By Maha Ellawati.
Benghazi, March 22: Women from across the Arab world and further afield gathered in Benghazi on Wednesday for a three-day conference on the role of women in the new Libya.
Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, who spent part of her youth living in Benghazi and the EU’s ?High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton are due to address the conference on Friday.
Entitled ‘The Contemporary Libyan Woman, a Strong Hand to Build a Modern State’, the conference addressed the roles of women, how they were harshly excluded and unjustly treated by the Qaddafi regime, as well as the important role that Libyan women played during the February 17 revolution both physically, such as preparing food for the fighters on the battlefield, and morally.
Delegates were told how Libyan women encouraged their children to join the battle for freedom, and there was a story of a woman who felt happy and rejoiced as she buried her martyred son instead of crying for him and feeling remorse.
The conference was attended by women from Tunisia, Iraq and elsewhere. An Iraqi lady spoke about the plight of Iraqi women and the exclusion experienced by them during the past few years. She encouraged Libyan women to become involved politically, saying they had to play a role in any future Libyan government and the parliament in order not to be excluded from the new system.
The political activist Saleh Jauda delivered a special appreciation of Libyan women, stressing the role they played and saying that they were one of the main reasons why the revolution succeeded. “When I was opposing the regime from abroad, Libyan women were playing their role in political activities,” he stated. “It was a leading role. They were strong and remarkable, working through national civil agencies, in helping injured people and in so many other ways.” [/restrict]
