Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) on Friday held its first ever men’s conference through the parastatal’s social and gender inclusion office.

The aim was to, among others, offer men a platform to engage in a candid discussion on how the power utility can effectively play a role in implementing and promoting gender and social inclusion at the workplace.

In his speech, the organising committee stand-in chairperson Robert Mgunda described the conference as important in the context of promoting gender and social inclusion.

He said: “This event, no doubt, underscores the importance, which Escom attaches to ensuring that there is no gender discrimination and gender-based violence among employees and our customers.”

Mgunda urged Escom employees to take advantage of the conference by contributing to the discussions, stressing that gender equality and non-discrimination issues at the workplace cannot be achieved without their involvement.

Besides, he said the men’s conference was also in line with Escom’s social and gender inclusion and anti-sexual harassment policies approved by the institution’s board of directors on April 21 2017.

Mgunda said: “The launch of the policy in 2017 was a first in the energy sector in Malawi.

“Now, five years later, we are hosting this inaugural men’s conference.”

In his presentation, one of the facilitators’ Jimmy Lipunga challenged men to walk the talk in promoting gender and social inclusion at the workplace.

He also said men need to understand that everyone in the workplace has their own specific role irrespective of their gender, as such, there was no need of creating a working environment that will, among others, amount to intimidation.

During the conference, men had candid discussions on a number of issues as regards to the workplace.

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