Women and Good Governance

As part of the International Women’s month, the Cultural Center hosted a conference on March 12th with guest speaker Francoise Ouedraogo, Permanent Secretary of Good Governance for the Association WILDAF (Women in Law and Development in Africa). 
The conference focused on "Women and Good Governance."   Over 50 people attended the event.  Mrs. Ouedraogo spoke about the important role of women in the democratic process and the obstacles they face when trying to pursue a professional career.  She presented several issues such as the unequal pay scale of women in Burkina Faso, the ongoing struggle for women to participate in the workforce, and the current high rate of uneducated women in the country.  Another presentation by Mrs. Hadissa Ouédraogo, gave a brief description of the Association and their role in Burkina Faso and the President of WILDAF delivered a brief thank you speech to attendees. 

The participants were very intrigued by the information presented by Mrs. Ouédraogo, which led to a lively debate.  Many attendees expressed interest in programming more conferences around this theme in order to continue the debate and include the perspectives of other associations.  The President of WILDAF was very pleased by the outcome and plans to continue working with the Cultural Center to host other similar programs in the coming months.  This program directly supported the U.S. Embassy's goal of supporting mutual understanding, democracy, and women's rights in Burkina Faso.