Physical Barriers to Education

The session entitled “Physical Barriers to Education” was organized by International Alliance for Women, an organization that stands for Equal Rights-Equal Responsibilities.
The panel discussion was organized to provide participants with context of educational barriers, role of education and awareness and strategies to mobilize support for legislative action. While the first panelist identified 8 main barriers (detailed description in another post in this blog) to education of girls in many parts of the world, the 2nd shocked the audience by informing about the practice of ‘breast ironing’ in the country of Cameroon. The 3rd panelist focused on ‘comprehensive sexuality education’ the need for education and information asserting that “information is the solution”. The session ended with the last presenter outlining lobbying strategies that have worked in the past to influence policy.
IAW was formed in 1904 in Berlin to advocate for women’s issues. The organization has consultative status with ECOSOC and participatory status with Council for Europe. Its members actively engage in lobbying for women’s issues in the EU and the countries that were colonized by the EU in the 19th and 20th century. The government has allocated funds to collaborate with the grass roots NGOs to help remove barriers that stand in the way of girl’s education in many African countries. For more details on the organization, visit the website: www.womenalliance.org