International Women’s Day: NLC kicks against harassment of female workers

The Nigeria Labour Congress says a large percentage of women in both formal and informal sectors are going through hell as they are being harassed and find it difficult to express themselves while suffering in silence.

The NLC cited its findings at various workplaces as well as the Federal Government’s failure to ratify and domesticate the Convention 190 which discourages Gender-Based Violence and Harassment in the world of work as adopted by the International Labour Organisation two years ago.

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Speaking at a virtual workshop in collaboration with Solidarity Centre AFL-CIO for labour correspondents at the weekend, in commemoration of International Women’s Day, the Head, Women and Youth Department of NLC, Rita Goyit, said ratification and domestication of the Convention 190 would make workplaces free from violence and harassment, boost productivity AND put Nigeria on the list of countries promoting human rights.

Earlier, Deputy Chairperson, National Women Commission of NLC, Salamatu Aliu, said her group would not back down on its campaigns against GBVH “until government and employers do the needful to protect women in Nigeria.”

Senior Programme Officer, Solidarity Center AFL-CIO, Nkechi Odinukwe, listed displacement, armed conflict, terrorism, migration and increased globalization of economic activities and COVID-19 pandemic as factors compounding woes of women across 36 states of the federation.

She said: “Within this COVID-19 pandemic period, gender-based violence especially rape and domestic violence against women workers have risen to exponential levels as women who could get away from abusive partners before the pandemic now find they have to forcefully stay in same spaces with their abuser due to social distancing restrictions.

“We have seen a lot of women workers abused at home this period than ever before. These women workers come to work dealing with a lot of issues linked to the abuse they face at home”.

Sonny Ogbuehi, the Country Program Director for Solidarity Centre AFL-CIO, commended the media for its partnership and asked that journalists join their voices in the campaign against GBVH.