Buea(Fako) — Today, if women talk of a new concept of partnership between them and the men and the third millennium development goals and objectives, it is because the gender approach which refers to women and men working together as partners is the only concept that can guarantee sustainable socio-economic development.

This concept according to the SDO for Fako Ngambi Dikoume Robert, offers a new way of reading social realities and social changes for the benefit of the communities.

Presiding at the International Day for the Women in Limbe, the SDO encouraged women from the fisheries and agricultural sectors to ensure food sufficiency. He recalled the several national and international conferences held by women all over the world to ameliorate the political and socio-economic status of women. For the millennium development goals to be achieved, he said, men and women should be considered partners in development. He called on the women, men of Limbe and of Fako Division to work in partnership to erase poverty and hunger, On her part, the Fako Divisional Delegate for Womens' Affairs, Mrs Ethel Ngome, described the womens'-one-day-celebrations as a golden day for stock taking, a day they stop worrying and start thinking.

She traced the history of the day and assured those she termed frightened men that the women were not planning to over throw them but simply planning to complement the efforts of their husbands and brothers in the lofty task of nation building. She promised that they will continue petting the men, washing their cloths, cooking for them, pampering them like the babies that they really are. Gender equality, she warned, does not mean that women should go out and come back late nor that men go to the kitchen while the women are reading newspapers with their legs crossed in the parlour, nor does it mean that the women should be the ones to split firewood, nor kill snakes. For their partnership to succeed she said women should have equal opportunities with men.

At the occasion, six women, one of them a carpenter, water fufu seller and others were specially honoured. The occasion ended with a march past by over 200 women groups in Limbe.