September 1, 2011
IRIN Asia
WEST JAVA, 1 September 2011 (IRIN) - Guidelines on how to perform female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) issued by the Indonesian Ministry of Health could cause an increase in the practice, medical experts and rights groups fear.
"This will give doctors a new motivation to circumcise [girls] because now they can say the Ministry of Health approves of this, and the Indonesian Ulamas' Council approves of it," Jurnalis Uddin, doctor and lecturer at Yarsi University in Jakarta, told IRIN.
Though FGM/C was banned in 2006, two of Indonesia's Muslim organizations, including the largest and mostly moderate Nahdlatul Ulama, ultimately condone the practice advising "not to cut too much", and, as a result, many continue to perform the procedure.
By directing health professionals not to cut a girl's genitals but to "scrape the skin covering the clitoris, without injuring the clitoris", the Ministry of Health stands by the regulations, passed in June, as a medically safe form of FGM/C representing an effort to further regulate the illegal practice and protect women.
But recent uproar has questioned this reasoning. Others are concerned the guidelines could well be misinterpreted as an endorsement of the procedure, combined with an enticement for doctors to encourage the practice, Uddin said.
"I think that doctors will use these guidelines to make money from circumcision," Uddin said, adding that Indonesia's poorly regulated medical practitioners often viewed medicine as a business.
FGM/C is typically done at birth, or before a girl is five years old and in the past was often performed by local healers, called dukun, or by birth attendants. Traditionally, FGM/C was mostly "symbolic" with a small cut on the clitoris, or rubbing the clitoris with tumeric root, making it less invasive than other types of FGM/C.
However, Uddin, who conducted an Indonesia-wide survey of FGM/C practices in 2009, said he had found that when medical practitioners performed the procedure, there was a trend toward more extensive cutting of the clitoris.
Public outcry
Dozens of Indonesian groups continue to call for the Ministry to revoke the guidelines.
"This gives a justification for health practitioners to damage women's bodies," said Frenia Nababan, spokeswoman for the Indonesian Family Planning Association. She added, "We fear it will increase control of women's bodies by the state and religious groups."
Amnesty International, is one of more than 100 signatories to a letter stating that the guidelines should be revoked partially on the grounds of Indonesia's child protection laws, as well as the government's commitment to the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), signed by Indonesia in 1984.
Experts say there has been increasing support for the practice from Muslim groups since the downfall of authoritarian leader Suharto in 1998, resulting in greater religious and political freedom, known as "Reformasi".
"Before Reformasi [FGM/C] was mostly done on an individual basis, but since Reformasi, it has been done in mass events," said Siti Musda Mulia, an academic specializing in Islamic studies, who initially conducted research on the process during the Suharto era, and has conducted follow-up research since 1998.
Uddin found Indonesia-wide FGM/C had not increased dramatically since the Suharto era; however in some areas, such as Bandung, West Java, there was an increasing tendency to perform it, even among moderate Muslims.
Across Indonesia approximately 12 percent of female babies born in hospitals, birthing centres or assisted by government midwives have been circumcised, a figure that excludes FGM/C procedures done outside such facilities, Uddin said.
FGM/C remains a controversial practice, with debated origins. Religious experts say it is a foreign cultural practice not sanctioned in any of Islam's religious texts.
Even a scratch or small cut on the clitoris is a dangerous procedure to perform on infants, say medical practitioners. Long-term consequences include bladder and urinary tract infections, as well as cysts and infertility.
The Ministry of Health argues it is not "legitimizing or legalizing" FGM/C with its standards but only trying to make the practice less risky by encouraging trained health professionals rather than traditional healers to perform the procedure.
"It is feared that community members who want to circumcise female babies will therefore go to traditional healers for this procedure, and it will increase the number of [medical] complications. If this procedure is done by health professionals, then it has to be done in accordance with the ministerial instruction 1636, and this will guarantee the protection of the female reproductive system," the Ministry stated in response to national criticism.
To read the full article on the IRIN website, click here
mk/nb/mw
Showing posts with label gender equality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gender equality. Show all posts
Friday, September 9, 2011
Monday, September 20, 2010
Focusing Aid on Women
September 17, 2010
Poverty News Blog
Just days before the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) summit, Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s International Development Secretary, announced a change in direction, putting women and children at the centre of its aid policy. This shift will double the number of female and newborn lives saved by 2015, Mitchell will tell the assembled heads of state in New York on 20-22 September.
Progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment is critical to progress on the MDGs overall, say specialists, and the UK leadership will be calling for collective international action on this issue at the summit.
According to a report by Martin Greeley at the Institute of Development Studies, “... There is increased recognition of the linkages between gender equality and achievement of all the MDGs. For example on MDG4, on child mortality, given the role of women as primary care givers to children; MDG6 on HIV and AIDS, on account of the interaction of gender inequality and the spread of the virus; and MDG7 on water, sanitation and the environment, given among things, women’s disproportionate role in water provisioning.”
But even though there is awareness, few resources are directed at gender-based programming, posing the greatest risk to MDG attainment, writes Greeley.
Indeed, maternal mortality is the MDG with the lowest success rate, despite new figures showing a 34 percent decrease from an estimated 546,000 in 1990 to 358,000 total deaths in childbirth and pregnancy worldwide in 2008.
“The progress is notable, but the annual rate of decline is less than half of what is needed to achieve the MDG target of reducing the maternal mortality ratio by 75 percent between 1990 and 2015. This will require an annual decline of 5.5 percent. The 34 percent decline since 1990 translates into an average annual decline of just 2.3 percent,” according to the World Health Organization.
Room for improvement
Belay Ejigu Begashaw, director of multisectoral NGO The MDG Centre, in East & Southern Africa, in Nairobi, told IRIN: “The maternal health numbers are embarrassing; maternal mortality is not even covered by the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria]. But there have been other achievements, such as in education, even if the ratio of girls in secondary school [and university] is still bad.”
Poverty is the main cause, with household chores and lack of appropriate sanitation like toilets among the principal reasons why girls do not attend secondary school, even though a secondary education is particularly important for women’s empowerment.
Funding is key to making progress by 2015, and the combination of the 2008 economic crisis, food and fuel price crises, has set back the MDG cause significantly, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, which started from a very low base, says Begashaw. Oxfam estimates that an extra US$37.5 billion a year is needed for agriculture and food assistance alone.
Another aspect of the financial crisis, according to Oxfam, is how it hit women’s work: “Governments have responded to job losses in textiles and garments industries, largely of women, by channelling fiscal stimuli into construction, which largely employs men.”
Oxfam’s research found women doing additional paid work in the informal economy, and maintaining or increasing their unpaid, caring work in the home.
