What a sight to behold, a very emotional event, flags of each country arrived to stirring triumphant music, each Girl Guide with her accompanying Soroptimist strode with purpose and pride.
Federation President Margaret Emsley greeted each of the flags with a smile and dare I say, appeared at times to be trying to hold her composure, as she greeted each of the representatives Margaret was obviously very moved.
Flags safely stowed and then messages from some very eminent people including Her Majesty the Queen and from various Parliamentary Parties.
The President of Malta sadly sent her apologies but the Acting President Dolores Christina addressed Conference.
Acting President Dolores Christina described how the work of Soroptimist has advanced the lives of women and girls, but we still have some way to go in decreasing the gender gap. In fact to quote directly “if we carry on the way we currently are, it will take 81 years to have parity in salaries”.
Ladies, President Margaret has ‘engineered the future’ for women and girls across the globe by raising awareness and challenging us all.
A fantastic start to what will I’m sure be a fabulous conference.