You have to applaud the ladies… No, women, stop applauding; men should applause for you,” H.E President Muse Bihi Abdi remarked.
Hargeisa University had its graduation ceremony today, and the president was among the dignitaries who spoke. In the ceremony, it was revealed that 54% of the graduates were females while 46% were males and that 22 of the 29 honors were awarded to females, indicating that females are good for education if they have access to it despite the load of housework.
The president thanked the female graduates and honored them. “You have to applaud for the ladies… No, women, stop applauding; men should applause for you,” the president remarked.
Women used to clap for men for a long time, but now men should do the same: he said.
The president also mentioned the high prevalence of rape, noting that rape offenses are on the rise.
However, access to education for girls and young women appears to be improving because a big number of girls graduate from colleges in the country each year; however, these girls do not have work possibilities in the country. When you examine the reasons why our educated women are not gaining jobs, you will notice that the companies that provide the most job prospects are owned and managed by men who hold radical views opposing women’s rights.
Telecommunications and banking are the country’s main employment, with all of them employing men from a certain religious group. In their commercial premises, they solely employ women as cleaners and a tiny number of receptionists or hot line services.
A girl born in Hargeisa with a first or second university degree will find it difficult to get a dignified job in the companies with the highest job prospects.
Despite the president’s frequent emphasis on the living realities of women and girls, his government has taken no efforts to address women’s access to jobs in the private sector, which is dominated by militant groups.
Moreover, some companies favor employing males over women because they do not want to compensate women for maternity leave, which is another violation of their rights.
The president appears to be aware of the context and the lived realities of women and girls, but he needs to have the guts to create mechanisms to support them because the problem of unemployment for female graduates is more severe and will remain so for a very long time because they are not only discriminated against because of their gender, but also because there is no support from the government.
