International Women's Conference 2012

Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulama Xingwana was guest speaker at the International Women's Conference 2012.

Over 500 women leaders and participants from 55 countries had gathered at the 5th International Women’s Conference (IWC), titled "Women & Technology" hosted in the Art of Living International Center, Bangalore, India. During the three-day conference (3-5, February 2012) participants share ideas on a global social transformation through technology.

Women leaders from the Middle East, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Egypt, South Africa, Bangladesh, USA, Italy and India were present at the conference. The conference witnessed participation from the Arab world, with women from the Middle East being the second-largest delegation at the event.

Some of the leaders at the conference were:

  • Chairperson IWC, Smt. Bhanumathi Narasimhan

  • Lulama Xingwana, Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Republic of South Africa

  • Ronit Tirosh, Member of Parliament, Israel

  • Ms. Shiren Ibrahim Fattah, Representative, Kurdish Government, Iraq

  • Hon’ble Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, State Minister of Women and Children Affairs, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and

  • Ms. Orna Sagiv, Honourable Counsul General of Israel, Israel Consulate, Mumbai

Minister Lulama Xingwana shared the following on day one of the three day conference:

"I want to thank His Holiness for inviting me here. I came here to represent the women of South Africa but mainly to learn from India. We are here to learn. I believe India is a country rich in history, culture, traditional and indigenous technology, which we all need to learn from. As governments, most importantly as women, we should use technology. I also came to learn about spirituality and the art of living. It is important to know that there is a superior being out there which has given us the technology, the talent and we should respect it. All technology comes from that space. We should also know that we cannot go beyond what He has given us. For instance, no matter how much we progress in technology, we cannot bring back life.

South Africa is a very young democracy – just 18 years old. We have come here to learn to empower our women. The U.N. has chosen a special team in New York for the purpose of empowerment of rural women and fighting poverty and hunger. More than 40% of our ministers in South Africa are women. We are still fighting for more. I hope more of our women will be able to come forward after this conference. I would like to congratulate you for such a beautiful conference. I hope we’ll be able to take back commitment and spirituality from this conference."

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