Chioma Ukwuagu, from Imo state, leads the Gender Justice Program at Oxfam in Nigeria. In this interview with ENE OSANG, she lamented the huge gap in gender representation in parliament, expressing displeasure also in the increasing rate of Violence Against Women (VAW) in Nigeria. Ukwuagu, who holds a Masters degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy, said most progressive nations in the world have moved away from regression in gender representation, adding that many of them now make concrete decisions to address gender inequality.
How is working experience for you? What do you do basically as the programme officer, Female Leadership/ Gender Justice and Good Governance?
My work experience has been quite interesting and engaging. My key responsibilities include but not limited to taking lead in implementing the gender components of the Oxfam Country Strategy, which includes developing programs that promote women’s right advancement,(in social and political leadership, economic empowerment, humanitarian response, extractive industries and the private sector) fundraising for these programmes and implement them as well.
It is my duty to initiate and develop a gender strategy for the country programme, represent Oxfam at the International Global Gender Justice group and the West Africa regional gender justice group as well as at the national level particularly in establishing close working relationship and collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, donor partners and women’s right organisation, coalitions and networks.
I provide capacity building on gender sensitive programming and management to Oxfam’s local partners and support them to adopt and implement thematic methodologies and policy priorities within the global Oxfam confederation policy on Gender Justice. Beyond gender work, I also work on youth development.
Gender equality is a global issue today; how would you describe the struggle in Nigeria compared to other countries?
Gender equality is a global issue and a topical one at that. Several other countries including African countries have done very well in positioning women for leadership, as well as promoting and protecting their human rights. Ours is rather slow. Nigeria has made some progress towards the achievement of gender equality through the promotion of gender sensitive legislations, (for example the passage of the violence against people’s prohibition bill VAPP signed in May 2015 by the former president Goodluck Jonathan).
Policies and programmes to reduce maternal mortality, improve girl child education, economic empowerment (eg the GWIN programme of the FGN) and participation and representation of women in public life and other development spheres, gaps still remain. The successful passage of the VAPP bill, domestication of the Child Rights Act, National Health Act, National Gender Policy, and various strategic Plan of action that are focused on promoting gender parity provides unique opportunities to reduce gender discrimination and improve the quality of lives of women and girls.
Do you think Nigeria is at par with other nations on gender equality?
Like I said, gaps still exist. A lot has been done but a lot more need to be done. The socio-economic inequalities fostered by discriminatory cultural norms and practices predispose women and girls to harmful traditional practices like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), early marriage and sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) must be addressed. The low status of women and girls detract from their capacity to command access to resources, opportunities and rights that are essential to empower them (especially access to land) to contribute and benefit as equal participants in the national development processes.
The results of the 2015 National Assembly elections confirm that representation of women in parliament is steadily declining. Only 5.11% of federal legislators in the 8th National Assembly will be women, down from 9% in 2007 and 7% in 2011. Out of 36 ministers, only six are women.
First, the huge gap in gender representation in the federal cabinet rolls back the equality gains made between 2011 and 2015 when more women were influential decision-makers and held a good number of powerful cabinet and corporate executive positions. Most progressive nations in the world have moved away from this sort of regression in gender representation, with many of them making concrete decisions and taking bold steps to address gender inequality.
What programmes for women empowerment should Nigerians expect from Oxfam this year?
Oxfam supports women in a lot of ways. Oxfam’s approach to women’s empowerment and gender equality programmes is from the understanding of gender equality as a matter of justice, a question of basic human rights and a strategy to reduce poverty and suffering in a sustainable manner.
We understand that addressing what women need translates into women empowerment both in their private and public spheres of life. Oxfam has a long tradition of supporting women to build their livelihoods.
It has supported female farmers and other micro entrepreneurs with grants and loans for decades. To build on this experience and respond to opportunities in the market, Oxfam has decided to innovate by diversifying its empowerment strategy to include women in the extractive sector and the private sector. Part of the private sector engagement includes supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with investments, incubation and impact measurement services to strengthen social entrepreneurship in Nigeria.
Priority is given to female founded and run SMEs, we believe this can improve female entrepreneurship, address the ‘feminization of poverty’ and contribute to correcting gender imbalances in the domination of entrepreneurship and economic power in Nigeria. Oxfam does not just invest in any female founded and run SME; the SME must also show how it impacts women, small holder farmers and (or) youth. In terms of sector focus, manufacturing – production of affordable products/services of high relevance to women is of key interest to us.
The Impact Investments works in three complementing ways: Investments, Incubation and Impact Measurement Services.
