The Minister, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Pauline Tallen, has said the voice of women alone cannot bring the equal opportunities and rights that women are demanding without the support of men.
Tallen who made this known during the Women in Governance and Politics Constitutional Amendment for Equal Opportunities Conference 2020 with the #WIGConference2020 organised by Dinidari foundation Monday said, looking at the number of women in both the upper and lower house, without the support of the men nothing can happen.
She said the majority of men in the senate and members of the house of representatives are now fully in support of the equal rights and opportunities bill for women.
“Our men are supportive of this move and the women among them. We can see that the attitude are changing and all women are working together with the men in the National Assembly and with the support of them definitely things will change for the better for women.”
The organiser of the conference and convener, Dinidari foundation, Ndi Kato said, the driving force for equal opportunities for women is because not giving equal opportunities for women is leading to lots of violence and it’s causing the nation too much and we must tell ourselves the truth for the country to advance.
“Everybody in Nigeria irrespective of gender should be empowered to bring equal contributions that will lead to greater development of the nation. The more you continue to keep women down the more it continues to create problem for the nation.
“Already, the road we are trailing now as a nation is not a smooth one and if we want to stop this nation from crashing we must endeavour to seek for equal rights and opportunities for women.
One of the panelists at the conference, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe said, “Also, with the expression and communication also help to break down some balance. Therefore, we think that this might be much better opportunity for us to be able to actually get this spirit of us. I do not see a lot of people who are standing against the Bill but what really happened is we need to properly speak with people who has to do the voting and if you ignore it an make an assumption you might just be disappointed on the floor.”
