At 2 pm on the 03rd of March 2014, the Rector of the University of Dschang, Professor Fomethe Anaclet, in his usual tradition, officially launched the activities of the celebration of women’s day and to solemnly handed to the women of his Institution the 8th march “wrapper”. This ceremony proved to be very special due to the massive attendance of both the teaching and the non-academic staff. They were not only present, but full of smiles and laughter as they all sang to welcome the Rector and his close collaborators into the conference hall.
The ceremony proper started with the singing of the National Anthem, and the Women’s day anthem celebrating gender mainstreaming in the public sphere. This was followed by a word from the Secretary General, Prof Isabel Abolo, epse Edande, who spoke on behalf of all the women, thanking the Rector, Prof Fomethe, for being a father, husband and a friend to all the women. She praised the relentless efforts he made to ensure that all the women would be happy on the 08th of March, regardless of all the obstacles they encountered. She said, it is true to his nature of being a real father and family head that he also provided wrappers for about 110 men of the University to accompany the ladies during the match pass ceremony at the Dschang ceremonial ground. Madame ended by asking all the women to take active part in all the activities of the week as the most significant sign of gratitude they could show to their father, husband or son.
Forte mobilisation des femmes au lancement de la célébration
The general response of the women was an acceptable outburst of spontaneous singing and dancing in the affirmative to her request. Everybody stood, clapped, sang and danced the famous song“Evenement” of “Richard Band de Zoétélé”. Indeed, the celebration of the International Women’s day is an event in the University of Dschang! That is why the Rector expressed his immense gratitude to the entire female community for their massive response. He said this was a confirmation that the women’s day celebration remains an event worth celebrating during a period when women occupy more and more strategic positions in political field. For instance, they are now better represented in the house of Assembly with over 31% of female parliamentarians.
The rector was sincere with the women when he said that the wellbeing of The University of Dschang was enhanced by such happy moments when they fraternize amongst themselves. He went ahead to lay emphasis on the fact that women are very fundamental in the existence of every society, otherwise the society becomes stale. That is why we should never miss any opportunity to rejoice over an event, no matter how small we might think it is. He also talked about the recruitment pattern which he had adopted to always give a chance to women in order to maintain equilibrium.
He ended up by taking the women to task; that while looking beautiful and celebrating, women should stop and think about the challenges they have ahead of them; that of the employability of the students we train. The education we give them should be a major challenge. The men who in the past have been an obstacle to the women to show their worth were asked to support them to instead excel and emerge come 2035.