Indeed, according to an ODI report: “Time poverty affects both MDG6 (combat killer diseases) and MDG7 (environmental sustainability). It can prevent women accessing healthcare, if clinics are far away, and affordable childcare is unavailable. Similarly, environmental degradation can exacerbate time poverty, if women and girls travel long distances to find supplies of firewood and water.”
But key to tracking progress on gender equality and accurately assessing the success of respective MDGs is disaggregating data; failure to do so “masks the gender dynamics of poverty”, states The Lancet report.
Way forward
The UN admits progress has been uneven and many of the targets will be missed in most countries. According to the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010: “An estimated 1.4 billion people were still living in extreme poverty in 2005. Moreover, the effects of the global financial crisis are likely to persist: poverty rates will be slightly higher in 2015 and even beyond, to 2020, than they would have been had the world economy grown steadily at its pre-crisis pace.
“Gender equality and the empowerment of women are at the heart of the MDGs and are preconditions for overcoming poverty, hunger and disease. But progress has been sluggish on all fronts - from education to access to political decision-making.”
One of the key criticisms of the MDGs as they were set out in 2000 is the emphasis on poverty at the expense of gender, equity, social inclusion and human rights, and it is these aspects that are being targeted by activists in New York.
In addition, they largely ignore gender-specific issues such as harmful traditional practices, including female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage, gender-based violence, and unemployment among young women – all issues addressed by Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile, in her first interview as new head of UN Women. She also noted that, of all the MDGs, those relating to women had shown the worst performance to date.
“They [women] don’t have the same opportunities as men regarding the most essential human rights. Women are discriminated [against]. Their rights are violated. There are still some places where women are mutilated. There are places where women can receive terrible punishments.”
Poverty News Blog
Just days before the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) summit, Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s International Development Secretary, announced a change in direction, putting women and children at the centre of its aid policy. This shift will double the number of female and newborn lives saved by 2015, Mitchell will tell the assembled heads of state in New York on 20-22 September.
Progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment is critical to progress on the MDGs overall, say specialists, and the UK leadership will be calling for collective international action on this issue at the summit.
According to a report by Martin Greeley at the Institute of Development Studies, “... There is increased recognition of the linkages between gender equality and achievement of all the MDGs. For example on MDG4, on child mortality, given the role of women as primary care givers to children; MDG6 on HIV and AIDS, on account of the interaction of gender inequality and the spread of the virus; and MDG7 on water, sanitation and the environment, given among things, women’s disproportionate role in water provisioning.”
But even though there is awareness, few resources are directed at gender-based programming, posing the greatest risk to MDG attainment, writes Greeley.
Indeed, maternal mortality is the MDG with the lowest success rate, despite new figures showing a 34 percent decrease from an estimated 546,000 in 1990 to 358,000 total deaths in childbirth and pregnancy worldwide in 2008.
“The progress is notable, but the annual rate of decline is less than half of what is needed to achieve the MDG target of reducing the maternal mortality ratio by 75 percent between 1990 and 2015. This will require an annual decline of 5.5 percent. The 34 percent decline since 1990 translates into an average annual decline of just 2.3 percent,” according to the World Health Organization.
Room for improvement
Belay Ejigu Begashaw, director of multisectoral NGO The MDG Centre, in East & Southern Africa, in Nairobi, told IRIN: “The maternal health numbers are embarrassing; maternal mortality is not even covered by the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria]. But there have been other achievements, such as in education, even if the ratio of girls in secondary school [and university] is still bad.”
Poverty is the main cause, with household chores and lack of appropriate sanitation like toilets among the principal reasons why girls do not attend secondary school, even though a secondary education is particularly important for women’s empowerment.
Funding is key to making progress by 2015, and the combination of the 2008 economic crisis, food and fuel price crises, has set back the MDG cause significantly, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, which started from a very low base, says Begashaw. Oxfam estimates that an extra US$37.5 billion a year is needed for agriculture and food assistance alone.
Another aspect of the financial crisis, according to Oxfam, is how it hit women’s work: “Governments have responded to job losses in textiles and garments industries, largely of women, by channelling fiscal stimuli into construction, which largely employs men.”
Oxfam’s research found women doing additional paid work in the informal economy, and maintaining or increasing their unpaid, caring work in the home.
Indeed, according to an ODI report: “Time poverty affects both MDG6 (combat killer diseases) and MDG7 (environmental sustainability). It can prevent women accessing healthcare, if clinics are far away, and affordable childcare is unavailable. Similarly, environmental degradation can exacerbate time poverty, if women and girls travel long distances to find supplies of firewood and water.”
But key to tracking progress on gender equality and accurately assessing the success of respective MDGs is disaggregating data; failure to do so “masks the gender dynamics of poverty”, states The Lancet report.
Way forward
The UN admits progress has been uneven and many of the targets will be missed in most countries. According to the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010: “An estimated 1.4 billion people were still living in extreme poverty in 2005. Moreover, the effects of the global financial crisis are likely to persist: poverty rates will be slightly higher in 2015 and even beyond, to 2020, than they would have been had the world economy grown steadily at its pre-crisis pace.
“Gender equality and the empowerment of women are at the heart of the MDGs and are preconditions for overcoming poverty, hunger and disease. But progress has been sluggish on all fronts - from education to access to political decision-making.”
One of the key criticisms of the MDGs as they were set out in 2000 is the emphasis on poverty at the expense of gender, equity, social inclusion and human rights, and it is these aspects that are being targeted by activists in New York.
In addition, they largely ignore gender-specific issues such as harmful traditional practices, including female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage, gender-based violence, and unemployment among young women – all issues addressed by Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile, in her first interview as new head of UN Women. She also noted that, of all the MDGs, those relating to women had shown the worst performance to date.
“They [women] don’t have the same opportunities as men regarding the most essential human rights. Women are discriminated [against]. Their rights are violated. There are still some places where women are mutilated. There are places where women can receive terrible punishments.”
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The need for deeper reflections to end the cut
August 4, 2009
By OKIYA OMTATAH OKOITI
The very cloudy rhetoric against the circumcision of women is darkened further by the usually suspicious and antagonistic relationship between modern and traditional lifestyles. The recurring use of the perversion mutilation seems to support the misguided Western paradigm that those who practice it are nefarious individuals or communities, the cut being the ultimate sign of their degenerate otherness.
If female circumcision is mutilation, so is any fashion that requires unnatural mechanical or surgical intrusion upon the body.
