“Men and Women Have Different Strengths, Perspectives and Roles That Complement Each Other”, Expressed Executive Director of GFDD at a Panel of Gender Equality in NY

Ms. Natasha Despotovic, Executive Director of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) took part in the conference Executive Women in a World of Executive Men, event celebrated last Saturday at the Pabellón de Cine Juan Fernández, as part of the special activities GFDD organized to celebrate the 8th edition of the Dominican Book Fair in NY.

In her speech Ms. Despotovic expressed that today genres equality is an integral and important part of the movement for women’s rights,
since the scope depends on the ability of women to exercise their rights, as men and women have different strengths, perspectives and roles that complement each other. Similarly, panelist Clara Benedicto, Director of the GeneralCooperation Directorate and International Relations of the National and Autonomous University of Santo Domingo inDominican Republic, briefly described the evolution of executive women in the work place and stated that education is very important, since it is a way to
reach equality. When asked about the role of men and women in today’s family composition, Ms. Despotovic explained that the need of women to go to work is a fact in our modern society, and men need to share more household responsibilities by being more involved in kids’ education, for example. “New paradigms are been changed and this is one of them”, concluded the Executive Director.

The Book Fair is an important annual event
celebrated in NY, organized by the Cultural Commission of Dominican Republic in the U.S., which is part of the Ministry of Culture of Dominican Republic.

GFDD is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the advancement of global collaboration and exchange relevant to Dominican professionals, general audiences and institutions in the homeland and abroad. The Foundation conducts research, enhances public understanding, designs public policies, devises strategies,
and offers capacity building in areas crucial to social, economic, democratic and cultural sustainable development.