The investment unit supplies SMEs with debt and equity finance focusing on the ‘missing middle’; SMEs that are too large for micro finance institutions to be served and with very limited access to funding from the regular commercial banks. Therefore it is really hard – not to say impossible – for them to get access to adequate financial services (This is especially true for female founded and run SMEs as they usually lack land titles for collateral). Furthermore, financial return is a condition, but not the primary objective; social impact comes first. This means that businesses that Oxfam invests in will have to show social impact on top of a reasonable financial return.
The incubation unit provides a valuable pipeline of investable social businesses.
This incubation unit scouts potential business ideas and facilitates the incubation process (together with established incubation organizations that are engaged in a strategic partnership with Oxfam) from a business idea, to market research and developing a business plan, resulting in a business that we and other investors believe in and can invest in. The impact unit measures the social impact of our investments and markets impact services and products to external clients. Oxfam has developed a high quality and cost efficient impact measurement methodology to support investors and social business to assess and monitor the social impact they make.
How many women has Oxfam empowered in Nigeria so far, and how do you pick those you empower?
Most of our work is done through local partners. In the last few years, Oxfam has achieved many successful initiatives that supported national and local partners to advance women’s rights, women’s participation in politics and exposure to economic opportunities.
Raising Her Voice (RHV) in Nigeria has helped promote progressive policies and laws including the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill (GEOB) and the successful passage of Violence against People Prohibition (VAPP) bill in 2015.
It has led to the production of an abridged version of the protocol to the African Charter on Human and people’s Rights on women’s Right in Africa and translated into 3 Nigerian languages. The initiative has trained 110 grassroots women’s organizations on the demands of the AU Protocol, and national gender related legislations have been passed in Cross River, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Plateau and Lagos State.
The Oxfam Kokodola, project in the south west Nigeria has empowered women cocoa farmers who were organised in small savings and credit groups, receiving agricultural training, access to inputs and new varieties, international certification and direct relation with local and international trade partner. The Kokodola project also goes deeper to look at social issues such as gender inequality and power relations at the household and community (because cocoa is seen as cash crop, only for men).
Through the Universal Access to Female Condom, Oxfam has reached out to about 5 million Nigerian women in five states to promote their reproductive health rights, protect them against HIV/STIs and offers them family planning alternatives.
The Edutainment project, Pop Culture with a Purpose has enabled Oxfam to raise grassroots awareness on Violence against women VAW and providing practical steps that bring men and women together into a community of good practice to foster dialogue to end VAW/G.
Oxfam is taking the lead in providing Humanitarian response to the North East crisis. We have been able to reach over 100,000 beneficiaries with funding support from our donors, providing food assistance, Protection services, WaSH and NFIs (including hygienic and sanitary packs, water treatment pack, mosquito nets etc) construction of latrines for the IDPs/host families as well as providing technical support to SEMA/NEMA at the official camps.
Violence against Women (VAW) is prominent when we talk gender based violence. How would you describe this menace in Nigeria, and how is Oxfam contributing to tackling this?
The growing instances of violence against women in Nigeria is horrific, ranging from rape to acid bath, domestic violence/wife battery to FGM which often times lead to death, denial of rights and lack of access to opportunities all because the person is a women/girl, whom the society has considered not equal to the man.
The inequality statistics in Nigeria raises a huge concern that threatens the realization of the SDG 2030 if drastic measure is not taken.
This has informed Oxfam’s thematic focus in promoting gender justice. We have a specific change goal focused on working to transform social attitudes towards women – the foundation of all our work on women’s rights in Nigeria. Through our support to local partners we plan to build a critical mass of strong community of women and men who challenge gender discrimination and violence against women, strengthen the capacity of human rights institutions and organisations to address gender issues and support local partners to undertake strategic litigations, to build culture and history of enforcement of legal provisions, and enable women to see that the law translates into changes in their lives.
We work to ensure that there is adequate legislation to protect women from violence. Hence we promote the passage of the Gender and Equal Opportunity (GEOB) and Violence against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) bills to be enacted in the states, ensuring comprehensive legislation and enforcement is in place to protect the rights of women and ultimately raise awareness of existing laws and issues of gender inequality at community level.
With several campaigns against VAW the menace has continued to increase why is that so?
It is just disheartening. This regrettably has seriously slowed down the pace of women empowerment in Nigeria. They are discriminated against in virtually all spheres of life in Nigeria, e.g. in the home front, in educational institutions, in working place, and in political appointments. The worrisome aspect of this discrimination is that it has persisted for so long that it is now so deeply rooted and institutionalized in Nigeria system that uprooting same would definitely pose an uphill task. Several factors have been advanced for these intense discriminations and marginalization. The factors include Nigerian Patriarchal system that is embedded in our cultural system.
