Women do not have to become like men to deserve equal pay for equal job, or to deserve equal rights, or equal access to opportunities in life. Women can be women and men can be men. We as a society must have a consensus on the balance where peace in the society is based on a solid foundation of harmony between the gender.

As people everywhere continue to progress in line with human civilization, emphasizing a 'comprehensive' approach to families' health and social life takes center stage in public discourse. It became clear that equality is equal access, equal rights, equal opportunity, and meritocratic values that culminate into harmony and peace in the society.

Furthermore, the opportunity cost of less than balanced and fair empowerment of women is too high for any community, culture, or country to bear. The alternative approach also breeds further conflicts as women worldwide continue to break traditional barriers of gender inequalities. The backlashes are worrisome on both sides. We must begin to consider what type of precedence gender conflict sets for societies and generations to come.

Thus, we must make an effort to have candid discussions that involve both male and female panelists across international and cultural boundaries on how to integrate gender equality and women's empowerment into poverty reduction, democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery, environment and sustainable development without compromising the integrity one over the other.

 The overarching goal is improved humanity, improved society, improved systems, improved performances, and enhanced productivity that enable the Sustainability we want. Then, the discussion for harmony between the gender is inevitable.

So how can we use the premise of gender harmony to advance the understanding of gender inequalities, sexual harassment, and sex-based discrimination?  This question is what we hope to educate ourselves on, and we have reached out to experts in the field to speak on this issue. The audience is welcome to ask questions.

Gender harmony is when the masculine and feminine are balanced and complementary to each other. Like a harmonious dance, male and female can work together, seamlessly and even more gracefully.  Men and Women can complement each other's strengths and supplement each other's weaknesses to accomplish a purposeful and productive task. This could improve understanding between the sexes and reduce avoidable conflicts in public places, work environments, and domestic abuse.  Eventually, it could increase productivity and bring about Sustainability.

Gender harmony initiative is a strategic solution that must be incorporated in the school curriculum from kindergarten to tertiary levels. A basic understanding of how to co-exist without violence, discrimination, abuses, and conflicts due to gender difference is the right path to meritocracy, real democracy, gender equality, and sustainable development goals. 

We invite you to join this Commission on the Status of Women's dialogue on how to equip the public with information and instill gender education from an early stage on, enabling self-discovery, recognition and respect of gender, and unabated accomplishment of dreams, freedom from fears, and realization of potential. So, men and women can participate equally in public dialogues, right to worship, as well as make or influence decisions that will determine their future or their families' and societies.'

This conversation needs to be had about a parallel pursuit of gender equality as well as gender harmony.

It is vital to support the advancement of women everywhere in the world. Today, there is disproportionate access to decision-making roles in political economic institutions across gender in Africa. Many traditions in our continent have been geared towards educating the men at the cost of the women. Many countries in Africa are paying the premium of the opportunity cost of having cultivated less than equal and fair women's empowerment for too long. Their growth engines are being powered by one wing when it could have been operating at a total (two-wings) capacity. There is a huge gap to close.

We understand poverty to be more than just the lack of money. It is also the inability to make a sound judgment. We believe that poor judgment is the root cause of poverty. Empowering women through targeted policy, gender-sensitive legislatures, gender etiquette, and deliberate leadership role for women is the most efficient method of alleviating poverty in Africa. Because women are the family's foundation, does not mean that they should sit at home to anchor the family.  Women need to have equal control of the steering wheel with equal valor and equal expectation. When the society empowers the women, the nation is stronger.