Women’s Empowerment Needs Interest From Younger Women

MISS Pacific Islands Leoshina Kariha Has Encouraged More Young Women In Secondary Schools And Tertiary Institutions To Take An Interest In Becoming Future Leaders Of PNG.

March 12, 2019

BY FRANKLIN KOLMA

MISS Pacific Islands Leoshina Kariha has encouraged more young women in secondary schools and tertiary institutions to take an interest in becoming future leaders of PNG.

Speaking on the eve of the International Women’s Day last week Thursday at the Crown Plaza hotel in Port Moresby, Kariha, also the reigning Miss PNG, told a PNG Australia Alumni Association forum that it was of the utmost importance to have young girls in school engaging in women’s empowerment themed activities.

Ms Kariha said that too often, the average Papua New Guinean teenage girl fell victim to the stereotypical mindset that males were dominant. She said that creating an enabling environment for leadership started at home and that the onus was thus on senior members of respective households, females in particular, to ensure that leadership was not seen as a male only prerogative.

“We need to include younger girls in high schools, secondary schools and tertiary educational institutions in the movement for increased women’s leadership.

“And that can only be done if we get to teenage girls and empower them with leadership values and aspirations early on in life,” said the regional pageant queen.

Kariha, 19, who was the youngest on the forum panel, said that young women of today had advantages like technology that were not available to past women and that as such, these advantages could be utilized to further the cause.

She suggested engaging young girls in social media campaigns on women’s leadership and even using talk-shows and TV and radio broadcasted debates to bring out the many fiery and passionate young female leaders of today.

Ms Kariha also recommended inviting girls from universities to take part in mock parliamentary or corporate meeting sessions adding that it was through this kind of early exposure that the young leaders of tomorrow could rise up.

She praised the champions of the female movement of the past in the likes of Dr Angela Filer and Dame Carol Kidu and also said it was also important to have inspiring females to look up to like Lady Winifred Kamit and Beatrice Mahuru, all of whom were part of the forum panel.

Ms Kariha closed by advocating for the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant furthering that it was movements like the pageant that needed to be supported and nurtured further to break the male dominated mentality of traditional PNG.

https://postcourier.com.pg/womens-empowerment-needs-interest-younger-women/