The coarse fabric of the debate is made up of many uneven strands, a good number carelessly twisted to fit a given very narrow thought line. Among these are arguments from self-styled traditionalists that glorify the bad practice, extolling its supposed virtues such as the unsubstantiated passing on of so-called age-old societal values during the healing in seclusion, arguing that changing it will mean for its adherents decomposition, disintegration, ultimately a separation from the very principle of life! Death! But they cannot show how the cut is necessary to group survival as it confers only obvious disadvantages on its recipients.
Then there are the superficial modernists who cash in, vilifying and opposing it as a backward practice that has outlived its use. Unable to understand its root causes and purpose, some of them end up perfuming and dancing themselves dizzy around the deplorable custom, addressing its diversionary justifications through their so-called alternative rites of passage.
The cold truth, however, is that the cut is just one of the burdensome customs, nay, inhuman cultural prisons that women throughout history have endured, and endure today, in the name of fashion or tradition to please men. The practice is neither backward nor has it outlived it use as a tool of oppression, it is simply wrong, morally repugnant.
The pursuit of male adoration is a strong stimulant in all societies. When the attainment of all important male favour means that the female body must be reconstructed to fit the prescribed fashion, history shows that regardless of potential health hazards, women pay the price.
Women are admired, not for their mind, personality, or inner beauty, but for their physical bodies. The ideal modern woman in today’s advertising has a shapely robotic figure, complete with breasts symbolically larger than her head.
Whether through cosmetics or a tattoo, all cultures seek to change the woman’s body to some arbitrary physical ideal, imbued with a sense of eroticism linked to bondage, embodying notions of fashion, conformity, and male constructed ideals of feminine beauty.
In the West today, just as it is with those who cut their women, constructed images of the ideal are used to keep women in inhuman cultural prisons of male power and control but whose keys have conveniently been turned over to female gatekeepers.
For example, scary walking chopsticks populate Western catwalks where well-fed motherly modelling agents force young models to diet. In fact, even in recent times, malnourished models have collapsed and died from starvation because of fasting to gain a desired weight.
Throughout history women have been socialised to endure gross abuse in the pursuit of acceptability and perceived beauty, in the name of fashion or tradition to please men. Tight corsets to produce a tiny waist, resulting in broken ribs and damaged internal organs, were common in the West in the recent past. Today’s barbaric practices include very tight clothes, poisonous skin lighteners, and elective plastic surgery. Pain and death remain constant companions of the women’s “remote controlled” search for male approval.
The ancient Chinese custom of foot binding that reflected Chinese ideas of the time about feminine beauty, virtue, and social status caused severe life-long disability and pain for millions of women. Women’s feet were made small using bandages to break and bend the toes under the sole, increasing the arch to an extreme so that the toes and heel were brought as close together as possible. The ideal foot was the three-inch golden lotus. Female relations crippled young girls, to make them more attractive to future husbands. The girls had to live the rest of their lives in pain simply to please men who decreed that a Chinese woman with “big feet” was ugly.
The modern fixation with physically delicate women, easy to dominate, is best played out in the equally punishing but fashionable high-heeled shoes. A woman tottering on pinpointed high-heels looks invitingly weak, just like the Chinese woman with bound feet did. It doesn’t matter if she is the head of a government; it is fashionable to restrict her.
Equally, cut women are an appropriate symbol of their restricted lives. They don’t have much control over their bodies or their destinies, and for the most part, depend on men for their well-being and happiness.
Eradicating female circumcision will involve more than screaming that it is a harmful practice; we have to change those societies’ deeply-ingrained sentiments regarding the woman. And it is the men, in whose pleasure these atrocities are usually carried out, who hold the key.
Though the cut is entirely a woman’s matter, performed on girls and young women by other females, it is a self-enforcing convention of the men’s subjugation of their women. That’s why it persists despite modernization, public education, and legal prohibition.
It may be worthwhile studying how foot binding in China was ended in a single generation. Scholars say it took much more than laws and protests. First, there was the end of imperial dynasties in 1911. Then in 1915 the new Chinese government outlawed the practice and sent inspectors to enforce the law through monetary fines to offenders. This was backed up by forming associations of parents who pledged not to foot-bind their daughters nor let their sons marry foot bound women.
Could a similar combination of progressive politics, social campaigns and enforced law help end the scourge of circumcising women?
By OKIYA OMTATAH OKOITI
The very cloudy rhetoric against the circumcision of women is darkened further by the usually suspicious and antagonistic relationship between modern and traditional lifestyles. The recurring use of the perversion mutilation seems to support the misguided Western paradigm that those who practice it are nefarious individuals or communities, the cut being the ultimate sign of their degenerate otherness.
If female circumcision is mutilation, so is any fashion that requires unnatural mechanical or surgical intrusion upon the body.
The coarse fabric of the debate is made up of many uneven strands, a good number carelessly twisted to fit a given very narrow thought line. Among these are arguments from self-styled traditionalists that glorify the bad practice, extolling its supposed virtues such as the unsubstantiated passing on of so-called age-old societal values during the healing in seclusion, arguing that changing it will mean for its adherents decomposition, disintegration, ultimately a separation from the very principle of life! Death! But they cannot show how the cut is necessary to group survival as it confers only obvious disadvantages on its recipients.
Then there are the superficial modernists who cash in, vilifying and opposing it as a backward practice that has outlived its use. Unable to understand its root causes and purpose, some of them end up perfuming and dancing themselves dizzy around the deplorable custom, addressing its diversionary justifications through their so-called alternative rites of passage.
The cold truth, however, is that the cut is just one of the burdensome customs, nay, inhuman cultural prisons that women throughout history have endured, and endure today, in the name of fashion or tradition to please men. The practice is neither backward nor has it outlived it use as a tool of oppression, it is simply wrong, morally repugnant.
The pursuit of male adoration is a strong stimulant in all societies. When the attainment of all important male favour means that the female body must be reconstructed to fit the prescribed fashion, history shows that regardless of potential health hazards, women pay the price.
Women are admired, not for their mind, personality, or inner beauty, but for their physical bodies. The ideal modern woman in today’s advertising has a shapely robotic figure, complete with breasts symbolically larger than her head.
Whether through cosmetics or a tattoo, all cultures seek to change the woman’s body to some arbitrary physical ideal, imbued with a sense of eroticism linked to bondage, embodying notions of fashion, conformity, and male constructed ideals of feminine beauty.
In the West today, just as it is with those who cut their women, constructed images of the ideal are used to keep women in inhuman cultural prisons of male power and control but whose keys have conveniently been turned over to female gatekeepers.
For example, scary walking chopsticks populate Western catwalks where well-fed motherly modelling agents force young models to diet. In fact, even in recent times, malnourished models have collapsed and died from starvation because of fasting to gain a desired weight.
