The Mothers And Marginalised Advocacy Centre (MAMA Centre) has condemned moves to repeal some gender-related bills, which may worsen the plights of Nigerian women.
The Executive Director, MAMA Centre, Chioma Kanu, said on Tuesday in Abuja that commemorating this year’s International Women’s Day 2022 themed ‘Gender equality today for sustainable tomorrow’ should be joyous to the women and not a day of sadness.
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“We on this day reiterate our undoubted position that gender equality is an imperative for progress on socio-economic emancipation and development in societies across the world,” Kanu said.
She said that the recent development and surreptitious moves to shrinking inclusive space is displeasing and that the renewed effort by the male-dominated National Assembly to obstruct and sabotage enabling legislative frameworks supporting inclusiveness and equal opportunities is unacceptable.
“We condemn the recent selfish action of the House of Representatives Special Committee on Constitution Review for adopting a bill seeking to alter sections 48, 49,71,77,91, and 117 of the 1999 constitution by creating one senatorial seat and two federal constituencies in each state and FCT for women.
“We observed from such ill-thought piece of legislation or amendments to repeal the existing but embattled Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill; Support for Women Participation in Elective and Appointive Positions Bill; and other gender-related Bills in the National Assembly as uncivilized, dictatorial and undemocratic development that must not be welcomed in our democratic process and history,” she said.
She lamented that almost three decades after the Beijing Declaration, Nigeria still records a woeful women representation in political and elective positions, especially in the National Assembly where out of 109 members of Senate and 360 House of Representatives, only 29 are women, just six percent of the total.
She said, “We observed that these legislative barriers and policy inaction pave way for the existing glaring gender gaps in political structures and processes including low numbers of women in political party decision making structures; limited involvement of women in household, community and political spheres; unclear rules and procedures in recruitment and conduct of parties’ primaries.”
Kanu, therefore, call for the immediate domestication of the African Charters Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which Nigeria ratified in 2004 as well as domestication of the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which Nigeria ratified in 1985.
She also called for the passage and assent into the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill by the National Assembly to demonstrate the legislature’s concern for the rights of women to equal opportunities with guaranteed appropriate measures against gender discrimination in political and public life.
