In Nigerian women and the way Forward, Ekanem advocates gender inclusion

For Rev. Ime Bassey Ekanem, the author of Nigerian Women and The Way Forward, the role of women in nation building should not be underestimated, even as he stressed the need for gender inclusiveness in the country’s leadership.

At the public presentation of his new book, recently, he noted that institutions, societies and organisation in the 21st century couldn’t function effectively without women’s equal participation in leadership activities.

Nigerian women, he argued, are solutions to the nation’s problems. Therefore, the way forward is their full participation at all levels of leadership. Thus, what is needed is for National Assembly to amend Nigeria’s constitution to make it mandatory that when the President is a male, the Vice President should be female. When the Senate President is a female, the Deputy Senate President should be male…

Speaking further, he stated that the question of a woman’s status and the issue of equal rights for women are relevant to every culture and society on the globe.

According to him, the world’s confusion over the place and worth of women manifests itself in a variety of ways. In industrialised nations, changing roles of women in the family and society have not only brought new vocational opportunities for women, but also unforeseen personal and social issues. Even though women are doing the same jobs as men, on the average, they earn less than men and have less opportunity for advancement. Though many women are building careers, they also do the majority of the childbearing and household chores.

Continuing, he added that the offices of First Ladies of Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and all state Ministries of Women Affairs should create advocacy committee to be headed by a Director of the Ministry to reach out and encourage women in various states, local councils and wards to be fully involved in Nigeria’s affairs and make life meaningful to the widows.

Gender parity should be considered in all political appointments for both federal and states levels. Also, “I am appealing to the federal Ministry of Women Affairs to adopt my book as part of the material for 21st regular council meeting on Women Development, which will hold in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital from August 22 to 27, 2021 to encourage to encourage various states to be gender sensitive in their administrations.”