Kwara seeks solutions to gender inequalities

Kwara State Government government has stated that until adequate education and awareness are given to female children, their freedom from abysmal societal exploitation will remain a mirage and unaccomplished.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mrs. Olanrewaju Bake, said this at a conference jointly organised by Chidemma and Havilah Foundation and Seed of Praise Centre for Youth, Women, and Children Development Initiative to commemorate this year’s International Day of Girls’ Child at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) press centre.

Bake listed the girls’ child exploitation as poverty, gender discrimination, societal and religious limitations, and rape among others.

Represented by a Director in the ministry, Victoria Funmilayo, Bake explained that the girls’ child faces various challenges globally.

She said: “These challenges range from poverty, illiteracy, gender discrimination, religious limitation, economic factors, and sexual violence among others.

“Poverty is one of the most significant barriers facing the girls’ child. This make some families to keep girl child at home for hawking and other domestic chores.

“In Nigeria, there are some social and gender norms that places a low value on girl education and promote boy child preference.”

According to her, adolescent girls in some climes drop out of school to be forced into marriage, “incidence of constant sexual harassment of the girl child and rape are major challenges facing the girl child.

She suggested awareness for gender inequalities and focused attention on how these barriers can be addressed just as she added empowerment for every girl child.

She stressed that the girls’ child must be empowered with social, economic, political, educational, and psychological tools.

Also represented by a Director, Ayanlola Omolola, the commissioner for education and Human capital development, Sahadat Modibo Kawu, urged the students drawn from across the state to make life meaningful for themselves.

He urged the education stakeholders to include a future in which girls are valued, educated, and given the ability to lead in the vision for the girls’ child future.

She said: “We must all work together to create a world in which girls can thrive and make a positive contribution to socicty.”

She also urged lecturers at the event to consider the variety of challenges, including gender-based violence, limited access to education, economic inequality, and social expectations confronting the girls’ child.

The secretary, Kwara NUJ council, Mahmood Alaya, in his keynote titled: “Promoting Adolescent Girls’ Formal Education Enrolment through Media Engagement and Visibility,” said being a girl should not determine what a girl child can achieve, where she can go, or who she can become.

“Sadly, for millions of girls around the world, this is not yet a reality.”

He however described girls as not only resilient in the face of adversity but hopeful for a brighter future.