Throughout history women have been socialised to endure gross abuse in the pursuit of acceptability and perceived beauty, in the name of fashion or tradition to please men. Tight corsets to produce a tiny waist, resulting in broken ribs and damaged internal organs, were common in the West in the recent past. Today’s barbaric practices include very tight clothes, poisonous skin lighteners, and elective plastic surgery. Pain and death remain constant companions of the women’s “remote controlled” search for male approval.
The ancient Chinese custom of foot binding that reflected Chinese ideas of the time about feminine beauty, virtue, and social status caused severe life-long disability and pain for millions of women. Women’s feet were made small using bandages to break and bend the toes under the sole, increasing the arch to an extreme so that the toes and heel were brought as close together as possible. The ideal foot was the three-inch golden lotus. Female relations crippled young girls, to make them more attractive to future husbands. The girls had to live the rest of their lives in pain simply to please men who decreed that a Chinese woman with “big feet” was ugly.
The modern fixation with physically delicate women, easy to dominate, is best played out in the equally punishing but fashionable high-heeled shoes. A woman tottering on pinpointed high-heels looks invitingly weak, just like the Chinese woman with bound feet did. It doesn’t matter if she is the head of a government; it is fashionable to restrict her.
Equally, cut women are an appropriate symbol of their restricted lives. They don’t have much control over their bodies or their destinies, and for the most part, depend on men for their well-being and happiness.
Eradicating female circumcision will involve more than screaming that it is a harmful practice; we have to change those societies’ deeply-ingrained sentiments regarding the woman. And it is the men, in whose pleasure these atrocities are usually carried out, who hold the key.
Though the cut is entirely a woman’s matter, performed on girls and young women by other females, it is a self-enforcing convention of the men’s subjugation of their women. That’s why it persists despite modernization, public education, and legal prohibition.
It may be worthwhile studying how foot binding in China was ended in a single generation. Scholars say it took much more than laws and protests. First, there was the end of imperial dynasties in 1911. Then in 1915 the new Chinese government outlawed the practice and sent inspectors to enforce the law through monetary fines to offenders. This was backed up by forming associations of parents who pledged not to foot-bind their daughters nor let their sons marry foot bound women.
Could a similar combination of progressive politics, social campaigns and enforced law help end the scourge of circumcising women?
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Senegal's Queen of Hip-Hop Speaks Against Injustice with Sarabah
Sister Fa is Senegal's Queen of hip-hop. But getting to the top wasn't an easy road - for a woman to break through in an almost exclusively male field within a male-dominated society, it was a long, hard journey. Struggle breeds compassion, and Sister Fa uses her international album debut "Sarabah - Tales from the Flipside of Paradise" to speak out against the injustices rampant in her native country. Warm, groovy and unmistakably African, her raps, in Wolof, Manding, Jola and French, roll elegantly over beats as well as traditional sounds (kora and djembe), delivering tracks far removed from rap clichés, and more influenced by 80s Old School hip-hop than current Western forms of hip-hop.
From the very beginning of her career, Sister Fa has dedicated herself to fight the wide-spread practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in her country: "It's an operation that can kill - I've seen dead babies with my own eyes. We need to fight against this practice at all costs and get rid of it forever. But it is quite a complex problem. It's a practice that has been around for some 3000 years - I myself am a victim." It is a major taboo for a Senegal woman to raise her voice against this tradition, one which usually only foreign celebrities openly condemn, but during her "Education without Mutilation" tour in 2008, funded by Germany's cultural institution, the Goethe Institute, Sister Fa took her fight to the front lines: the Senegal cities and villages where FGM is most firmly established, hoping to sensitize the population of her homeland.
For Sister Fa hip-hop is about raising awareness and denouncing the wrongs of life: "When you're a musician, you're an ambassador - you are here to defend and help people, not just to make music for money." FGM isn't the only issue she addresses on "Sarabah": there is the real story of a young girl in an arranged marriage ("Bou Souba Si Ngone"), AIDS messages aimed at women ("Life Am"), songs dealing with the plight of Senegal soldiers ("Soldat") and the hard-working lives of women in Senegal's countryside ("Milyamba"). "Hip Hop Yaw La Fal" is about the power of hip-hop, while in "Selebou Yoon" Sister Fa argues that hip-hop is in harmony with Islam. The latter was featured on the "Many Lessons - Hip Hop Islam West Africa" compilation (Piranha Musik, 2008).
Monday, June 22, 2009
Iyalla-Amandi: Legal Victory Raises Ante on Fight Against Gender Discrimination
June 22, 2009
ALTHOUGH the courts have demonstrated their willingness to strike down practices that undermine the full enjoyment of human rights by women in the country, BEN UKWUOMA and NIKE SOTADE write that the major challenge is for women to speak out in cases of violation of their rights regardless of the stigma or consequences that may follow.
IT has been described as a landmark judgment against one of the most discriminatory laws against Nigerian women. Last week in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Dr Priye Iyalla-Amadi, wife of renowned author Elechi Amadi, won a legal battle against the Nigerian Immigration Service, which has brought to the fore the need to do away with all obnoxious laws that appear to have entrenched gender inequality in the nation's social milieu.
Mrs. Iyalla-Amadi had sought a replacement of her international passport in February 2008 and was told by Immigration officials in Port Harcourt that she needed written permission from her husband first.
Apparently irked by this administrative policy that tramples on her right, she headed straight to the court and was not disappointed.
Justice G.K. Olotu, presiding judge of the Federal High court, in his verdict, reportedly said: "This kind of policy has no place in 21st century Nigeria."
Indeed, the judgment which jolted many Nigerians has once again brought to the fore the issue of discrimination against women in the country which is still being sustained by discriminatory laws, policies and social and cultural practices.
Although discrimination is enshrined in the constitution, it has remained more in breach than in enforcement.
"Female genital mutilation, preference for a male child and widowhood rites is still prevalent in most parts of the country. Women face discrimination in access to education, employment and political life," the Civil Liberties Organisation of Nigeria (CLO) stated in a report.
The discriminatory burdens placed on women include those of chastity, of making marriage work at all cost, of fertility and fertility control, and the burden of being "clean and desirable" as symbolised by female circumcision. Others include the burden to prove rape both in the community and in a court of law, to raise 'good' children, and to mourn their husbands to the taste and dictates of his relatives. "Compared to men, Nigerian society treats women as little better than beasts of burden" women activists claimed.
