March 8, every year, is marked as International Women’s Day, to bring to the fore salient issues affecting women globally. The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’.
The day focuses on important issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, violence and abuse against women, equal rights for women, etc. The day is observed to celebrate every woman.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), “International Women’s Day is an occasion to celebrate the progress made towards achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, but also to critically reflect on those accomplishments and strive for a greater momentum towards gender equality worldwide. It is a day to recognise the extraordinary acts of women and to stand together, as a united force, to advance gender equality around the world.
“Bringing women and other marginalised groups into technology results in more creative solutions and has greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs and promote gender equality. Their lack of inclusion, by contrast, comes with massive costs.”
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Here in Nigeria, the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, put the reality in perspective while presenting a keynote address at the delegates pre-departure briefing and meeting on the 67th session of the UN Commission on Status of Women, organised by Plan International in Abuja last week.
She lamented that the United Nations Women 2022 Women’s Snapshot Report revealed that women’s exclusion from the digital world has shaved $1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low and middle-income countries in the last decade, saying the loss could grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025 without action. She noted that to reverse the trend, the report recommended tackling the problem of online violence, which 38 per cent of women had personally experienced.
The minister, therefore, called for gender-responsive approach to innovation, technology and digital education that could increase the awareness of women and girls regarding their rights and civic engagement to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Agenda.
We congratulate all women in Nigeria, today, for their resilience and all that they do to improve their families and society at large. As we know, society mirrors what happens at the family level, therefore, the role of women in shaping society cannot be overemphasised.
Indeed, the participation of women in critical national sectors is still very low. Though, they dominate microbusinesses in society, they need our collective support, be it government or private, including individuals to grow.
As in other endeavours, participation in politics has been on the decline. The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, while giving a breakdown of women participation in the 2019 general elections, said 62 women won their elections out of the 2,970 who contested, comprising seven senators, 11 House of Representatives members, four deputy governors and 40 members of state assemblies in the 36 states of the country, which equals 4.17 per cent women’s representation.
In the 2023 elections, out of the 12,163 candidates, only 1,552 are women, which is 12.5% women representation. For now, there is no data on women’s participation in the elections because the process has not been concluded. But it is easy to see that the number is abysmally low. It must also be stated that it is particularly difficult for women to be elected into executive offices like governor and president in Nigeria, even when the situation is improving in other countries.
In the academic sphere, there are only eight female vice-chancellors in Nigeria, out of the 179 universities (federal, state and private combined), which is just 4.5 per cent.
Girl-child education is also one critical area that needs attention, according to the Chief of UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Rahama Farah, who spoke during a media dialogue on girls’ education in Kano last year. He said, “currently in Nigeria, there are 18.5 million out-of-school children, 60 per cent of these out-of-school children are girls—that is, over 10 million girls are out of school. Most importantly, you will need to know that the majority of these out-of-school children are actually from northern Nigeria.
“This situation heightens the gender inequity, where only one in four girls from poor, rural families complete junior secondary school education.”
The participation of women in the labour force in Nigeria, according to reports, is 48.4% in comparison to men which stands at 59.9%. Women constitute 60% of the poorest people in Nigeria. Out of 87 million people living in extreme poverty, 62 million are women, according to reports. We must do all we can to reduce this disparity and improve the well-being of women.
We, at Daily Trust, believe that women and girls deserve more in terms of support and we call on all, particularly lawmakers, to make women-friendly laws to encourage more women to participate politically, socially and economically. It is sad some laws that were women-friendly were rejected at the National Assembly. It will be good if these laws can be reviewed and represented as a way of improving the lives of women generally.
Daily Trust wishes all women a happy International Women’s Day.
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