The wife of the Cross River State Governor, Dr. Linda Ayade, and a former lawmaker in the National Assembly, Amb Nkoyo Toyo, have called for an end to unfairness and discrimination against women in Nigeria.
They made the call Tuesday as women all over the world celebrated International Women’s Day which has as its theme: ‘Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow’.
During the celebration at the Ministry of Women Affairs in Calabar, Ayade kicked against the National Assembly for rejecting four out of five gender equality bills.
According to her, “The society is better off when women get the opportunities they deserve. Our society has been deprived of certain advancements as a result of women being denied leadership opportunities and for many years this has been the status quo.
“About 95 percent of men voted against the Constitution women want. How ironic to note that this gloomy act of discrimination took place on the first day of March,
the International Women’s Month!
“Our celebration today is for those women who no longer accept discrimination, insecurity, and unfairness.”
She urged women to sustain the agitation and said it would be a thing of joy to see that women would be at the centre of government policies and programmes, “because we constitute a large chunk of the population that cannot be ignored.”
Meanwhile, Amb. Toyo led a protest of women groups to the State House of Assembly during which she said there has been high rate of discrimination against women in governance.
The former Ambassador to Ethiopia asked the National Assembly to go back and rethink their position on the recent rejection of the gender bills.
“There are inhibitors which make it difficult for women to come out. The first thing you are told when you come into politics is to go and bring your money, you this prostitute! So the whole engagement with women takes more than ordinary courage to come out and become part of what is happening in governance.
“It is not an easy journey for women and society is not making it easier. So these bills are attempting to make it easier for women to come out. We are asking the National Assembly to step back, take a deep breath, reflect again on the five clauses that we wanted,” she said.
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