Lady Elizabeth Okonkwo, Registrar Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria said: "Generally, we operate within context of our culture. There are norms in the family system that create discrimination. For instance, when a child is born in a family particularly the first born, the level of jubilation and excitement depends on the sex of the baby. Remember that MTN advert which has been rested apparently due to protest by some women? Again in the choice of chores in the house, the female folks are given something less tasking. Consider a family in a financial stress, the first casualty is the woman who will be asked to withdraw from school or in most cases given out in marriage without recourse to what the woman will become in future. If you situate these examples to our inheritance laws, most of which are tilted towards the men at all levels, you will appreciate what am driving at,"
She continued: "In the southeast where I come from, despite all the decided cases from the courts, women are still being treated as if they are not part of the family. Even, when a Will is written, it is as if the women do not exist. When a man dies, the wife is expected to be in a state of mourning. Not only would her movement be restricted, in many cases she is not even allowed to take her bath for months. In extreme cases she could be called to explain the circumstances of his death. In some places the woman will be forced to drink water used to bath the corpse. Tell me who would not die from drinking that kind of water,"
"All these are not laws but societal norms which have refused to go. In some societies, something as simple as breaking a kola nut in public is taboo for woman. While title which is supposed to confer respectability and achievement, is not recognized in some communities,
To Dr Joy Ezeilo, Founding Executive Director Women Aid Collective (WACOL), the legal victory recorded in Port Harcourt is a pointer to other discriminatory polices and laws against women in the country.
"Many of these laws could be seen in the Customary, Evidence and Criminal laws. While the customary laws have prevented women in participating in the decision-making meetings in the community levels, inheritance rights and customary divorce and some administrative policies have tended to consign women into the dustbins. Take for instance the police bail issue. As I am taking to you, that policy still subsists, despite official denials.
But The Guardian learnt that one of the reasons police authorities are reluctant to allow women to stand as Sureties in bail is because of the conditions usually attached to bails.
"We don't want to visit the consequences of jumping bails on women. In Sureties you are required to forfeit the bail bond or go to jail" a police officer told The Guardian.
But, Ezeilo a legal practitioner retorted:"We don't want that privilege that smacks of discrimination. Section 24 of the constitution must apply. There are women who are rich that can meet the conditions and stand the consequences.
Within the international human rights literature, the problem of discrimination has been conceptualized as involving the denial of self_determination to women.
In feminist literature, discrimination against women is taken to manifest itself in the forms of gender, class and personal discrimination.
Opportunities existed for women in pre-colonial Nigerian society to take leadership roles in politics, religion, social and economic life.
Professor Bolanle Awe's book, Nigerian Women in Historical Perspective gives examples of women leaders of the past: Nana Asmau of Zauzzau, Idia of Benin, and Moremi of Ife. Numerous legends and oral traditions also point to the power of women in pre-colonial Nigerian society.
The origins of structures of inequality that led to discrimination against women are, found in pre_colonial societies with predominantly male_dominant social systems.
However, they were institutionalized as a new legal structure-"Native Law and Customs"-during colonial rule. Customs such as child marriage, betrothal and widowhood rites have their origins in the pre_colonial era, as did genital operations.
The Nigerian constitution of 1979 prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex, as do the constitutions of 1992 and 1999. All women have a right to suffrage once they are above the age of 18 and can contest in political elections once above the age of 21.
No customary prohibitions prevent women's participation in politics, but women have not contested for political positions on a level matching men.
Women's hesitancy to be involved in politics dates to the period of decolonization period when politics was characterized by gross abuse and physical violence.
However, Ezeilo said, the women's overall political representation and participation in government from available statistics is less than 10 per cent.
According to available statistics, out of 2273 elected into the House of representative from 1979 to 2007, only 105 women were elected. The picture is even gloomier in the Senate, where only 26 women were elected out of 884 elected during the said period.
"The conceptualized public and private sphere dichotomy consigns women's roles in the domestic sphere and sees the public space as traditional place for men, thereby perpetuating discrimination and distinctions on the basis of sex, resulting in exclusion and marginalization of women in politics and public life."
So far, no significant political party in Nigeria has placed women's promotion to key decision-making positions on its agenda.
A glossily examination of political parties constitutions and manifestoes in the country portrays glaringly the lack of political will to change the status quo and ensure a better gender balance of power in the political system.
"It is a common knowledge that the only position given to women in political parties executive is the so called "Woman/Women Leader" position, which smacks of tokenism and shows a reticence in promoting women to key party positions. It is within this context that recent recommendation of the Electoral Reform Committee becomes significant-that political parties should have 20 per cent of women in its governance body,"
"Since women's political wings have been banned it appears that women politicians have no other space for democratic engagement other than through an individual office of the "Woman Leader". I think is time we re-examine the merits and demerits of women's branches or wings," she declared. "Although, it has been argued that women's branches or organizations within a party places women in a secondary position and therefore constitutes discrimination; there is still need to interrogate this issue further given our level of gender backwardness in politics. Will it not serve women's interest better if they have their space to grow and mentor other new female entrants in the political arena as well as mobilize the female constituency towards greater contribution in shaping the political process in Nigeria?" she queried.
Late Professor Jadeola Akande, former vice Chancellor Lagos State University (LASU) in a paper delivered at the University, contended that Nigerian women do not have full legal capacity "insofar as they are unable to independently enter into contracts, ... acquire and own property ... enter into other legal transactions, sue or be sued."
The extent of women's practical freedom also varies with class, level of education and type of marriage. Within polygynous marriages, women may have more freedom than within monogamous ones, as they are not subjected to the presumption of legal unity in monogamous marriage, which gives the man the advantage.
In terms of the capacity to marry, the right of consent and the requirements of bride wealth-payment, women's right to independent decision-making may be curtailed.
In general, Nigerian law according to legal practitioners, limits the rights of a woman in marriage under all legal systems (statutory law, Sharia, and customary law).
For instance, The Guardian found that in a typical Muslim communities, divorce by repudiation is still acceptable, while under the customary law, women have a right to support and housing, but not to the husband's property or incomes. Likewise, men have no right to their spouse's property or income.
However, pre-colonial marriage laws allowed for conciliation and negotiation in the event of marriage breakdowns, which may have resulted in better treatment of the woman. In addition, a divorced woman could return to her lineage where the head of the lineage could grant her access to property.
Under statutory law, a woman technically has equal rights with her husband to the custody and guardianship of children upon divorce, but the application of the law is often such that work within the marriage is not considered an economic contribution. Hence, there is no enforcement of maintenance payments.
Another source of discrimination is to be found within the practice of religion. In both Christianity and Islam, there is a presumption of the inequality between women and men that did not necessarily exist in pre-colonial religion. In spite of Islamic provisions for the equality of all believers, purdah and polygyny are considered obligatory. Since peasants cannot afford to seclude their wives, these phenomena are linked to class.
