UNICEF: Albanian women, children should cope with powerlessness and poverty

TIRANA, Jan. 18 – A UNICEF report, which is part of the global report entitiled State of the World’s Children 2007: Women and Children, “the Double Dividend” of Gender Equality was made public last Friday.
The report states that eliminating gender discrimination and empowering women will have a profound and positive impact on the survival and well-being of children.
The publication focused on critical gender issues, highlighting in particular the impact of gender on poverty, discrimination and inequality against women, with concomitant consequences on Albanian families and children.
Carrie Auer, UNICEF Representative in Albania, said the report “shows how promoting gender equality and empowering women Ʒill move forward all of the other goals, from reducing poverty to saving children’s lives, improving maternal health, ensuring universal education, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and ensuring environmental sustainability.”
Auer added that the Government is making positive efforts to ensure the empowerment of women and highlighted the National Gender Strategy currently being formulated which seeks to enhance the gender perspective of public policies and take significant steps towards achieving gender equality in the future.
President Bamir Topi, who also participated in the conference, emphasized the need to pursue progressive policies that will empower women and increase their role and participation in society and in decision-making, quoting examples such as that of General Prosecutor Ina Rama.
Topi added that the future of children in Albania remains permanently interlinked with their family situation, the social condition and the educational opportunities afforded to them, highlighting women’s significant role in raising the future generations of Albania.
“The woman-child duo must be considered the building block of the future of our society,” he said.