Minister of Gender, Family and Social Services, Aishath Mohamed Didi has taken part in the eighth session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ministerial Conference on Women.

The conference was held in Cairo, Egypt from 6-8 July, and was inaugurated by Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

The conference witnessed the launch of the Women’s Development Organisation (WDO) at its permanent headquarters in Egypt; the organisation is the first specialised international entity as part of the Islamic cooperation system that promotes and protects women’s rights, and advances their conditions in all member states of the organisation.

The purpose of this year's conference was to discuss and ensure rights and protection of women amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. In order to reach common goals, experts shared work that can be done to increase women's participation both in the workforce and in leadership positions.

Speaking at the event on Thursday, Gender Minister Aishath shared details of the work being carried out to ensure women's rights in the Maldives.

The minister also took part in the second extraordinary meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Women Development Organization, which was held from 5-7 July.

Minister Aishath Didi also attended some sideline events, including the Ministerial Interactive Dialogue on Economic Empowerment of Women the New Normal' on July 6, where she highlighted the work being done by the Maldivian government in order to safeguard women’s rights and develop them economically in regards to Covid-19.

She also spoke at the roundtable held by OIC’s Women’s Development Organization, another sideline event held on the 7th of July. The main goal of this event was to discuss the efforts of the OIC to ensure women’s rights and to discuss the attempts of the member nations of the WOD.

Deputy Minister, Fathimath Yumna took part in the preparatory meetings held prior to the conference.