The women folk in Papua New Guinea (PNG) ought to be acknowledged and recognized more for their efforts and hard work put into development and nation building. This was the message from the Australian High Commission, Deputy Head of Mission to Papua New Guinea, Dr. Joanne Loundes in commemorating International Women’s Day today and also marking the first time that this day is commemorated in PNG. With the global theme “Inspire Inclusion”, the nation’s theme for International and National Women’s Day 2024 is “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress.” She mentioned that progress only happens when women and girls are involved in community development programs and other initiatives. “Including women is the smart thing to do.” “Women help to make everything greater, secure and equal.” In saying that, she announced that Australia will be launching their International Gender Equality program later this year and assured Australia’s support in helping the country’s gender equality goals. “Gender equality underpins Aus-PNG relationship. You can count on Australia when it comes to supporting PNG’s gender equality goals. UN Resident Coordinator, Richard Howard Jnr highlighted in his speech that the challenges faced after Jan 10th was very real and that it was felt by everyone in the country. Additionally, he compared PNG’s development rate to that of other third world countries and said that PNG does not bear well compared to other poor countries. “On international women’s day, we recognize our women’s resilience in helping to shape and mold this country in their individual ways.” Furthermore, he stated that PNG had the lowest rate of women in parliament and mentioned that there were special measures in place that help enable woman to be allocated seats in parliament for a temporary period of time. “We must implement special contemporary measures.” “When women hold positions of power, they have an eye for fixing the needs of the people in the education and health sectors of a nation.” “We want to see a greater participation of women in the government and on all levels in the work force.” He then went on to give assurance that the United Nations (UN) Women was ready to support PNG as a nation as they aim to increase participation of the women in the communities. Meanwhile, to further commemorate International Women’s Day, the Department for Community Development and Religion has encouraged the general public to come and be a part of the morning walk on Sunday 10th March, which will start at 5am in the morning from the Hubert Murray Stadium to Ela Beach.