We wish to point to an issue important to us all, which is gender equality, Ambassador Andrew Dalgleish said, presenting the initiative together with the ambassadors of Australia, France, Finland, Ireland, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, US and Sweden and Renata Margaretic Urlic, advisor to Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who is the sponsor of the initiative.
Dalgleish said a competition had been organised for girls and boys to hear their thoughts on what they would do for gender equality if they were ambassadors for one day.
The idea is to invite girls and boys aged 16-18 to take part in the month-long competition, beginning today, which will give 13 of them a chance to spend a day with an ambassador and see how international diplomacy works as well as to participate in a round table on gender equality. The initiative also wishes to encourage girls to get into politics and diplomacy, actively contributing to gender equality.
To enter the competition participants will need to make a video (maximum one minute in length) explaining in English what they would do if they were Ambassador for a day to #pressforprogress on gender equality.
Canadian Ambassador Daniel Maksymiuk said his Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had been saying since taking office that he was a feminist and that a man's duty was to be a feminist, to be proud of that, and to teach his sons to be feminists. That position impacts all aspects of his policy as prime minister as well as the government's policy, he added.
Last July Canada launched a Feminist International Assistance Policy which, Maksymiuk said, is not important only to Canada as many other countries are taking the same approach.
Margaretic Urlic, the Croatian president's adviser on social activities and youth, said President Grabar-Kitarovic fully supported the initiative given that throughout her career, from ambassador and politician to foreign minister and president, she had been for gender equality.