Nigeria has a long way to go when it comes to
supporting women’s rights and gender equality.
Religion and culture affect how women are treated in
society.

These factors often hinder progress. This
year was especially challenging for women and girls
around the world. The world’s remaining
superpower, the United States of America failed to
elect its first female president. However, there were
strides in other areas. For instance, Ilhan Omar was
elected the first Somali-American lawmaker in the
United States. In Nigeria to date, no woman has been
elected governor, president, or vice-president. 2016
was just not the year for women and girls. Why?

The Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill was
rejected; The Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill
also known as the GEO Bill was voted against by
Nigerian lawmakers. The bill sought to eliminate all
forms of discrimination against women and girls.

It should come as no surprise why this bill is necessary and needed. On a daily basis, women and girls in Nigeria are discriminated against solely on the basis of their gender, whether on the job or in society at large. On December 9, 2016, the senate public hearing on the GEO Bill was canceled for the lack of quorum. Nigerian lawmakers do not deem women’s rights and gender equality important, so not only did they vote against the GEO Bill, they also did not even show up to achieve a quorum on the day the Bill was to be discussed.

President Buhari’s Comment about Women :

To date, President Buhari is yet to apologize for his
comments in Germany where he relegated women’s
role to the kitchen, the living room, and the other
room. President Buhari’s inappropriate comments
were made in the presence of Angela Merkel, the first
female chancellor of Germany. His comments came
three days after the International Day of the Girl
Child. What impact does such a statement have on
women and girls in Africa considering that Buhari is
the current President of the most populous country
on the continent? It means that there is no public
leadership role for women and girls in Nigeria. It
means that women and girls are not respected or
seen as equals.

Sexual harassment and assault in Nigeria’s
Prisons :

Data from The National Council of Women’s
Society reveals that 90 percent of female prisoners
are either pregnant or nursing mothers.

The
organization urged the Nigerian government to
implement and create policies that would protect
female prisoners. Many of these prisoners are
reported to be poorly educated, from
socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and
have some form of mental health problems. What
can be done to protect this vulnerable group?

Terrorism in Internally Displaced Person Camps. ;

On a daily basis, women and girls in internally
displaced person (IDP) camps are raped and sexually
exploited by security forces and vigilante groups.

Many are drugged and coerced into having sex in
exchange for food and other basic necessities. The
Human Rights Watch reports that Nigerian
government officials and other authorities have
raped and sexually exploited women and girls
displaced by Boko Haram. We can agree that more
needs to be done to protect women and girls to
ensure that they have access to basic rights, necessities, and services.

Continuous kidnappings of women and girls.


Nnamdi Obasi, Senior Adviser at the International
Crisis Group reported the kidnappings of about 35
women on December 12, 2016, by over 100 armed
bandits in Matankari village, Maru local government
area, Zamfara State, Nigeria. These kidnappings are
one of many to have occurred in 2016 that either
went unreported or were not given adequate media
attention.

Are you one of em nairaland feminists?

The National Soccer Team were not paid.

When will the talents of women and girls in Nigeria be taken seriously and respected? After winning the
2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations, the biennial
international football championship organized by the
Confederation of African Football for the women
national teams of Africa. Nigeria’s national women’s
football team, also known as the Super Falcons, were
not paid their allowance and other bonuses after
winning the championship.

The nonpayment of their
allowance led to a protest at the Nigerian National
Assembly (NASS) and the Presidential Villa for a little
over 9 days. This peaceful protest was also followed
by an outrage on social media from Nigerian citizens
in support of the team.

