“I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Egypt, its president, and its government for the achievements and the efforts made towards improving women’s rights [in the country],” said Spanish Ambassador to Cairo, Ramón Gil Casares.
“We can only welcome the firm gender policy measures taken by the Egyptian government in recent years that go beyond eliminating violence against women to protect and foster women’s economic and political rights,” he added.
Casares also praised that there is an increasing number of women in leadership positions in Egypt, such as ministers, secretaries of state, governors, or the president of the National Human Rights Council.
His remarks came during a conference discussing the effective participation of Egyptian women in public life and equal opportunities in politics, economy, society, and culture, that was held on Sunday on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
Casares said that he wants to take this opportunity to especially remember all the Ukrainian women who — with or without their children and with or without their husbands — are also major victims of the Ukrainian occupation that Spain resolutely condemns.
“But today, we are here to celebrate International Women’s Day, our motto for this year’s celebration is ‘Women in Leadership,’” he said.
He added that 8 March is first and foremost a day for celebration, a day to highlight the role of women in our societies, saying “the contribution of half of humanity to our shared well-being cannot be disregarded.”
Furthermore, he stressed that it is a shared responsibility to acknowledge the women that are opening new paths and are serving as inspiration and hopefully offer new opportunities to many others in society. Brave women who have fought for their career, their rights, and equality against all odds.
Casares also emphasised that women’s leadership and involvement in socioeconomic development is clearly a shared interest of Egypt and Spain countries.
He further explained that equality is at the heart of the Spanish constitutional framework. Progress towards gender equality has been supported by national institutions, the private sector, and civil society organisations in many ways.
“With major and minor successes, challenges and gains, the entirety of society has progressively embraced equality as an essential principle and value to bring social cohesion and wealth to all spheres of the lives of our citizens. Following this path, in 2020, we adopted — as a country — feminist diplomacy, because it contributes to a better world where women and men are equal in rights and opportunities,” he said.
“Today is the day for women to be heard. I just want to invite everyone to celebrate the successes achieved for those who preceded us and look to the future with optimism.
The conference was attended by Amal Tawfiq, the Director of the Complaints Office in the National Council for Women; Yasmine Al-Shazly, an Egyptologist of the American Research Centre in Egypt; and Amal Ramsis, a filmmaker and promoter of the Women Filmmakers Caravan.
