What if all the girl-children and women of Nigeria are able to go to school and derive the benefit of education? What if the boys and girls in Nigeria can run together with the wind in their hair and the rising sun on their faces together, side by side, with Nigeria as their focus?
What if all widows are treated fairly across the nation with dignity and respect? What if the brightest girls, the most hardworking women, and the ones with leadership qualities get a chance to speak, to act, to rise?
What if the health of women is taken more seriously and the number of women who die needlessly from childbirth is diminished?
What if gender based violence is finally eliminated from our land?
These questions and the thoughts about them should give any reader, stakeholder and all Nigerian citizens something to chew on, something to think about, something to address. As profound as these questions are, the answers to the “What if’s” is that
a) It is possible for all girl children and women of Nigeria to go to school and derive the benefit of education.
b) It is possible for all widows to be treated with respect and dignity.
c) It is possible for the brightest girls, the most hardworking women and women who can lead to have a voice, to rise and to act.
d) Gender based violence can be eliminated in our land.
The effort to make these possible is in our hands. All of us. All Nigerians. Those in authority, those with stake holding and ordinary citizens. In our hands, as sure as the sun rises. Indeed, it is all in our hands. Everyone must roll up their sleeves and be part of the conversation on how this can be achieved.
What ifs are possible. And we are all involved in giving women equal opportunities. From parents, to teachers, to school administrators. From siblings to chief executives, from communities to non-government actors. Everyone, from Community based organisations to faith-based organisations, from governments to entities, from leader to leader. We are all responsible persons towards improving the lives of our women and girls and in that one act to make it possible to empower Nigeria towards the development so badly needed. Together with our girls and women. Together is better, stronger, more efficient.
Nigerians must look towards the proposed Gender and equal opportunities bill which has eloquently provided the pathways to achieving the many What if’s that concern women
In doing so, Nigerians must look towards the proposed Gender and equal opportunities bill which has eloquently provided the pathways to achieving the many What if’s that concern women.
The bill in addressing whether it is possible for girls and women to derive benefits from education provides the relief in section 8 where issues of equal opportunities to ensure the elimination of stereotypical roles of women and men is clearly stated. It adds that the bill will ensure equal opportunities for access to programmes of continuing and adult education and provide equal opportunity for accessing scholarships and bursaries for women and girls. Girls are more affected than boys in the area of educational disadvantage. In the North East only 41% of eligible girls receive a primary education and in the North West only 47%. Section 8 is relevant to a nation that has the highest number of child brides in sub-Saharan Africa; 23 million girls were married as children. This comes with its attendant effects on girl child education and mental and physical health. A girl married off as a child bride has certainly lost the opportunity to go to school, to play, to do what children do and this has a ricochet effect on the rest of the family. For when a mother is educated, socialisation is better and the entire family benefit more.
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The gender and equal opportunities bill also casts its gaze on gender-based violence, which is increasingly on a worrisome rise across the country. Gender based violence is dealt with in section 15 of the proposed bill by ensuring that tertiary institutions and government agencies are conscious of it and ensure that gender based violence does not occur under their watch. A violation of the provision of this section is considered an offence and several consequences for the offences categorised differently are stated in the bill to include fines and in some cases imprisonment or both.
Treatment of widows in Nigeria remains a knotty issue for which all Nigerians ought to be ashamed. But the bill gives us all the opportunity to finally be proud of our relationship with widows in Nigeria by spelling out the rights of widows and widowers. From the onset, section 7 of the bill is direct in stating “that no widow shall be subjected to inhuman, humiliating and degrading treatment.” This section follows through with the right of the widow to the guardianship of her children unless if it is not in the interest of the children and the right of the widow to marry any person of his or her choice. This section also proposes in subsection 7(4) the right of a widow who is not married under Marriage act to an equitable inheritance of the property of the deceased spouse among other rights.
Section 11 provides for access to adequate and affordable health care for women, especially maternal health care. This section is critical considering that according to UNICEF, Nigeria still has the highest absolute number of women and girls who have undergone female genital mutilation (19.9 million) worldwide. Commonly practised in the south, this untold violence is driven by grandmothers and mother in laws aiming at curbing promiscuity and conforming to tradition. And for a country that contributes 10% of global deaths for pregnant mothers, what is not to like about a bill that seeks to put a stop to these devastating figures of maternal mortality and gender based violence?
For political leadership, the bill is clear that women must be allowed to participate fully in all political activities and have the right to vote and be voted for. It goes further by adding that women should participate in decision making and hold positions of authority. As it stands today, Nigeria has the lowest figures in women’s political representation for sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, the sorry tale is that at 7.9% in the Senate and 3.6% in the House of Representative, women in spite of their incredible contribution to nation building remain in the back of the block for political representation and leadership, and this is unacceptable. It is this sorry state that gives impetus to the provision in the bill for the adoption of temporary special measures where 35% of political and appointive positions are reserved for women.
What ifs are the dreams of all Nigerian women and the sadness that engulfs them to see the tentative and poor attitude of some Nigerians towards the passage of the gender and equal opportunities bill. The bill is an opportunity for all to join hands with all stakeholders to make Nigeria a nation of heroes and heroines. In order to dream together, let us support the gender and equal opportunities bill for equitable treatment of girls and boys, for a nation free of discrimination against any gender and for national development.
The gender and equal opportunities bill provides the leeway for Nigerians to dream and know that it is not about What if’s but about possibilities.
