Riau to set up Women's Center

PEKANBARu, Riau: Women grouped in several organizations in Riau plan to establish a center to help settle problems arising in the province.

"God willing, Women's Center will be set up in October," local activist Septina Primawati Rusli said after a dialog with female members of legislative councils in Riau on Sunday.

She said the planned establishment of the center was inspired by growing concern over the fate of uneducated women in the province.

Out of Riau's 5.5 million people, over 2.6 million or 49.70 percent are women but only 498,461 of them completed elementary schools, Septina said.

The poor level of education, she added, was a contributing factor behind the small number of local women who have occupied strategic public positions at provincial and national levels. --Antara