“Until Issues of SGBV Are Eliminated, Our Task is Incomplete”
Third from right Vice President Taylor including other dignitaries as well as students who attended the conference in Malawi .
.... VP Taylor tells delegates at just-ended Generation Equality Conference in Malawi
Liberia’s Vice President, Jewel Howard-Taylor has said until the issue of Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) is eliminated in the lives of women and girls, the task begun is not complete. “The task begun is not complete until issues of SGBV are eliminated from our lives.”
VP Howard Taylor made these remarks at the 3-day Generation Equality Conference organized by the Government of Malawi in coordination with The Joyce Banda Foundation (WED) and some international NGOs.
The conference, held in Lilongwe, Malawi, under the theme “Growing and Glowing as a leader against all odds,” discussed issues of gender equality. The conference highlighted three groups: women, youth, and mothers as leaders and this was held in honor of Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera as a true HE4SHE CHAMPION.
Speaking to Women, the Vice President Howard Taylor said: “God has given each of us all the inherent traits we need to succeed. Let’s join forces, work together and change the World”. According to her, the youths are the present, but must be willing to be purified through the fires of life; then become valuable.
Speaking to the mothers, whom she considers the third group of leaders, VP Howard-Taylor stressed: “The task you began is not complete until issues of SGBV are eliminated from our lives.”
VP Taylor, who formed part of the Panel of female leaders telling their success stories, asserted that she was amazed by the stories of the former President of the Central African Republic, Catharine Samba Panza and a Former Freedom Fighter and former Vice President of Zimbabwe, Joyce Mujuro.
“I realized that our stories were similar. They were patriarchal systems that believed that women should be at home, and if we dared to move into male-dominant spheres, we would have to go through the baptism of fire, the Vice President said. But through it all, VP Howard-Taylor emphasized: “We each learned to stand, preserve, grow and glow; as we traveled our Life routes.
On the sidelines of the conference, the Liberian Vice President who is also the Founder of the Jewel Starfish Foundation met with beneficiaries of her foundation in Malawi and some high-level dignitaries attending the conference.
Meanwhile, under the Presidency of President Chakwera, national figures show a minimum of 40% of women in all government sectors except the parliament. He believes that the condition will soon join the large numbers of females across all industries.
At the honoring ceremony, Vice President Howard-Taylor hailed President Chakwera for the honor, reechoing that he is genuinely a HE4SHE champion.