The team began protesting on
December 6, 2016, and were recently paid after the
government felt publicly humiliated by the media

My hopes for the coming year :
As 2017 approaches, I hope that Nigeria and other African countries will work hard to implement and take seriously the UN Sustainable Development Goals. I hope that Nigerian lawmakers will do what is right and pass the gender equality bill. I hope that Nigeria will ensure equal rights for all, protect and provide security for women and girls. I hope that the Nigerian society will understand that women have an enormous role to play in Nigeria’s economic development progress and growth. I hope that Nigerian women will fight for their right and take what is rightly theirs to take. Women’s rights are indeed human rights.

lady2lady:
My hopes for the coming year :
I hope that Nigerian
lawmakers will do what is right and pass the gender
equality bill.

Lady, i respect your courage and boldness in coming out to state your views on women rights.
Question i want to ask is, How will this gender equality bill help prevent all the crimes you mentioned, meted out on women?.
Second question is where did you get the statistic that 90% of female prisoners are either pregnant or nursing mothers. I am not challenging your figures, just that it sounds spurious to me.
Finally, do you really think men&women were naturally, religiously, or biologically equal?.
You don't need to answer the last question.
The answer is capital NO.
My take is that this gender equality thing is far fetched and just one of those mantra coming from a world that has gone crazy and lost it's direction.
I think more efforts should be put towards protecting women and children worldwide than fighting for equality with men which to me has no religious or biological basis.

I know the majority won't concur but these are my sincere opinions as an individual on the matter. I don't hope to be quoted but by anybody that chooses to should explain how both sexes are equal.
Make me understand and i might buy your idea. My questions are directed at the OP in particular since she is of learned mind.

lady2lady:

Nigeria has a long way to go when it comes to
supporting women’s rights and gender equality.
Religion and culture affect how women are treated in
society.

These factors often hinder progress. This
year was especially challenging for women and girls
around the world. The world’s remaining
superpower, the United States of America failed to
elect its first female president. However, there were
strides in other areas. For instance, Ilhan Omar was
elected the first Somali-American lawmaker in the
United States. In Nigeria to date, no woman has been
elected governor, president, or vice-president. 2016
was just not the year for women and girls. Why?

The Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill was
rejected; The Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill
also known as the GEO Bill was voted against by
Nigerian lawmakers. The bill sought to eliminate all
forms of discrimination against women and girls.

It should come as no surprise why this bill is necessary and needed. On a daily basis, women and girls in Nigeria are discriminated against solely on the basis of their gender, whether on the job or in society at large. On December 9, 2016, the senate public hearing on the GEO Bill was canceled for the lack of quorum. Nigerian lawmakers do not deem women’s rights and gender equality important, so not only did they vote against the GEO Bill, they also did not even show up to achieve a quorum on the day the Bill was to be discussed.

dac

I'd really like the GEO to be reconsidered because naija men have suffered alot and still suffering. We need equal rights and opportunities
make una know wetin we dey go through for this world too.

Sincere4u:

Lady, i respect your courage and boldness in coming out to state your views on women rights.
Question i want to ask is, How will this gender equality bill help prevent all the crimes you mentioned, meted out on women?.
Second question is where did you get the statistic that 90% of female prisoners are either pregnant or nursing mothers. I am not challenging your figures, just that it sounds spurious to me.
Finally, do you really think men&women were naturally, religiously, or biologically equal?.
You don't need to answer the last question.
The answer is capital NO.
My take is that this gender equality thing is far fetched and just one of those mantra coming from a world that has gone crazy and lost it's direction.
I think more efforts should be put towards protecting women and children worldwide than fighting for equality with men which to me has no religious or biological basis.

I know the majority won't concur but these are my sincere opinions as an individual on the matter. I don't hope to be quoted but by anybody that chooses to should explain how both sexes are equal.
Make me understand and i might buy your idea. My questions are directed at the OP in particular since she is of learned mind.

Great reply. Well stated.
Women are to be loved, cared for, and protected.
This has been the situation since prehistoric times but we live in a fast changing world.
Today we hear not only of gender equality but even gay rites.
Check out countries where any measure of gender equality has been achieved. They are characterized by crazy levels of divorce rates with some marriages lasting just hours!.