Women are a special object of celestial design. Everyone loves them for diverse good reasons. But yours truly immensely appreciates, values and specially regards women – especially those who are making impacts in our dear country, and touching lives positively.
They may be euphemistically regarded as the ‘weaker sex’, but women, the world over, are strong pillars of support, redoubtable agents of societal change and great source of inspiration to many. Historically, the International Women’s Day, IWD, was proposed and approved at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1910.
However, it was in 1975 that the United Nations, UN, first recognised the Day’s commemoration every year. Observed annually on March 8, the IWD celebrates the global “social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women,” while also calling for action to advance gender equality, among other things.
The significance of the Day, according to experts, lies in its ability to draw stakeholders and governments’ attention to gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence/abuse against women, among other issues affecting the womenfolk.
The celebration of IWD offers a veritable platform for mobilising collective action and mass collaboration in advocating women’s rights and empowerment. Last Friday, Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, while commemorating this year’s IWD, said women and girls have demolished barriers, dismantled stereotypes and driven progress towards a more just and equal world.
He, however, regretted that there are more hurdles to cross in the journey for total freedom and emancipation for the women folk. “Billions of women and girls face marginalisation, injustice and discrimination, as millennia of male domination continue to shape societies. The persistent epidemic of gender-based violence disgraces humanity. Over four million girls are estimated to be at risk of female genital mutilation each year. Discrimination against women and girls remains perfectly legal in much of the world. .
“Meanwhile, global crises are hitting women and girls hardest. Wherever there’s conflict, climate disaster, poverty or hunger, women and girls suffer most. In every region of the world, more women than men go hungry. In both developed and developing countries, a backlash against women’s rights, including their sexual and reproductive rights, is stalling and even reversing progress. At the moment, full legal equality for women is some 300 years away; so is the end of child marriage,” he said.
In line with this year’s theme, Guterres emphasised that, “We need public and private investment in programmes to end violence against women, ensure decent work, and drive women’s inclusion and leadership in digital technologies, peacebuilding, climate action, and across all sectors of the economy. We must also urgently support women’s rights organisations fighting against stereotypes, battling to make women’s and girls’ voices heard, and challenging traditions and cultural norms”.
In the pantheon of great women who bestrode our cosmos, there are: Marie Curie (the scientific genius behind radioactivity and X-rays as we know them today), late Queen Elizabeth II (the longest-reigning monarch in British history), Malala Yousafzai (the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient), Serena Williams (who served as the face of tennis for years—alongside her sister Venus—and inspired young female athletes around the world) and Florence Nightingale (a British nurse who is credited as the founder of modern-day nursing).
There is also: Katherine G. Johnson (a mathematician, who in 1969 helped to successfully send the first man to the moon), Maya Angelou (a poet, singer, and civil rights activist whose 1969 autobiography ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ made literary history as the first non-fiction bestseller by an African American woman) and Hillary Clinton (a former First Lady and first woman in United States history to be the presidential nominee of a major political party).
Back here in Nigeria, names like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (a former Minister of Finance, who served as a Managing Director with the World Bank and presently the Director General of the World Trade Organisation), Chimamanda Adichie (an award-winning writer and feminist) and Amina Mohammed (the current Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations and former Minister of Environment) ring a loud bell.
But there are some unsung heroines who are silently projecting the exceptional capacity, cutting-edge talents and sheer potential of the female gender. A special publication of a national daily last Friday, on the occasion of this year’s Women’s Day, celebrated a few of them, which I have summarised in the next three paragraphs.
In Kaduna state, one Martha Peter Okafor is breaking barriers as a female mechanic. Martha’s dedication and expertise, it was gathered, have earned her respect and admiration among her colleagues and customers alike.
Also, Mrs. Murjanatu Saulawa, a Katsina-based entrepreneur, has carved a niche for herself in the craft of shoemaking. Surprisingly, the mother of three embraced shoemaking business as a means of generating funds, which she has dedicated to supporting orphans and children from poor family backgrounds.
Equally, Hajiya Safiya Musa, 52, is another unsung Nigerian heroine. Safiya Musa, who resides in Gwada town of Shiroro local government area in Niger state, has been into furniture making for over 30 years. With the ‘money’ she is making from the wood craft, she has even sponsored some of her family members on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
Regardless of the feats attained by Martha, Murjanatu, Hajiya Safiya, and several other Nigerian women of sheer grit and indomitable courage (who are not in the limelight), several teething issues still affect the physical, educational and social development of millions of our women.
In our contemporary society, women are facing a lot of challenges, even as they are often the victims of social exclusion. While the Nigerian girl-child and women are still contending with sexual-based violence, very few of the latter get political appointments despite trooping to vote en masse during elections.
Only 48 women out of the 1,109 that contested in last year’s general elections, emerged victorious. Also, in the 2023 polls, not a single woman was elected as a lawmaker in 15 of the 36 states assembly. At the moment, we have only four women as senators, and 14 as honourable members in the 10th National Assembly.
Nonetheless, there is the need for gender inequality – affecting Nigerian women mostly – to be addressed. Our 10th federal parliament can do well to pass into law the “Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill”, which was rejected in the 9th Assembly. Such is necessary if Nigeria must join the ranks of countries that give opportunities to women to perform and function efficiently in governance.
It is time we also jettison some obnoxious cultural and religious norms that oppress and repress our women. Again, it is imperative that the government adopts a more inclusive approach to economic and social development, with particular focus on women. This, surely, will contribute greatly to overall national prosperity.
Very important is the need for the government to also come up with policies and programmes that would enhance women and girls’ rights and empowerment. And the way to achieve that is through ensuring gender-sensitive education and changing attitudes towards girls and women, while also increasing the representation of women in political office.
Both the women in our lives and even those we have no acquaintance with, deserve every good thing life has to offer. The government and every individual man, therefore, must go out of their way to legally and happily provide it for them, especially on the occasion of this IWD celebration. Until then, we cannot say that we truly adore, cherish and love the female gender.
Mahmud, deputy editor of PRNigeria, writes via [email protected].
