Source: Saturday Tribune
The journey so far marks 51 years of Nigeria's independence. Looking at the prospects available to the society, men glaringly appear to be privileged and advantaged. And the women? Their song has been that of marginalisation in all spheres.

 

As Nigeria celebrates its 51st Independence Day, the cry of women, most especially professionals, is that of equal opportunities with men. 'We want not only to be seen, but to be heard,' they sing.
TOLUWANI OLAMITOKE speaks with some of the women professionals. Excerpts:

Give Women Equal Employment
Opportunity — Okei-Odumakin

THE fact that women are generally marginalised cannot be overemphasised. Since independence in 1960, women have always been pushed to the background, highly marginalised in all sectors and treated like second fiddle.

Nigerian women have a long history of deprivations firmly embedded in tradition, religion, culture and politics. The discrimination cut across the entire life of the Nigerian women, from cradle to grave. As a child, the Nigerian woman is less favoured compared to the male child.

In spite of women’s numerical strength and relative importance in national development, women in Nigeria still operate on the fringe of society.

In the socio-economic and political administration of Nigeria, women occupy a disadvantaged position and suffer gross gender-based discrimination and inequalities, which tend to deprive them of their autonomy, self-respect and human rights. For instance, of the 36 states governors in Nigeria, none is a woman.

Furthermore, of the 774 elected Local Government  chairpersons, less than 5 per cent are women. Of the national honours so far conferred on Nigerians from 1999 to date, less than 10per cent of the recipients are women.

The appointment to membership of federal and state executive councils as well as Board of  Government parastatals and agencies from 1960 - 2007 reflect the same high level of bias against women.

The situation in the private sector is no less pathetic as over 90 per cent  of captains of major business and industries in Nigeria are men.

Women in Nigeria have been largely excluded from decision-making structures and administration. For instance, all the constitutions that ever existed in Nigeria are gender-biased. Women's rights were never protected in any of the documents.

The political parties in Nigeria were not gender sensitive. The powerful members of the parties who were funders and decision-makers were all men. Where women exist, they only function in the women wings, the men deliberately made it so. Women were so side-tracked that they were often not considered for elective position.

Well, the present administration at the federal level is trying to fulfill the promise of 35 per cent  appointive positions for women, but I think there is still need for more action in this direction. The states will also need to follow on this line of action. But more importantly, there must be political will on the part of Nigerian administrators to make this happen.

Nigerian women must form a critical mass of themselves in any political forum; the few women politicians that have some positions should network among themselves and with other women interest groups outside their operational forum; women should make spirited efforts to come out of their political settings and chant the same slogans women are chanting outside.

Equal employment opportunity must be given to women  as long as they are qualified for the job.

Sexual harassment must be viewed with seriousness and investigated. It must not be dismissed with a wave of the hand as a ploy by the woman trying to get her boss into trouble.

Laws must be promulgated with punishment spelt out, against those who prevent their daughters from going to school by marrying them out at early ages.
 

Dr. Joe Okei - Odumakin is the President, Campaign for Democracy (CD), Executive Director of the Institute of Human Rights and Democratic Studies, the President of Women Arise for Change Initiative; Chairman, Task Force of the Citizen Forum, the Spokesperson, Coalition of Civil Society Organisations and President, Center for Participatory Democracy (CPD)

Make Univer-sity Environment Gender Sensitive —Odejide
There has been a significant increase in women's access to higher education since Nigeria's independence in 1960. Current statistics of women's enrolment in higher education, roughly   35 per cent  is a far cry from the  three lone young ladies who were admitted into Nigeria's first university, the University College, Ibadan in 1948. Right now,  in many universities in the southern part of Nigeria,we have near gender parity in some disciplines such as Education, the Humanities and what may surprise many, in Law, Dentistry and so on. Unfortunately, Science and Technology and the Social Sciences remain bastions of male predominance. I have talked at length about the issue of access and retention because entry into higher education is the means of mitigating gender inequality, facilitating social mobility, financial independence and professional identity.

