By Peggy Mphonda (LCC 3)

As the world celebrated International Women's Day on March 8 this year, female staff members and students at the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) joined in by sharing some valuable insights pertaining the world around them. 

The global theme was “Invest in women: Accelerate Progress” but the MUST women celebrated theirs under a narrowed down theme of "Prevent of sexual exploitation and abuse", inspired by the university’s recent policy on the same. 

Guest of honour, Maya Ng'ombe, who is country manager of Success Motivation International (SMI), Leadership Management International (LMI) and Family Motivation International (FMI), underscored the importance of implementing robust policies to combat sexual exploitation and abuse.

She also challenged girls and women to include emotional quotient (EQ) alongside their intelligence quotient (IQ) in every aspect of their lives, saying this is a critical key to their success.  

"We are proud to come together on this special day of ours to (re)affirm our commitment to inspiring inclusion and combating all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls,", remarked Dr Marion Chirwa-Kajombo, one of the oirganisers and Head of Language and Communication Studies Department under the Bingu School of Culture and Heritage (BISCH) at MUST. 

At the end of the event, participants said they felt left inspired and empowered, and ready to continue the fight against social injustice. 

"I have been greatly inspired and empowered by everything that was discussed. As I go back, I have acquired a number of new approaches to deal with different problems that us as girls face," said Glory Shaba, a Language and Communication student at MUST.

According to the organisers, the event was a success as it served as a reminder that while progress has been made, much work remains undone to create a world where all women and girls can thrive free from fear, exploitation and oppression.