Gambia News : Gambia VP opens harmful traditional practices conference

May 07,2009 00:00 by lamin

Gambia vice president and Minister of Women’s Affairs, Isatou Njie-Saidy, on Wednesday opened a three-day international conference on harmful traditional practices with a call for the creation and mobilization for mean ingful change.

She pointed out that there is a need for an art and photo exhibition and a film show to demonstrate the need to “unite to end violence against women”.

The vice president said violence against women manifested in several forms of physical and mental abuse, domestic violence, rape and sexual violence.

Mrs Njie-Saidy noted that there are various forms of violence that are perpetrated against women and girls in the name of customs, traditions and culture. These include female genital mutilation, early and forced marriage, yet a number of them go unnoticed and are under-reported.

“Women generally dominate the part of the population that is lowly paid, have low status and undertake part-time or contract work that offers limited opportunities for financial security,” she said.