There is considerable presence of females as secondary school teachers and principals.   However, in terms of representation at the highest decision making bodies in tertiary institutions, women are grossly under-represented. There is still gender bias, as there is a prevalent notion that governance, whether in the education sector  or national politics should be exclusively for males. Since these positions are elective, it is no surprise that males who are in the majority appropriate them. I believe that vigorous sensitisation of both female and male members of the university community and formulation of policies which ensure gender equity will facilitate adequate participation of women at such high level decision making bodies. The 35 per cent  Affirmative Action is a well established means of fast-tracking the attainment of gender equity.

It is a development and human rights issue and many countries adopt it as a short term measure to ensure equitable representation. I would like to add that gender equity is not just a game of numbers; it is also about making sure that the university environment is gender sensitive, no gender based violence, no overt or covert discrimination; there is provision of equal opportunities for career advancement, mentoring and  support for women's progress. Institutions have to commit themselves to this by formulating gender policies and Sexual harassment policies.
 

Professor  Biola Odejide is  a Professor of Communication and Language Arts,  former Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), University of Ibadan and Principal Investigator, Gender Mainstreaming Programme,  University of Ibadan.

In Accounting, Women  Are Consi-dered More Honest And Ethical — Olakunri
I disagree with the contention that women in the professions are marginalised.  We must make allowances for the attitude of my gender – as we believe that in our multi-tasking, the career comes low in the order of priorities.  So a great many do not put the commitment to the growth of their profession  as others do.  In  my profession, we have the advantage of being considered more honest and ethical than the men  so we tend to be favoured over the men, but as more decision making positions are held by men, they tend to apply the old school tie syndrome and support their peers.

The recent action by Mr. President in appointing 35 per cent of women into his cabinet is highly appreciated by us.  But can we assume that this will be on-going.  We must thank Dame Patience for her good work – She, it is, who got her husbands commitment and then visited every state to lobby the governors and governors’ wives – to think in the same line.

I hope that this step will encourage more women in the various states and area of focus to be more ethical and productive so that we are able to produce many women who are qualified, either politically or as technocrats for a good choice at all state and Federal Government appointments.

Chief (Mrs) Toyin Olakunri is the first Nigerian female chartered accountant,  former president, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and first woman to head the Education Trust Fund and ex-president, Society of Women Accountants in Nigeria (SWAN).

More Women Specialists Should Be Involved— Obajimi
More women are obviously coming into the medical profession, but the fact remains that women in this profession are not yet in the frontline.

We have many women specialists whose presence in the different preventive and management committees will make a lot of difference.

I believe more female medical practitioners should be involved.

The Pink Month for example, which is the breast cancer awareness programme holds this month, if quite a number of women are in the breast cancer preventive and management committee, and are legislators these  would play a vital role in enhancing the well-being of women.

Professor Obajimi is Head, Department of Radiology, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, and Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Oyo State.

We Want To Be Part Of Decision Makers — Ita-Giwa
From the time of independence till date, women have not been given equal opportunity in the political scene like men and this applies also to other fields. Invariably, this has hindered women’s  progress and activities.

Good that the Federal Governmet is giving women 35 per cent presence in Nigeria’s political scene, but we don’t want to remain at the level of being given appointments.

Rather, we want to be part of those who will give.  We want to be part of the decision makers.

It’s very unfair that many women have grown to the pinnacle of their career, but are not decision makers.

Men obviously are the leaders of the country.

Women are  just caucus leaders and these do not take decisions. And if you are not part of those taking decisions, how then can you impact on your followers.  A woman needs to be given opportunity to be seen and heard, and also live with dignity to impact on the followers.

Women in Nigeria are asking for more, “We want to  be part of those who will give.”

I see no reason why women can't be chairmen of parties and boards.  We ask for equal opportunities with men.

Senator Florence Ita-giwa fondly called Mama Bakassi, is a foremost politician and former member of the house of assembly.

 

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