In Christianity, the orthodox position is that women should be submissive to men. Women's restricted access to information in Islam, likewise encouraged them to accept a submissive role. Even in the case of Christianity, education and a re_conceptualization of the role of women is necessary if significant progress is to be made. Any prescriptions or conditions that may be found in the definition of the role of women in the Bible remain inadequate as the sole harbingers of change. Both religions contribute to the continuation of discrimination against women.
The personal rights of women to exercise control over their bodies is limited also by female genital operations, which in some cases create medical problems, including maternal and infant mortality, especially when combined with pregnancy at too early an age.
"These practices violate both African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) principles on basic human rights. The Economic Commission for Africa also condemns them but rightly pinpoints the complexity of the situation." Ezeilo said
The Guardian learnt that another facet of the inability of women to exercise independent control over their bodies relates to the role of culture in the exercise of social control over individuals.
The status of women is lower than that of men as a result of some predominant cultural practices. For instance, women are made to accept the superiority of men in all aspects of socio-cultural life. In some settings, discrimination starts from birth when a child is not loved or accepted because she is a girl. This reflects in the way girl-children are treated.
Investigations showed that they are not given equal place in some homes neither is the girl-child given the same opportunities for schooling. Women also have less access to credit and economic resources and maternal morbidity and mortality are very high.
Ezilo suggested: "The female parliamentarians have additional task of advocating for legal reforms. It is believed that Parliament will change as more women are elected. However, to have a significant impact on the culture of an organization, women must occupy at least one third of the available space - the target referred to as the "critical mass of women."
"The representation of women in parliament and the inclusion of their perspectives and experience into law making and other decision making spheres will inevitably lead to solutions that are more viable, sustainable and satisfy a broader range of the society. That is why women should be part of the process and why it matters, in other words, that is why it is very important that all facets of our beloved country, Nigeria benefits as we find better and more appropriate solutions for our problems."
"A few examples from Africa will show that Nigeria is a laggard in terms of political development of its women folk. The National Parliament in Rwanda today has a near 50/50 representation for women and men. South Africa's National Assembly which ranked 13th out of 183 countries in a 2005 study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union has 129 of its 400 member as women. 75 of four national presiding officers, three are women: the speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly and the deputy chairperson of the National Council of Provinces. South Africa is the only African country with a woman in the position of deputy president. Of the 28 members of the national cabinet appointed in 2004, 12 were women, and 10 of 21 deputy ministers were also women. Four of the nine provincial premiers are women and most provinces have at least two female representatives in councils of 10 members,'
In 2006, the federal ministry of Women's Affairs (FMWA) pushed for the adoption of the National Gender Policy to replace the National Policy on Women, which was adopted in 2000.
The overall policy goal is to build a just society devoid of discrimination, harness the full potentials of all social groups regardless of sex or circumstance, promote the enjoyment of fundamental human rights and protect the health, social, economic and political well being of all citizens in order to achieve equitable rapid economic growth; evolve an evidence - based planning and governance system where human, social, financial and technological resources are efficiently and effectively deployed for sustainable development.
While one of its policy objectives is to include the principles of United Nation's Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other global and regional frameworks that support gender equality and women empowerment in the country's laws, legislative processes, judicial and administrative systems.
The policy sets as a target the adoption of special measures, quotas and mechanisms for achieving minimum critical threshold of women in political offices, party organs and public life by pursuing 35 percent affirmative action in favour of women to bridge gender gaps in political representation in both elective and appointive posts at all levels by 2015.
By adopting the national gender policy, experts said the country has recognized the vital role of gender-specific mechanisms within the government for mainstreaming gender and promoting women's empowerment. Unfortunately, The Guardian learnt that most of the targets sets with timeframe are yet to be met.
Nigeria acceded to United Nation's Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1984 and signed the ratification document in 1985 under the Babangida Administration. Of the 192-member-United Nations Organisation, 185 had endorsed CEDAW, leaving only seven countries to endorse the universal instrument.
In early 2007, the National Assembly rejected a bill incorporating the CEDAW convention into domestic legislation.
First Lady, Hajiya Turai Yar'Adua is not happy with the discrimination being perpetuated against women in the country.
Speaking recently at a two-day national workshop on the implementation of the United Nation's Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Abuja, the First Lady, while explaining the non-adoption of the previous bill for the domestication of the convention by the National Assembly failed due to lack of effective advocacy, she urged all concerned to correct the lapse and pledged her support and commitment to facilitating the early passage of the bill.
"Regrettably, almost 30 years after the ratification of the Convention, we still have a lot to do with in order to ensure its solid domestication," she noted.
Going by the information recently given to female journalists by frontline female politician Mrs. Oluremi Adiukwu-Bakare former Commissioner of Women Affairs, and Chieftaincy, Local Government and Land Matters in the last administration of Governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu, in Lagos State, women still need to fight the good fight for them to get their rights entrenched and passed into law by the National Assembly.
Adiukwu-Bakare who is currently serving as a member of different Committees on Electoral Reforms, both at the National Assembly and Presidential levels lamented how the National Council of States brazenly removed issues on Gender Reforms.
She said: " We had the Gender Electoral Reform Committee in which all female members of the National Assembly were members and I was actively involved. We had our own electoral reform agenda and we presented it to the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee, which was accepted from us. But there was this other committee, which Nigerians did not present anything to, who equally came up with their own White Paper and the Council of States, too, brought another White Paper. In the electoral reform that we presented to the Justice Uwais Committee, we were very emphatic on gender issues, but the white paper that the Council of States members brought out just expunged anything on gender. That was really sacrilegious, I couldn't believe it! So we are fighting some of these things and, hopefully, we would be able to fight it between now and 2010, so that in 2011, Nigerian women would have better hopes."
ALTHOUGH the courts have demonstrated their willingness to strike down practices that undermine the full enjoyment of human rights by women in the country, BEN UKWUOMA and NIKE SOTADE write that the major challenge is for women to speak out in cases of violation of their rights regardless of the stigma or consequences that may follow.
IT has been described as a landmark judgment against one of the most discriminatory laws against Nigerian women. Last week in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Dr Priye Iyalla-Amadi, wife of renowned author Elechi Amadi, won a legal battle against the Nigerian Immigration Service, which has brought to the fore the need to do away with all obnoxious laws that appear to have entrenched gender inequality in the nation's social milieu.
Mrs. Iyalla-Amadi had sought a replacement of her international passport in February 2008 and was told by Immigration officials in Port Harcourt that she needed written permission from her husband first.
Apparently irked by this administrative policy that tramples on her right, she headed straight to the court and was not disappointed.
Justice G.K. Olotu, presiding judge of the Federal High court, in his verdict, reportedly said: "This kind of policy has no place in 21st century Nigeria."
Indeed, the judgment which jolted many Nigerians has once again brought to the fore the issue of discrimination against women in the country which is still being sustained by discriminatory laws, policies and social and cultural practices.
