By Progress Godfrey, Abuja
Gender Strategy Advancement International, GSAI, has engaged the media to promote women’s economic inclusion and gender accountability in governance
The 2-day collaborative media training which started on Thursday was supported by MacArthur Foundation and partnered by Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
According to a baseline report on Women’s political participation in Nigeria by GSAI and its partner, 50.8% of the over 216 million population of Nigerians are male while 49.2% are female.
The report reveals that out of over 84 million registered voters recorded since 2019, 47% are female while 53% are male, adding that in a total of 6 election circles since 1999, women have had less than 7% representation in each circle.
It further adds that since 1999 the National Assembly has had 120 women (5.6%) and 2,040 men (94.4%) in the House of Representatives, 37 women (5.5%) and 618 (94.5%) in the Senate respectively.
The Executive Director of GSAI, Adaora Onyechere in an interview with newsmen stressed the need for the understanding that media plays a role in pushing for accountability on gender issues. This she said, is the reason inclusion cannot work itself out except it has interventions through advocacy and accountability questions
She noted that the reason why there are high maternal mortality issues is that the Nigerian budget allocates only a paltry amount for issues concerning women.
She, therefore, questioned, “how do we now increase qualitative health that will encourage and increase avenues for the government to do the right thing in terms of public health systems for women thereby reducing maternal mortality if there isn’t enough money?”
“We are also looking at the issue of financial inclusion of women. How many women can actually say that at the state level that ministries of women’s affairs are totally working in favour of community development for women?
“Recall that currently the government just nominated ministers, out of the number of the minister there is no single woman on that list ”
“These are the questions we are speaking about; where does the media put its point of engagement when it comes to women’s issues and how do we begin to ask the questions that we need to ask to the institutions of government and institutions within the civil society?
“You saw the issue with the gender bill that was stepped down by the parliament; up till now, we have not gotten any result on those bills. Without theedia demanding answers to questions, on transparency of some of the interventions that government is supposed to make, we will not find an end to the quest for inclusion.
According to her. “The reason the training is ongoing is so that the trainees will acclimatise with the baseline report which gives reasons for accountability issues for the government institutions on what they are not doing well in gender inclusion.
“It’s not just about equality, it’s about total inclusion.”
Meanwhile, the conveigner of Say No Campaign, Ezenwa Nwagwu Said that Nigeria runs a democracy that allows for competition for elective offices. He however recommended that for appointments, the government should create more positions for women, People Living With Disabilities, and other marginalised groups to ensure balance and inclusion.
He further said that the denomination of gender around women is not true, adding that it has to do with all classes of marginalised people.
“Many times when people talk about gender they denominate it around women, it’s not true. It’s about everyone; girls, men, and women through a lens that ensures that everything is equitable, just.
“So we’re going to begin to have conversations with political parties. I don’t believe in tokenism, I don’t support free tickets because there is no equity in free tickets.
“What you should do is to create certain positions or you can create more seats in parliament like they do in Rwanda, Uganda, and other places where they say these seats are for women, PLWDs. For instance, we have 109 seats in the Senate, we can increase it by 10, 20 only to be competed for by women, that way you are giving affirmation, ” he said.
Source: Summit Post
