Women’s day
By Hussaina Yakubu
Mercy Corps, an international organisation, has called for inclusion of more women in leadership positions and as agents of peace building in the country.
The organisation made the appeal at an event held on Monday in Kaduna to mark the International Women’s Day.
It said that the theme, Women in Leadership: achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world, was to celebrate the remarkable efforts made by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Sani Suleman, Mercy Corps Chief of Party, stressed that gender inclusion in leadership and peace building would ensure a more stable country.
“We make it significant to mark the day with our event of empowering women and strengthing them in taking position of leadership while playing their role in peace building
“We deliberately plan today to coincide with our training for women from different local governments across Kaduna State in the area of conflict analysis, interest based negotiations and mediation as well as conflict, early warning and early response.”
“It is our own way of promoting women inclusion in the process of resolving conflict, in amplifying their voices and helping them to become local mediators.”
He explained that the corps’ Community Initiatives to Promote Peace (CIPP), has made modest efforts in empowering women to get involved in conflict prevention and mitigation through the creation of women peace building councils and women-led forums.
“The women we work with, who are leaders and influencers in their communities, have demonstrated tremendous skills and initiatives in successfully spearheading peace and conflict resolution initiatives.
“And now, we are seeing more acceptance of women’s roles in leadership and peace building at the community level,” Suleiman said.
On her part, Priscilla Ankut, Executive Vice Chairman, Kaduna State Peace Commission, said women should collectively participate in peace building, so as to end the security challenges in the country.
She noted that the Women’s Day was meant to speak directly to those in leadership positions on gender inclusiveness.
“As we strategies and emerge from the COVID-19, it is an opportunity to go back to the drawing board as women and as a people to see how we will emerge stronger, with women clearly taking leadership and more responsibilities.”
Meanwhile, Saude Atoyebi, Deputy Chief of Staff to Gov. Nasir El-Rufai, said the governor had given women the chance to serve in various leadership positions in the state.
While commending Mercy corps for its efforts in the area of mediation in collaboration with Kaduna peace commission, she noted that the COVID-19 had hit women the most.
According to her, 82.2 percent of female workforce are in the informal sector which has been mostly hit by the pandemic as a result of lockdown.
She said in the last 10 years, female participation in the labour force in Nigeria has dropped from 55.36 per cent in 2010 to 49.34 in 2020
“Based on this statistics, half of the Nigeria population is female; we should be worried not just on socio-economic impact of COVID-19, but generally about the gender disparity in access to health, education, livelihood and security,”she said (NAN)
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Edited by Sani Idris
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Monday, 8 March 2021
Women’s Day : NAOWA tasks women to break down historical, cultural, socio-economic barriers
By Mohammed Tijjani
Nigerian women need to break down historical, cultural and socio-economic barriers which hinder their significant contributions to decision making in the country, Mrs Hadiza Mohammed has said.
Mohammed, Chairperson, Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAOWA), 1 Division, Nigerian Army, Kaduna, gave the charge on Monday at a programme to commemorate the 2021 International Women’s Day celebration in Kaduna.
“To do this, we must break down the deep-seated historic, cultural, and socio-economic barriers that prevent women from taking their seat at the decision-making table to make sure that resources and power are more equitably distributed.
“Women must have the opportunity to play active roles in shaping the pivotal decisions being made right now as countries respond to and recover from the COVID- 19 pandemic; choices that will affect the wellbeing of people and the planet for generations to come,’’ she said
According to her, the 2021 theme “Women in Leadership: Choose to Challenge” primarily aims at achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.
“This year’s International Women’s day is like no other. As countries and communities start to slowly recover from a devastating pandemic, we have the chance to finally end the exclusion and marginalisation of women and girls.
“But to do that, we need immediate action,” Mohammed said.
She explained that across the world, women remain concentrated in the lowest paid jobs, many in extremely vulnerable forms of employment.
“Women are nearly twice as likely than men to lose their jobs during the COVID-19 crisis.
“Indeed, the pandemic will dramatically increase the poverty rate for women and widen the gap between men and women who live in poverty.
Quoting a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report, Mohammed said, “a worthwhile monthly investment of 0.07 per cent of developing countries’ GDP could help 613 million working-aged women living in poverty to absorb the shock of the pandemic.
“It would also contribute to the economic security and independence that is necessary for women to engage more deeply in the decisions that could change their future.’’
The Chairperson said it was clear that even in the face of difficulties and socio-cultural barriers, women were at the forefront of diverse and inclusive movements for social change.
“It is also a fact that women’s involvement in politics and governance as exemplified by Rwanda leads to stronger democracies, better governance, and more peaceful societies.
“Sadly for me, we the women especially in our country Nigeria are not moving fast enough, and as wives of soldiers who are in the fore front of returning decorum to our motherland, it is my conviction that we are well positioned to identify and pursue it,” she added.
According to her, this was the reason why ” Choose to Challenge” was added to the general theme of “Generation Equality” celebration as well as a technical presentation and an interactive segment during the programme.
She assured that members of the association would be greatly enriched by the presentations of the speakers, “who will not only enlighten us but point us in the direction to go in our “choice to Challenge”.(NAN)
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