Respect and Adore Every Girl Child- PS Udoh
Maryam Aminu
In a bid to deepen the knowledge of women’s rights particularly in the North-central, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, has on Friday 21st of July,2023 kicked-off a 2-day high level Dissemination/ Sensitization Workshop on the Revised 2021-2026 National Gender Policy Implementation in the North-central geo-political zone.
Participants at the workshop were drawn from public sectors, private sectors including market women leaders.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs Monilola Udoh FNCS, who declared the workshop open has called for called for respect and adoration of every girl child.
Udoh who stated this in opening remarks, recalled that Nigeria developed her first National Policy on Rights of Women in 2000.
According to her, “This was replaced with the National Gender Policy in 2006 as a result of review and integration of lessons learnt from the implementation of the Women Policy 2000.
“A key lesson then was the need to work from a gender perspective, even though the key purpose remains addressing Women’s rights issues.”
Udoh listed women’s rights to include the right to live free from violence and discrimination, the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the right to be educated, the right to own property, the right to vote and be voted for etc.
“However as we all know, many women and girls still face discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. This gave rise to the review of the 2006 National Gender Policy”, she said.
She noted that the overall goal of the 2021 National Gender Policy is to build a just society in which women, girls and other vulnerable groups will enjoy the same opportunities,rights, obligations in all spheres of life, devoid of discrimination,where their needs and concerns are mainstreamed equitably into all sectors of National development
The strategic objectives of the revised National Gender Policy are: to bridge gender/social inclusion gaps and achieve parity in all spheres of life; protect women’s human rights and mitigate sexual and gender- based violence, through appropriate buffers and related services; and explore and fully harness women’s human capital assets, as a growth driver for national development through women’s economic empowerment.
Others include advancing women’s participation and representation in leadership and governance,support women and girls’ education, lifelong health, survival and sustainable development, ensure that gender equity concerns are integrated into social protection and complex humanitarian actions, legislation and policies and ensure that socially excluded groups (such as persons with disabilities, the elderly and the poor etc.) are mainstreamed into development projects and programmes of government.
The Permanent Secretary further mentioned that the 2021 National Gender Policy focuses on the protection of the girl–child: addressing violence against women and girls; addressing issues of conflict, especially as it affects women and girls; and peace building; rights of women with disabilities and implementation strategies, including the institutional framework, funding and human resource for gender mainstreaming among others.
She noted that the Revised National Gender Policy promotes a system in which women, girls,boys and other vulnerable groups enjoy the same obligations in all spheres of life.
She cautioned the male to stop seeing sexuality in every girl. Adore and respect them as you will respect your mothers, she added
Udoh tasked all participants to take the training serious and ensure that gender perspective is mainstreamed into projects and program implementation in various MDAs as it will go a long way towards addressing traditions,customs, sexual stereotypes of social roles and cultural views that mitigate against women’s full participation in National development.
