Engineers canvass equal opportunity for Nigerian women

The Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) has urged governments at all levels, the private sector and other stakeholders to give women more opportunities to enable them contribute meaningfully to the nation’s development.

NSE President Engr. Babagana Mohammed made this call Thursday in Abuja during a school competition organised by the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) in Abuja to commemoratte International Women’s Day and also encourage girls to go into engineering.

According to Mohammed, the purpose of the International Women’s Day, among others, is to promote participation of women in the engineering sector in Nigeria, assuring that the government through APWEN will continue to work with the female engineers and ensure their rights, inclusion and participation in the society.

His words: “Women are not slaves and should be treated with respect and be given equal opportunities as the male child, in fact female engineers should come up because the environment is not meant for men alone”

“They are part of us, which means we must support them deliberately. In our books it is written, they are our companions”.

“It is high time we ginger up and spark up this advocacy that girl child should be given equal rights”.

The National President of APWEN, Engr. Funmilola Oyelade, said the celebration of the 2021 IWD is a call for the advancement of women and also to encourage young girls who want to be professional engineers in future.

She said as professional women in the field of engineering have challenged stereotypes.

“We have chosen school girls from the FCT and other geo-political zones to be awarded scholarships, to encourage them in their studies,” she said.

On her part, Dr. Zainab Gimba disclosed that the journey towards change started way back to the time of the World War I and II, where lots of men died and women were left to take responsibility of their children.

Gimba explained: “Mothers told their daughters how they have suffered and worked as nurses and doctors back in the 1960s and 70s and then the feminist group came into existence to challenge the existing position of women in the global system.

“There began a growing awareness for more right and opportunities for women which has already been discovered by these women and saw the need to change the narrative”.

According to her the challenges women face now are more complex.

She continued: “In 2021 we choose to challenge the fight against domestic violence, against child abuse, to see female child education be a priority, stop the abduction of female students in schools, and also challenging to stop the kidnapping of female from schools”.

Stressing the need to give proper education to the female child so they can excel beyond stereotype, she pointed out that women are taking on important position in the society and also doing well in the world generally.

According to Gimba, empowering the female child is not a barrier to the opposite sex, she also urge the men not to feel threatened as this action would only make them better wives, mothers and daughters.