How women’s contributions to national development can be appreciated

A fellow of Nigerian Academy of Science, Emeritus Professor Obioma Nwaorgu, has said the only way women’s contribution to national development can be appreciated is by electing a woman as president.
 
Nwaorgu, a professor of Parasitology and Epidemiology at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, has argued that a female president would wipe away Nigerian’s tears, insisting that Nigeria has too many women in the east, south and north who can perform the role creditably.
 
Speaking in Enugu, yesterday, the don regretted that despite the numerical strength of women, they are still grossly underrepresented in key leadership positions in the country.
 
She recalled that the result of the 2019 State and National Assembly elections showed that in Enugu State, there were only three women as against 21 men in the State Assembly.

She added that only 10 women across Nigeria got elected into the House of Representatives with 360 members, while only six women got into the Senate with 109 members.
 
According to her, this has resulted in an unequal power relationship between women and men, social norms decrease, education and paid employment opportunities for women.

Nworgu projected that at the current slow pace of progress by women, it could take them up to 2150, about 130 years, to arrive at the destination point and achieve the desired glory against the backdrop of lack of access to finance, online hate, violence, discriminatory norms and exclusionary policies that make progress through the ranks more difficult.
 
She stated that despite the odds, women should persist and continue to prove that when they lead, they bring transformational changes to entire communities and the world at large.