Despite being in the 21st century when many nations in the world advanced socially, economically and technologically with the concomitant improvement of living standards, the plight of citizens especially women in the third world countries is still pathetic.
Women activists decry that their fellow women in the developing countries are still the most marginalized and disadvantaged set of people who lag behind educationally, financially and socially. They attribute violence against women to societal norms and misperceptions which hinder them from having equal opportunities like their male counterparts.
Perhaps in consideration of the endemic violence against the women folk, the United Nations (UN) general assembly designated 8th March and 11th October every year as international days of women and girl child respectively in order to celebrate womanhood.
Such days which are holidays in many nations are often marked with protests against sexism and discrimination against women and girls as well as awareness campaigns on the need to accord females same privileges like males in the society.
Fortnight ago, relevant stake holders in Nigeria joined others in the globe to celebrate this year’s international day of the girl child.
In Bauchi State, the day was commemorated last Thursday 18th October 2018 and was led by the wife of the State Governor Hajiya Hadiza Mohammed Abubakar, Ministry of Women Affairs and a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) called ‘The High Level Women Advocates’ (HILWA) with the theme ” With her, A skilled girl force”.
Speaking during the celebration which took place at government house Bauchi, state chairperson of HILWA Mrs Lydia Shehu who doubles as permanent secretary ministry of social welfare, youths and Sports explained that this year’s theme was aimed at creating awareness on the need to allow girls gain access to sound education and the skills they need to actualize their life goals.
She stated that educated and skilled workers are in great demand in this era lamenting however that roughly a quarter of young people most of them females are currently neither employed or in education or training.
She also decried that 90 per cent of adolescent girls living in developing countries who work are in the informal sector where low or no pay, abuse and exploitation are common.
Mrs Lydia Shehu explained that of the one billion young people in the world including 600 million adolescent girls, it is estimated that more than 90 per cent of them that would enter the workforce in the next decade in developing countries would still work in the informal sector as a result of their marginalization.
” Young women are often found in the most marginalized segments of the informal economy with fewer assets, greater risks and lower income. The most disadvantaged girls those in rural areas and humanitarian settings and those with disabilities have even less access to decent work”.
” Ten per cent of primary aged girls are still out of school. Many more have not been able to progress to secondary school and still need support to develop basic skills in literacy and numeracy. At the current rate of progress, by 2030, more than half the world’s girls will not be on track to achieve basic skills at the secondary level”. She foretold.
According to her, girls’ full participation in the future workforce will require tackling gender stereotypes and harmful social norms across professions and addressing the many systematic barriers to decent work they face including child marriage, early motherhood and gender based violence.
The NGO pointed out that girls willing to study engineering and technology related courses such as piloting etc are being stopped by either their parents or husbands as the society misconceived them to be male studies.
She reiterated that girls have the potentials, strength, creativity and energy to meet global industry demands saying for them to gain access to the skills they need, they rely on the global community to support them to harness their potentials.
” To develop a skilled Girlforce, the global community should work to rapidly expand access to inclusive education and training, improve the quality, relevance and gender responsiveness of teaching and learning to enable girls to develop foundational, transferable and job-specific skills needed for life and work, create inclusive and accessible schools, training and learning opportunities to empower girls with disabilities, change stereotypes, social norms and unconscious bias in relation to gender roles to enable girls to have the same learning and career opportunities as boys”.
” Increase girls’ participation in science, Technology, Engineering and Math learning, create initiatives to support girls’ school to work transition, such as career guidance, apprenticeships, internships and entrepreneurship, Enable access to finance and enterprise development for female entrepreneurs, form strategic partnerships with government and private companies which can act as thought leaders and financiers, helping to train girls and bring them into the workforce”. The NGO pleaded.
The women activist appealed to husbands to also support their wives wishing to further their education and to pursue the careers of their choices.
This is just as she advised married women who work to reciprocate by assisting in providing family needs from their earnings and remain faithful to their spouses so that they could be encouraged to permit them to pursue their education or work careers.
In her remarks, the wife of the governor Hajiya Hadiza Mohammed Abubakar represented by the state commissioner of Women affairs Hajiya Rukayya Ibrahim Kewa advocated compulsory basic education to the girl child in Nigeria.
According to her, lack of jobs among mothers force them to send their girls to hawk on streets in order to raise money for their upkeep saying in consideration of that, her pet project B-SWEEP was established with the objective of empowering women in the State.
The governor’s wife also opined that some parents marry out their female children early due to the rate of moral decadence in the society to prevent them from being spoilt at tender ages.
However, the executive chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Professor Yahya Ibraheem Yero while receiving the High Level Women Advocates on a courtesy visit to his office as part of activities marking the 2018 international day of the girl child posited that instead of activists to always campaign against early girls’ marriage which he asserted is not a barrier to education, they should also fight against prostitution, pre-marital and extra-marital affairs perpetrated by women and girls.
