Yesterday marked international women’s day celebrations. In the Gambia, it came at the height of a series of conferences and workshops, both locally and regionally sanctioned deliberations, as part of ongoing effort in the promotion of the course of women on this continent in particular and the world in general.

The organizers, here in The Gambia, have all the reasons to celebrate with a clear conscience, given the fact that even as they celebrate, they are assured of what millions of their colleagues in other parts of the world desperately desire for: empathy and sympathy; love and support as well as care and concern from their men counterparts.

At the root of all this lays the solid backing of a praiseworthy government, which has perpetually pushed forward its unconditional goal to empower its women. Since the beginning of the second republic, Gambian women have been receiving an unfettered level of support from government, and this has been pursued with such a rigor that today they hold important positions, just like their men counterparts, at key decision making levels.

The voice of Gambian women largely commensurate the magnitude of their number. Their presence tends to be felt in almost all national development effort. In fact, this clearly explained by the fact that currently the two most powerful positions in The Gambia, after the presidency, are being occupied by women.

The support, in the form of moral, financial, logistical or any other support that the organizers might have received for this year’s celebration, the genuineness of which is demonstrated by the personal involvement of the Gambian vice president, who happens to be responsible for women’s affairs, was no surprise, given the level of trust the women of this country have gained for themselves, especially from the leadership of the country.

On the part of government, there is no shying away. Records of our level of achievement are quite lucid. From political improvement, to financial acceleration, women of the Gambia have made it to top decision making levels, as has been mentioned above. Thirty years ago, one could have found the idea absolutely implausible if it were predicted.

However, we ought to be aware of the danger of complacency as we could render worthless the hard-earned gains we have made up for ourselves. We must endeavor not only to consolidate the sphere of bridge in gender gap we have attained, but we must also ensure that in the near future, we are able to draw a tangible parallel to this very important change, with what comes out of it. The women of the Gambia have a greater part to play in ensuring this.

We can do this by shaking off the remnant of primitive concepts that had deliberately kept us at bay from the realities that eluded us all this while. After all, our traditional views and values all fit in well with what the modern argument about gender parity entails.