A balanced article on gender equality

I would like to thank you for your choice of reports and stories which are sensitive to gender concerns and to the promotion of women’s status in society.

This feature served me very well during a recent workshop on gender sensitisation given to officials from Education Ministry. Sow Ewe Jin’s article was used as a case study. The participants enjoyed the account of Sow’s six-year experience as a full-fledged house-husband, that he described as the best and most rewarding years of his life.

Among other things, participants of the workshop discussed Sow’s story and heard his message that child-rearing and housekeeping can be a rewarding experience as he found out when he took six years off from his newspaper, The Star, to raise his two sons. His account provided a backdrop for participants’ own reflection and discussion on the roles of women and men in the 21st century. They also used it to examine and question their own gender relations.

I truly value your balanced and sensitive reporting which is testimony to your journalistic responsibility and public accountability. I would like to encourage you to do much more of it and look forward to using such real-life material in my own future training and activities. I congratulate you for recognising the present and potential value and contributions of women who, together, represent more than half of the world’s human resources and I hope that you will continue on the path that you have engaged.

Namtip Aksornkool

International Consultant; Gender, Basic Education and Development