“In the nineteenth century, the central moral
challenge was slavery. In the twentieth century, it
was battle against totalitarianism. We believe that in
this century the paramount moral challenge will be
the struggle for gender equality around the
world.”Nicholas D. Kristof.
I listened to my chagrin as my course mate
passionately argued against gender equality on our
way back from class. That was not my first
experience. I had witnessed many occasions where
women are belittled with unfettered zeal. To worsen
the situation, my fellow is a law student who is
traditionally expected to express equality in creed
and deed. He, a minister in the temple of justice is
mandated to brandish the sword of equity when bias
prowls with her monstrous effrontery.
Unfortunately, according to him, there is no sound
reason why the girl-child should be afforded proper
education as well as equal opportunities.
Professions like architecture, law, engineering,
medicine, and the ‘manly’ rest should be exclusive
to men alone. Girls should instead take up humble
vocations which suit their perceived gentle
temperament like baby-sitting, hair-dressing, and
sewing. Even the ‘feminine’ nursing profession
should be made open to them with limited
indulgence. I could not contain my rage, particularly
at the slow pace of women empowerment. There is
undoubtedly a stubborn clog in the wheel of gender
crusade all over the world. In Africa especially, this
wheel of liberation is rolling at snail’s speed while
gender inequality continues to gallop on the limbs of
cheetah.
Therefore, this topical issue has come at the time
when the tempo is right; when the potential of
women in global transformation is increasingly
exposed to myopic people like my ‘good’ legal
colleague. It has come when women have
convincingly distinguished themselves in virtually all
fields. Mention the Ngozi Okonjo Ewela of Nigeria,
the Iron Lady of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher or
Hilary Clinton of the United States. These are but
few of the legions of women who defied the fabled
assumption that they (women) are weaker vessels.
It is trite that long-term, sustainable development
can only be achieved when women, like their male
counterparts enjoy equal opportunity to rise to their
full potentials. Partly due to the domination of the
male figure in the society, women’s contributions
are not recognized abundantly. This is a crystal-
clear indication of the need to continue empowering
our young women to unlock their full potential on a
transformational scale.
Hence, the need to formulate as well as implement
policies to support the empowerment of young
women. Ron Hansen, an American author is of the
opinion that women’s empowerment has been
inspiring and empowering women. As satisfying as
this may sound, we should not distracted. The tiger
does not shout its ‘tigritude’ says Wole Soyinka, the
noble laureate. Hence, it is our collective
responsibility to intensify the empowerment process
and the policy measures that are highlighted in this
article will sufficiently fill in this vacuum.
That education is the life-blood of a nation is trite. It
cannot be separated from man. More so, in a
developing nation like Nigeria, it is a necessary tool
for fast tracking the much desired development.
Sadly, the gender divide in education is rather
appallingly wide. According to the United Nations
Millennium Project report on education, gender
parity ratio remains 0.9 in sub-Sahara African and
South Asia even though girls’ primary school
enrollment rose steadily in the late twentieth
century. The implication is that more boys are
educated than girls despite the fact that the girl-
child consists approximately half of the global infant
population.
The situation is even direr in Africa. A policy
measure encouraging the enrollment of the girl-
child in nursery, primary and post-primary schools
is therefore expedient. It is the first step towards
empowering our young women. A famous writer
once wrote, “educate a boy and educate a single
man; educate a girl and educate the world”.
Governments of all nations should formulate policies
to increase female primary and post-primary
education. What would have happened if
Chimamanda Adichie, the award winning writer or
Nike Osofisan, the computer ace were denied
education? The dearth in our talent base can be
salvaged if the veil of bias can be removed from
homes that favour males over the girl-child in their
accessibility to education and other basic
necessities of life. Laws prohibiting hawking should
be enacted to deter parents from reducing our girls
to miserable hawkers who often-times, are victims
of rapists and dangerous drug addicts. The
government must also re-mobilize its commitments
to universal primary education.
This will fertilize their intellect and prepare them for
post-primary education where their real potentials
will sprout out branches, leaves and fruits of
ingenuity embedded in their genes. The faculty of
law, University of Ibadan witnessed a record-
breaking event in 2014. More than 20 students in
my class are on the much coveted first class grade.
Surprisingly, just four male students are among
these 20 geniuses! I began to wonder a different
scenario in which these girls could not go to the
university or college to pursue their ambition and
rather hawk ‘gala and Viju milk’ on Oshodi streets in
Lagos. The thought itself is paralyzing.
It is an accepted fact that food is life. A government
that cannot feed its teeming populace has declared
war on the State. It cannot be said that the
agricultural sector is buoyant as it is now. The most
disturbing trend is the deliberate exclusion of
women from this life-giver of an occupation. The
mere mention of a farmer conjures the imagery of a
man. This is a contortion of the reality as we have
women making up as much as 40 percent of the
labour force in agriculture. Sadly, they represent
only 3 to 20 percent of landholders according to
U.S.A.I.D (United State Agency for International
Development). The situation is worse in Africa by
the customary disallowance of women from
inheriting landed property. My great-grandfather
before his death, bequeathed several hectares of
land to his sons while denying the daughters
inheritance. Their offence is their gender! Apart
from increasing crop yield by as much as 30
percent thereby feeding an additional 50 million
people, promoting land ownership by women has an
intrinsic benefit. It will stimulate the psyche of
women to contribute more to economic growth,
reduce poverty and enhance social well-being
through the enterprise of food provision. Women
should be treated equally in their accessibility to
land for farming, subsidy and other incentives
should be granted to them without discrimination.
The elimination of gender inequality in employment
is another measure of empowering our young
women. Women, most of the time are disfavoured on the pay-roll and job security. When it
comes to appointment and promotion, merit is often
sacrificed on the altar of gender! Promising young
women are made typists and ‘sexcretaries’. To
crown it all, occupational segregation on gender
grounds still dominates the labour market. A policy
protecting women at job entry, in employment
conditions and exit needs to be formulated. A policy
widening the scope of available legal remedy to
aggrieved female workers must be formulated with
unrepentant alacrity. If women are empowered
financially, it will boost the security and survival of
poor households. It is the platform through which
poverty can be defeated. Viably, governments
should review and revise all labour laws to
accommodate this necessity. Giving women chance
of managing big establishments if they are capable
will be a headstart in the resuscitation of our ailing
economy. We have seen how a female finance
minister, Mrs. Okonjo Ewela could register a
continental success by making Nigeria the biggest
economy in Africa within a short time of her
appointment.
However, all the aforementioned policy measures
will not be feasible if the political rights of young
women are not guaranteed. This is because political
leadership and government dictates implementation.
If there are few women in government,
implementing women-friendly policies will be
impossible. It is no news that there is paucity of
female hands in our political terrain. The global
community can achieve the goal of gender equality
and women empowerment if women freely
participate in politics. This can be actualized by
battling women’s political apathy. Women should be
made head of political parties. This will facilitate
more participation and stir their sense of belonging.
It is unfortunate that women suffer technical
restrictions imposed by religion and convention
when pursuing their political ambition. Women’s
seats in national parliaments should also be
increased.
Conclusively, the empowerment of our young
women is wider in proportion to the aforementioned
measures but if these core areas can be
addressed, women will become world leaders.
Empowering women will not translate to social
disequilibrium as argued. It will supplement the
birthing of a world of perfection where the female
specie is protected from genital mutilation, early/
forced marriage, et cetera.
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