Highlights of the Rehendhi Awards 2022

This Tuesday, First Lady Fazna Ahmed emphasized the importance of ensuring gender equality in all aspects of community life so that our society can have a safe and sustainable future. She made this remark while speaking at the official ceremony held to mark International Women’s Day.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih attended tonight’s event as the Guest of Honour accompanied by the First Lady and Vice President Faisal Naseem. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘Gender equality today, for a sustainable tomorrow’.

Speaking at the event, the First Lady had stated that while Women's Day has a different theme each year, the main focus of these themes had always remained consistent. She highlighted the countless hurdles faced by women in achieving gender equality even in today’s society, adding that a fair share of these obstacles and the burdens women are expected to carry would be reduced if men share the responsibilities.

The First Lady expressed contentment towards the progressive changes made by the administration in empowering women. She highlighted the initiative to allocate leadership roles specifically for women in an effort to enhance representation and the role of women in society. The First Lady reiterated that women bring a fresh perspective to the decision-making table, alluding to scenarios where meaningful contributions had been overlooked, that could have been presented to decision-makers had there been better representation of women during the process.

The winners of the Rehendhi award 2022 were also honored at tonight's event. This year, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih presented the Rehendhi Award to nine recipients, and the brooches were presented to the award recipients by First Lady Fazna Ahmed. Vice President Faisal Naseem had unveiled the Gender Equality Action Plan.

The Rehendhi Award is presented by the President in recognition of the role played by women in national service, national development and the development of the Maldivian society. A total of 55 people have won the award since its inception in 2014.