From Cyriacus Nnaji, Lagos
An author, activist and social entrepreneur, Morenike Adebayo has stated that digital era offers women in Nigeria like other developing countries, more voices.
Adebayo took the position at the Second Edition of Digital Rights Webinar series which was hosted by ITRealms in collaboration with DigitalSENSE Africa, Domain Name System (DNS) Women – Nigeria and NaijaAgroNet.
The theme of the event was ‘Women and Rights in Digital Era.’
Adebayo who dwelt on subtheme: “Nigerian Youth, Women and Rights in Digital Era” noted that in a country that has very limited representation for women in politics, the military, and law enforcement, “it is also refreshing to see the women’s rights movement find refuge in online platforms.”
She cited for instance that social media has become the traditional channel for pressuring law enforcement to bring sexual offenders and murderers to justice.
“See the recent #JusticeforUwa and #JusticeforTina movements seeking justice for Tina Ezekwe and Vera Uwalia Omozuwa, for instance,” she declared.
Morenike pointed out that technology mostly through the Internet seems to be shaking the traditional hierarchies that have subjugated Nigerian women as a whole for centuries.
“Social media has also spearheaded a large-scale societal shift in beliefs around rape and victimhood through hashtags such as #SayNoToRape,” she said, calling for more infrastructure deployment in rural communities across the country.
She stated that digital era has revolutionised democracy and political consciousness in Nigeria, stressing that for the first time in her history, Nigerians have an accessible platform from which to share their thoughts to the public, thus information has now become currency literally.
