality

The UN Women has launched a campaign dubbed ‘Men at work’ which will for 3 years shape men’s attitude towards women for gender equality.

UN Women is the global champion for gender equality, working to develop and uphold standards and create an environment in which every woman and girl can thrive.

This took place on the second day of the two day UN Women conference aimed at tapping into masculinity potential to protect women.

The discussion was on NBS television on Sunday.

The UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda, Rosa Malango said: "This is the moving world we are in where we spend more time with our children. What role is each one of us teaching our children? .We are launching this campaign just before Uganda is launching the development plan for the next five years. This is a campaign of hope but of sustained development as well. This is not going to be an easy journey but it is the right thing to do,"

She queried the role and the commitment of each person in the community in ensuring that the world is a better place in terms of gender equality.

"What are we going to do differently to build positive African fathers? Nobody said this is going to be easy, but this will be worth it," she said.

The country representative UN Women, Dr. Maxime Houinato, said men have left their responsibilities to women yet they want to keep the privileges.

"As we embark on this journey, I am so excited. We want men to engage in gender equality happily. We want collaboration and not fighting. We want transformation and not a revolution. We want measurable action and not lip service. We shall be a completely different country when we achieve gender equality," he said.

He noted Uganda has achieved a few milestones as compared to other counters but there is a need to talk about going to the next stage of implementation.

The head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Uganda, Alain Sibenaler said "culture, traditions, and religion should never be used an excuse for violence on girls and women".

"Whether we like it or not, we are all conditioned by the social-cultural context we are brought up in. Our constructing culture is built around a section that has to do with power and dominance.

Culture, tradition, and religion are never an excuse for violating basic human rights.