On Sunday 4 March, the Hellenic Women’s Cultural Association, held a very successful function to Celebrate Women’s Day which is annually held on 8 March to celebrate the Milestone of women’s achievement and their right to participate as equal partners in our economic and political sphere and to remember our sisters who are still exploited and treated as second class citizens due to their gender in other parts of the world.
Mrs. Lia Zaparas, was the guest speaker at the function and spoke on the ‘Role of Women in the 21st Century’ and the tightrope of ‘Balancing Career and Family’ as professional career women, wives and mothers. She gave many examples of the exploitation of girls and women in Africa and the middle East, where girls are treated as chattels and women are not given any power or education.
She mentioned the sacrifices she had to make while her children were growing up and were looked after by her parents and in-laws while she was completing her degrees and trying to grow their legal practice with her husband. Like many working mums, she felt guilty leaving her children to go to work. Balancing career and family was not stress-free, but having family willing to lend a hand helped and empowered her children to love their grandparents and to follow in their parents footsteps, as all her three children are now lawyers, working together in the family firm.
