19 June 2015
A further six faculties at Champasak University have received gender training from the Association for Development of Women and Legal Education (ADWLE), in an effort to empower its female students and improve attendance.
On 18-19 June 2015, ADWLE conducted a workshop for staff from the following faculties: Law and Political Sciences, Economics, Agriculture, Science and Mathematics, Education and Engineering, in a bid to ensure gender and women’s rights were consistently integrated into teaching practices and curricula.
ADWLE Director, Inthana Bouphasavanh, said statistics showed there were more male than female students enrolling in the University.
“The objective of the workshop was to integrate a gender dimension into teaching in an effort to improve female university attendance and to encourage female students to take on leadership roles,” she said.
“We want to challenge this mindset which categorises the genders through a very narrow lens: men are seen as leaders and women as wives.”
A total of 20 teachers, of which half were women, attended the workshop which was lead by the head of the Sub-Commission for the Advancement of Women, Mrs. Bouaphan Latthida.
“When the teachers were asked how many had heard of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), only one teacher had, which demonstrates a clear need to carry out such workshops,” said Mrs. Latthida.
Since 2014, ADWLE has been training teachers from the law faculties of Champasak University and the National University of Laos, in Vientiane, on gender, CEDAW and women’s rights and how to integrate these concepts into their teaching.
