The Director General, National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Barr Mary Ekpere-Etta, has challenged women to stop limiting themselves economically, stressing that the era when a particular career is tied to one’s gender and status is gone.
Barr Epere-Etta stated this in Abuja at the weekend during the graduation ceremony of the residential capacity building programme for female artisans, organised by the centre under the 2017 federal government intervention project. She disclosed that a total of 140 female artisans were trained in plumbing and piping, generating set repairs and maintenance, air conditioning and refrigerator, tiling and masonry.
“The world is going global; if you go to the saloon today the men are making hair for females, fixing their nails and everyone is proud of them; so what are we waiting for? If they can do ours and earn a living we should also learn theirs and help ourselves economically. “There is need for diversification, there is need for women to work harder to help themselves and families.
The era of saying ‘I am a woman I cannot do this job’ is over because the reality is that we need to support the family and we can’t do that by limiting ourselves,” she said. She said, “three weeks ago, the beneficiaries came here with lots of expectations and fears. Today, we are proud to present a corps of confident and well groomed female artisans ready to change the stereotypes around the ability of females to do well in non-traditional trades.”
The DG urged Nigerians against discrimination of female artisans, saying their contributions will boost the economy as well as reduce poverty and vices in the society. Representing the participants, Summaiya Sani Ahmed, described the project as a fantastic learning experience, and assured of their commitment to their various chosen skills for economic development. Blueprint learnt that the participants received the grade 3 trade test certificates, start up packs and take off grant to immediately start their trades.
