The Australian Embassy for Timor-Leste has held a public debate on gender equality in development in Timor-Leste.
Representative for the Australian ambassador Sally Moyle said the aim of the debate was to commemorate National Women’s Day, celebrated yearly on November 3. The day celebrates the contribution of women to independence.
Moyle said gender inequality was a problem all across the world, not just in Timor-Leste. Timor-Leste had made good progress in promoting gender equality, she said.
She called on the government and civil society to work together to prevent domestic violence.
She said the emancipation of women would allow them to become leaders.
Resistance member Olandia Cairo agreed women had made great progress in the past 15 years.
“It can be seen in Parliament and many women work in government and study at university. A lot of rural women are intelligent and they have started to seek leadership positions at a district level,” she said.
She said women should be proud of the advances they had made in the areas of health, literacy and child and maternal health.
Legal Assistance for Women and Children (ALFeLa) spokesperson Merita Correia said great progress had been made in the justice sector with many more domestic violence cases prosecuted in comparison to previous years.
However she said there was room for improvement in the area of prosecution of incest and long wait times for cases to be heard.
