Facilitator: Rev. Dr. James Kabata – Vice Chancellor Designate, Consolata International University.
The session began at 3:13pm with a word of Prayer. After the opening prayer, Rev. Dr. Erick Gichomo, project Secretary, gave welcoming remarks and introduced the facilitator. The intention of this interdisciplinary seminar was to discuss the contribution that women have made in academic circles for a quite a number of centuries.
Rev. Dr. Kabata gave a very good presentation based on the topic above. He traced the different moments of the history of philosophy (ancient, modern and contemporary) and the contribution made by women. He mentioned some of these women in philosophy like Hypatia of Alexandria who made a lot of contributions in Mathematics and Mary Wollstonecraft who was a philosopher and writer. In the field of theology, women like Hildegard of Bingen and Catherine of Siena also made great contributions. She was at some point was an advisor to the Pope and Bishops. In sciences women also had a great contribution in innovations. However, most of these have not received much prominence.
The facilitator also insisted that apart from the contributions made by women in the fields of philosophy, theology and science, there is a lot to be done in order to promote the place of women in the society. There is a need to promote equal access to education and resources, to encourage leadership role for women, to combat gender bias and discrimination, to create a supportive and inclusive work environment and to advocate for policy changes.
After his presentation, the participants had a chance to ask questions, share their experiences based on the place of women in the African societies and suggested possible ways to strengthen the place of women in the society.
The session ended with a closing Prayer at 04:35pm.