First lady Kim Yoon-ok said Friday she will help bolster women’s networks in Asia and Africa to improve women’s rights in the continents.
In a speech to the 2011 Asian and African Women’s Conference held in Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul, Kim stressed education holds the key to achieving gender equality in the two regions.
“Education is a basic human right and also an important investment for the future,” she said. “More than anything else, gender equality has become urgent to improve women’s rights especially for women in Asia and Africa.”
The first lady said she would be more active in gender equality issues and support education for women.
Han Young-sil, president of the university, said national and international gender equality experts gathered in Seoul to exchange views to improve women’s rights all across Africa and Asia.
She said that her university will establish scholarship funds for female students in the regions after the conference.
U.N. experts, overseas gender equality experts and high-ranking officials joined the four-day conference, which ends Saturday.