Although discrimination is enshrined in the constitution, it has remained more in breach than in enforcement.
"Female genital mutilation, preference for a male child and widowhood rites is still prevalent in most parts of the country. Women face discrimination in access to education, employment and political life," the Civil Liberties Organisation of Nigeria (CLO) stated in a report.
The discriminatory burdens placed on women include those of chastity, of making marriage work at all cost, of fertility and fertility control, and the burden of being "clean and desirable" as symbolised by female circumcision. Others include the burden to prove rape both in the community and in a court of law, to raise 'good' children, and to mourn their husbands to the taste and dictates of his relatives. "Compared to men, Nigerian society treats women as little better than beasts of burden" women activists claimed.
Lady Elizabeth Okonkwo, Registrar Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria said: "Generally, we operate within context of our culture. There are norms in the family system that create discrimination. For instance, when a child is born in a family particularly the first born, the level of jubilation and excitement depends on the sex of the baby. Remember that MTN advert which has been rested apparently due to protest by some women? Again in the choice of chores in the house, the female folks are given something less tasking. Consider a family in a financial stress, the first casualty is the woman who will be asked to withdraw from school or in most cases given out in marriage without recourse to what the woman will become in future. If you situate these examples to our inheritance laws, most of which are tilted towards the men at all levels, you will appreciate what am driving at,"
She continued: "In the southeast where I come from, despite all the decided cases from the courts, women are still being treated as if they are not part of the family. Even, when a Will is written, it is as if the women do not exist. When a man dies, the wife is expected to be in a state of mourning. Not only would her movement be restricted, in many cases she is not even allowed to take her bath for months. In extreme cases she could be called to explain the circumstances of his death. In some places the woman will be forced to drink water used to bath the corpse. Tell me who would not die from drinking that kind of water,"
"All these are not laws but societal norms which have refused to go. In some societies, something as simple as breaking a kola nut in public is taboo for woman. While title which is supposed to confer respectability and achievement, is not recognized in some communities,
To Dr Joy Ezeilo, Founding Executive Director Women Aid Collective (WACOL), the legal victory recorded in Port Harcourt is a pointer to other discriminatory polices and laws against women in the country.
"Many of these laws could be seen in the Customary, Evidence and Criminal laws. While the customary laws have prevented women in participating in the decision-making meetings in the community levels, inheritance rights and customary divorce and some administrative policies have tended to consign women into the dustbins. Take for instance the police bail issue. As I am taking to you, that policy still subsists, despite official denials.
But The Guardian learnt that one of the reasons police authorities are reluctant to allow women to stand as Sureties in bail is because of the conditions usually attached to bails.
"We don't want to visit the consequences of jumping bails on women. In Sureties you are required to forfeit the bail bond or go to jail" a police officer told The Guardian.
But, Ezeilo a legal practitioner retorted:"We don't want that privilege that smacks of discrimination. Section 24 of the constitution must apply. There are women who are rich that can meet the conditions and stand the consequences.
Within the international human rights literature, the problem of discrimination has been conceptualized as involving the denial of self_determination to women.
In feminist literature, discrimination against women is taken to manifest itself in the forms of gender, class and personal discrimination.
Opportunities existed for women in pre-colonial Nigerian society to take leadership roles in politics, religion, social and economic life.
Professor Bolanle Awe's book, Nigerian Women in Historical Perspective gives examples of women leaders of the past: Nana Asmau of Zauzzau, Idia of Benin, and Moremi of Ife. Numerous legends and oral traditions also point to the power of women in pre-colonial Nigerian society.
The origins of structures of inequality that led to discrimination against women are, found in pre_colonial societies with predominantly male_dominant social systems.
However, they were institutionalized as a new legal structure-"Native Law and Customs"-during colonial rule. Customs such as child marriage, betrothal and widowhood rites have their origins in the pre_colonial era, as did genital operations.
The Nigerian constitution of 1979 prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex, as do the constitutions of 1992 and 1999. All women have a right to suffrage once they are above the age of 18 and can contest in political elections once above the age of 21.
No customary prohibitions prevent women's participation in politics, but women have not contested for political positions on a level matching men.
Women's hesitancy to be involved in politics dates to the period of decolonization period when politics was characterized by gross abuse and physical violence.
However, Ezeilo said, the women's overall political representation and participation in government from available statistics is less than 10 per cent.
According to available statistics, out of 2273 elected into the House of representative from 1979 to 2007, only 105 women were elected. The picture is even gloomier in the Senate, where only 26 women were elected out of 884 elected during the said period.
"The conceptualized public and private sphere dichotomy consigns women's roles in the domestic sphere and sees the public space as traditional place for men, thereby perpetuating discrimination and distinctions on the basis of sex, resulting in exclusion and marginalization of women in politics and public life."
So far, no significant political party in Nigeria has placed women's promotion to key decision-making positions on its agenda.
A glossily examination of political parties constitutions and manifestoes in the country portrays glaringly the lack of political will to change the status quo and ensure a better gender balance of power in the political system.
"It is a common knowledge that the only position given to women in political parties executive is the so called "Woman/Women Leader" position, which smacks of tokenism and shows a reticence in promoting women to key party positions. It is within this context that recent recommendation of the Electoral Reform Committee becomes significant-that political parties should have 20 per cent of women in its governance body,"
"Since women's political wings have been banned it appears that women politicians have no other space for democratic engagement other than through an individual office of the "Woman Leader". I think is time we re-examine the merits and demerits of women's branches or wings," she declared. "Although, it has been argued that women's branches or organizations within a party places women in a secondary position and therefore constitutes discrimination; there is still need to interrogate this issue further given our level of gender backwardness in politics. Will it not serve women's interest better if they have their space to grow and mentor other new female entrants in the political arena as well as mobilize the female constituency towards greater contribution in shaping the political process in Nigeria?" she queried.
Late Professor Jadeola Akande, former vice Chancellor Lagos State University (LASU) in a paper delivered at the University, contended that Nigerian women do not have full legal capacity "insofar as they are unable to independently enter into contracts, ... acquire and own property ... enter into other legal transactions, sue or be sued."
The extent of women's practical freedom also varies with class, level of education and type of marriage. Within polygynous marriages, women may have more freedom than within monogamous ones, as they are not subjected to the presumption of legal unity in monogamous marriage, which gives the man the advantage.
In terms of the capacity to marry, the right of consent and the requirements of bride wealth-payment, women's right to independent decision-making may be curtailed.
In general, Nigerian law according to legal practitioners, limits the rights of a woman in marriage under all legal systems (statutory law, Sharia, and customary law).
