A public lecture on promoting female leadership held in Douala on March 7.

The British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Bharat Joshi, has encouraged Cameroonian women to look beyond their challenges, difficulties and failures and start talking about their successes. The diplomat was speaking in Douala on March 7, 2012 at a public lecture to promote female leadership in the country.

Organised by the Association for Support to Women Entrepreneurs (ASAFE), the lecture held on the theme “Feminine leadership for a best world.” Moderated by Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV journalist, Tricia Oben, guest speakers included Charly Gabriel Mbock and Jarmilla Joassint of SGBC.

The High Commissioner said Cameroon’s wealth does not lie in its petroleum and mineral resources, but in its population of which women form an important portion. The High Commission, he said, will be looking forward to supporting more projects by women in order to sell their successes to the world. Cameroonian women, he noted, continue to strive despite the difficulties.

From the lectures, it was clear that women face cultural and traditional barriers to developing their full potential. For example, they need to be educated, have access to financing from banks and inherit land. Despite these, women produce 80 per cent of the food that feeds Cameroonians. The way forward is for women to keep fighting for their rights and market their experience to help other women the world over, participants suggested. ASAFE President, Gisèle Yitamben, revealed that more than 51 per cent of the world’s population is made up of women.