Social media campaign for reintroduction of five gender bills debuts in Abuja

A coalition of gender groups advocating the reintroduction of the five gender bills earlier thrown out of the 9th National Assembly is set to launch a social media campaign on Thursday in Abuja.

Supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Palladium, the campaign aims to ignite public discourse through the hashtags and signature campaign launch. Targeting various stakeholders, including political leaders, legislators, women in politics, and the general public.

Consisting Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center, (WARDC), Womanifesto, National Coalition on Affirmative Action, (NCAA), Gender and Constitution Reform Network, (GCRN), SAGE and Gender Mobile, will launch an ‘Advocacy Hashtag and Signature Campaign’, as a groundbreaking initiative aimed at promoting the passage of the five gender bills in Nigeria.

Founder and Executive Director of WARDC, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, in a communique, said the gender bill cluster will bring together key players in the social media and influencers sphere in Nigeria.

She notes with dismay that “Women’s representation in leadership roles is dishearteningly low, both in elective and appointive positions. Despite being half of the population and voters’ register, the numbers remain dismal.

“This campaign addresses key gender gaps in the 1999 Constitution . This is done to ensure adequate awareness of the deficiencies in the constitution and to draw the attention of lawmakers and public to the need to have a representative constitution.

“The event will bring together key players in the social media and influencers in Nigeria.

“The constitution itself contains provisions that perpetuate gender bias, such as the silent stance on women’s rights to confer citizenship.”

Dr. Akiyode-Afolabi adds that “There is an urgent need to address these disparities and ensure gender equality and inclusion of women in all spheres of life.”

The five gender bills are; The Bill to provide special seats for women at national assembly, affirmative action for women in political party administration- 35 percent of executive positions, the bill seeking to grant citizenship to foreign-born husbands of a Nigerian woman. Already, a Nigerian man’s foreign-born wife is automatically a Nigerian citizen.

The other two bills are; A bill that indigenship- married women should have a choice on state of origin and last bill seeks inclusion of at least ten percent affirmative action in favour of women in ministerial appointments.

Recall that in 2022, the 9th National Assembly threw out these bills. Womanifesto, a feminist non-political, women focused group made up of over 500 organisations across Nigeria, led a protest against the National Assembly after the bills were rejected.

The gender cluster group was formed after this rejection and have also continued with advocacy visits and media awareness on the bills and their impact on Nigerian women.

With increasing calls for gender equality led by the United Nations emphasizing that gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but also a necessary foundation for a peaceful and prosperous society, the coalition hopes to bring back the bills as they are vetted for passage into law by 2024.

“The United Nations has repeatedly emphasized that gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but also a necessary foundation for a peaceful and prosperous society (UN Women). Yet here we are – half our population marginalized due to outdated laws and societal norms,” the group said.

The meeting will have the Deputy Speaker, Retd Hon Benjamin Kalu, Retd Honourable Nkiru Onyejeocha And other key influencers are expected to join the launch.