For instance, The Guardian found that in a typical Muslim communities, divorce by repudiation is still acceptable, while under the customary law, women have a right to support and housing, but not to the husband's property or incomes. Likewise, men have no right to their spouse's property or income.
However, pre-colonial marriage laws allowed for conciliation and negotiation in the event of marriage breakdowns, which may have resulted in better treatment of the woman. In addition, a divorced woman could return to her lineage where the head of the lineage could grant her access to property.
Under statutory law, a woman technically has equal rights with her husband to the custody and guardianship of children upon divorce, but the application of the law is often such that work within the marriage is not considered an economic contribution. Hence, there is no enforcement of maintenance payments.
Another source of discrimination is to be found within the practice of religion. In both Christianity and Islam, there is a presumption of the inequality between women and men that did not necessarily exist in pre-colonial religion. In spite of Islamic provisions for the equality of all believers, purdah and polygyny are considered obligatory. Since peasants cannot afford to seclude their wives, these phenomena are linked to class.
In Christianity, the orthodox position is that women should be submissive to men. Women's restricted access to information in Islam, likewise encouraged them to accept a submissive role. Even in the case of Christianity, education and a re_conceptualization of the role of women is necessary if significant progress is to be made. Any prescriptions or conditions that may be found in the definition of the role of women in the Bible remain inadequate as the sole harbingers of change. Both religions contribute to the continuation of discrimination against women.
The personal rights of women to exercise control over their bodies is limited also by female genital operations, which in some cases create medical problems, including maternal and infant mortality, especially when combined with pregnancy at too early an age.
"These practices violate both African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) principles on basic human rights. The Economic Commission for Africa also condemns them but rightly pinpoints the complexity of the situation." Ezeilo said
The Guardian learnt that another facet of the inability of women to exercise independent control over their bodies relates to the role of culture in the exercise of social control over individuals.
The status of women is lower than that of men as a result of some predominant cultural practices. For instance, women are made to accept the superiority of men in all aspects of socio-cultural life. In some settings, discrimination starts from birth when a child is not loved or accepted because she is a girl. This reflects in the way girl-children are treated.
Investigations showed that they are not given equal place in some homes neither is the girl-child given the same opportunities for schooling. Women also have less access to credit and economic resources and maternal morbidity and mortality are very high.
Ezilo suggested: "The female parliamentarians have additional task of advocating for legal reforms. It is believed that Parliament will change as more women are elected. However, to have a significant impact on the culture of an organization, women must occupy at least one third of the available space - the target referred to as the "critical mass of women."
"The representation of women in parliament and the inclusion of their perspectives and experience into law making and other decision making spheres will inevitably lead to solutions that are more viable, sustainable and satisfy a broader range of the society. That is why women should be part of the process and why it matters, in other words, that is why it is very important that all facets of our beloved country, Nigeria benefits as we find better and more appropriate solutions for our problems."
"A few examples from Africa will show that Nigeria is a laggard in terms of political development of its women folk. The National Parliament in Rwanda today has a near 50/50 representation for women and men. South Africa's National Assembly which ranked 13th out of 183 countries in a 2005 study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union has 129 of its 400 member as women. 75 of four national presiding officers, three are women: the speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly and the deputy chairperson of the National Council of Provinces. South Africa is the only African country with a woman in the position of deputy president. Of the 28 members of the national cabinet appointed in 2004, 12 were women, and 10 of 21 deputy ministers were also women. Four of the nine provincial premiers are women and most provinces have at least two female representatives in councils of 10 members,'
In 2006, the federal ministry of Women's Affairs (FMWA) pushed for the adoption of the National Gender Policy to replace the National Policy on Women, which was adopted in 2000.
The overall policy goal is to build a just society devoid of discrimination, harness the full potentials of all social groups regardless of sex or circumstance, promote the enjoyment of fundamental human rights and protect the health, social, economic and political well being of all citizens in order to achieve equitable rapid economic growth; evolve an evidence - based planning and governance system where human, social, financial and technological resources are efficiently and effectively deployed for sustainable development.
While one of its policy objectives is to include the principles of United Nation's Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other global and regional frameworks that support gender equality and women empowerment in the country's laws, legislative processes, judicial and administrative systems.
The policy sets as a target the adoption of special measures, quotas and mechanisms for achieving minimum critical threshold of women in political offices, party organs and public life by pursuing 35 percent affirmative action in favour of women to bridge gender gaps in political representation in both elective and appointive posts at all levels by 2015.
By adopting the national gender policy, experts said the country has recognized the vital role of gender-specific mechanisms within the government for mainstreaming gender and promoting women's empowerment. Unfortunately, The Guardian learnt that most of the targets sets with timeframe are yet to be met.
Nigeria acceded to United Nation's Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1984 and signed the ratification document in 1985 under the Babangida Administration. Of the 192-member-United Nations Organisation, 185 had endorsed CEDAW, leaving only seven countries to endorse the universal instrument.
In early 2007, the National Assembly rejected a bill incorporating the CEDAW convention into domestic legislation.
First Lady, Hajiya Turai Yar'Adua is not happy with the discrimination being perpetuated against women in the country.
Speaking recently at a two-day national workshop on the implementation of the United Nation's Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Abuja, the First Lady, while explaining the non-adoption of the previous bill for the domestication of the convention by the National Assembly failed due to lack of effective advocacy, she urged all concerned to correct the lapse and pledged her support and commitment to facilitating the early passage of the bill.
"Regrettably, almost 30 years after the ratification of the Convention, we still have a lot to do with in order to ensure its solid domestication," she noted.
Going by the information recently given to female journalists by frontline female politician Mrs. Oluremi Adiukwu-Bakare former Commissioner of Women Affairs, and Chieftaincy, Local Government and Land Matters in the last administration of Governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu, in Lagos State, women still need to fight the good fight for them to get their rights entrenched and passed into law by the National Assembly.
Adiukwu-Bakare who is currently serving as a member of different Committees on Electoral Reforms, both at the National Assembly and Presidential levels lamented how the National Council of States brazenly removed issues on Gender Reforms.
She said: " We had the Gender Electoral Reform Committee in which all female members of the National Assembly were members and I was actively involved. We had our own electoral reform agenda and we presented it to the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee, which was accepted from us. But there was this other committee, which Nigerians did not present anything to, who equally came up with their own White Paper and the Council of States, too, brought another White Paper. In the electoral reform that we presented to the Justice Uwais Committee, we were very emphatic on gender issues, but the white paper that the Council of States members brought out just expunged anything on gender. That was really sacrilegious, I couldn't believe it! So we are fighting some of these things and, hopefully, we would be able to fight it between now and 2010, so that in 2011, Nigerian women would have better hopes."
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