The Nigerian culture perceives and treats men as superior to women, this is well manifested in the “son preference syndrome” that is prevalent in Nigeria. Male Children in Nigeria often enjoy preferential treatment like exemption from house chores; they enjoy unlimited right to education, while the girls are trafficked by some greedy parents for economic gains in the home. The culture equally disinherits wives and daughters. In the home front, women are subjected to all sorts of inhuman and degrading treatment.
Our culture strictly restricts women to the stereotyped role of home keeping, child bearing and childrearing. She is to be seen not heard. Some of these beliefs have been practiced for so long that they are embedded in the societal perception almost as a legal norm. Such that the laws of the land and international instruments which protect the rights of women, are flagrantly infringed in the guise of these age long cultural and/or religious belief.
In recent times in Nigeria, Gender based violence (GBV) has increased especially in the face of insurgency activities in the North East in which women and girls are abducted, raped and subjected to forced marriage.
How would you assess women in Nigeria’s polity, do you think government has met the 35% affirmative action?
Merely looking at the current statistics, you definitely will know that we are far from meeting the 35% affirmative action.
What factors do you think inhibits Nigeria women political success considering that there are fewer female representatives today and how is Oxfam helping women tackle this?
Various factors are responsible for women’s political marginalization in Nigeria. There are very low numbers of women seeking political office because culture and religion condition women into believing that leading is men’s God given role in society.
The high levels of electoral violence, manipulation, incessant substitution and pre-determination of the outcome of the electoral processes also frustrate women’s efforts at political leadership. Furthermore, Nigerian women, lack the huge financial resources needed for elections and campaigns and support from political parties mostly structured by networks of male patronage. The absence of affirmative action measures key to advancing women’s representation is a further disadvantage.
Apart from these external factors women are also marginalized politically because they lack the experience and skills needed for political manoeuvering. The few women who eventually make it into political office do not last because more often than not, they have little or no knowledge of their duties and responsibilities as elected officers, government procedures or even gender issues. They do not possess the skills to argue their case in parliament, negotiate in committee meetings and advocate for change.
This is the context in which Oxfam works to advance the agenda of increased transformative female leadership in Nigeria. Oxfam supports in Capacity building for targeted women – the young and not so young – to ensure the emergence of an informed, capable and politically savvy cadre of female political aspirants. Young women selected from tertiary institutions, female political aspirants selected from political parties, women who have retired from public service were trained and paired with experienced female politicians for mentoring purposes.
Many Nigerians feels women don’t support each other and so cannot be good leaders; do you think this is why we have few female leaders especially in governance today?
That is totally an old thinking that should be extinct.This statement is starting to be less and less true. Women have been realizing that they need to help each other if they want to get ahead.
My personal experience confirms this, not only about women in development but about most professionally ambitious women. Several of my mentors/champions are more senior women in my field. Through starting my career in the UN System in Nigeria till now in Oxfam, I have met women who have supported and helped me more than most other people I have met. I have met amazing network of driven, professionally successful, and well-connected women who are more than happy to help each other. Whenever I have professional and family questions, they are the first resources I think of turning to for advice and/or help.
Tell us about your educational background
I have a Masters Degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy, Post graduate Diploma in Gender Studies, Bachelors Degree in English language. I have attended several self development and leadership courses in Africa, Europe and America.
Which part of Nigeria are you from and how was growing up like for you?
I am from Imo State. My early days were in Imo State until I finished secondary education. I moved to Lagos with my family and later to Abuja in 1997.
Do you have any regrets in life?
None at all! I believe all things work well unto good for those that love the Lord.
Where do you vision yourself in the nearest future?
I see myself still in the development sector (on a higher level) making unequal contribution to policy development at local, national and international levels, that targets women and girls and the most vulnerable groups.
What would you say you have achieved in life?
By God’s grace I think I have achieved a lot to attain my level of career, education and exposure and hopefully to achieve more to take me to the next level. The most interesting one is being a founding member of “Team Oxygen” – a youth group which makes independent analyses of development issues, and evaluates these against the political and socio-economic context within which programmes are implemented. Recently, Oxygen emerged second place in the 2015 Ideas for Action Competition, organised by the World Bank and Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania in the USA.
How do you manage work and the home front?
With a very supportive family and colleagues at work, I am able to put things in order.
Do you have any peculiar challenges being a career woman, or being a woman in Nigeria?
Being a woman in Nigeria is peculiar to every career woman in Nigeria.
How do you spend your leisure time?
There is no dull moment in life. I create the time to relax with family and friends. I like to take a walk once my evenings are free. Recently i discovered a very unique way of relaxing in my garden. Soiling my hands and watching the plants grow. Just awesome!
What are your hobbies?
Nothing in particular but I would say a bit of everything- cooking, leisure walk, reading and travelling.
What will you advise Nigerians especially women who find it difficult combining family and career life?
Always plan and do what suits your plan. Pursue your passion in life.