Gender Strategy Advancement International (GSAI), has called for robust inclusion of women in wconomic inclusion and governance.
The Executive Director of GSAI, Adaora Onyinchere, stated this at a two-day collaborative media engagement for development inclusivity and accountability project in Abuja on Thursday.
The event, themed: ‘Capacity Building for Reporters and Editors on Media Independence to Promote Women’s Economic Inclusion and Gender Accountability in Governance’, was supported by the Macarthur Foundation and Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
Onyinchere wondered why issues regarding the development of women are downplayed since 1999, even with the flurry of qualified female folks proving their mettle in different strata of life.
She stated that women at the grassroots largely feel the bite of marginalisation and poverty.
She, however, implored the media and civil society organisations to sufficiently project gender inclusion in their dealings and reportage in order to prod policymakers to act, accordingly.
She said: “We just launched our baseline report and our statistics of women from 1999 to date both in governance, in politics and the way government has tailored their implementation of gender budget has totally been null and void, for a population with over 49.2 percent.
“It is a serious problem and the need to evaluate and look at what government has done so far is very important.
“From our investigations, we are revealing the fact that there are no sense of duty to women inclusion at the community level because communities do not have effective policy system that can or could have worked through the ministry of women affairs at the state level.
“So, it seems as if there is insufficient effective implementation of policy at the grassroots rather we are now asking government to account for some of the fundings that were designated to bring women through political party inclusion, sensitisation and equal opportunity to bare which has not been there.
“We are also asking question and using this medium to teach and train the trainees on the need to act transparently and detail deliberate interventions through their beats where they cover.
“For instance, we are dealing with insecurity. How many women were killed? How many women are displaced? If you are dealing with the economy, how many women are the beneficiaries of any of these stepdowns intervention by government and why are they not included?
“How does that affects livelihood? How does that reduce poverty? Is it that political parties did not have women emerge at the primaries?
“And the reason for that is because more woman are not included in structures. So these are the questions of accountability.”
Also speaking, Meanwhile, the conveigner of Say No Campaign, Ezenwa Nwagwu Said that Nigeria runs a democracy that allows for competition for elective offices. He however recommended that for appointments, the government should create more positions for women, People Living With Disabilities, and other marginalised groups to ensure balance and inclusion.
He further said that the denomination of gender around women is not true, adding that it has to do with all classes of marginalised people.
“Many times when people talk about gender they denominate it around women, it’s not true. It’s about everyone; girls, men, and women through a lens that ensures that everything is equitable, just.
“So we’re going to begin to have conversations with political parties. I don’t believe in tokenism, I don’t support free tickets because there is no equity in free tickets.
“What you should do is to create certain positions or you can create more seats in parliament like they do in Rwanda, Uganda, and other places where they say these seats are for women, PLWDs. For instance, we have 109 seats in the Senate, we can increase it by 10, 20 only to be competed for by women, that way you are giving affirmation, ” he said.
