“Economic Empowerment of women: gender and globalization ” was the theme of the fourth meeting of the responsible for the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries’ gender equality, held in Dili, on May 10th.
At the opening the meeting, the Minister of State, Coordinator of Social Affairs, António da Conceição, underlined the importance of gender issues and empowerment of women for the Government of Timor-Leste. The Minister recalled the role of women during the struggle for independence and stressed that education is crucial for women’s autonomy and competitiveness.
At the meeting, the Action Plan 2016-2018, which outlines the main priorities and actions to be taken over the next two years, and the Declaration of Dili were approved. In the Declaration of Dili it is acknowledged that “the economic empowerment of women and their economic autonomy, namely through female entrepreneurship “are essential factors “to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the goals of Agenda 2030, especially to poverty eradication.” Thus, having assumed the commitment to “undertake all efforts to put in place reforms to give women not only economic rights and equal access to economic resources, but also access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property , financial services, inheritance and natural resources, and to promote full employment and decent work”.
A Declaration of Commitment was also signed by five government officials from the CPLP (Portuguese acronym) who attended the meeting: the Secretary of State for the Family and Empowerment of Women of Angola, Ana Paula Neto, the Executive Secretary of Women’s Affairs of Guinea-Bissau, Eunice Pereira, the Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality of Portugal, Catarina Marcelino, the Director of the National Institute for the Promotion of Gender Equality and Equity of Sao Tome and Principe, Ernestina Neves, and the Secretary of State for the Support and Socio-Economic Promotion of Women of Timor-Leste, Veneranda Lemos, who hosted the event. This document calls for the Action Plan to be made legally binding, although six government representatives have not attended the meeting, which were required for a quorum. Timor-Leste undertook to send the document to the absent Member States with regard to the signing, as has been the case in other meetings of the CPLP (Portuguese acronym).