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Build coalition, create movement to push for your rights, Minister charges women

The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen has charged women to support the upliftment of their gender, build a coalition and create a movement that cannot be ignored in the country’s polity.

The Minister gave this charge at the National Launch of Fifty-Fifty (50-50) Action Women Advocacy Group, which is advocating for gender accountability and empowerment of all women and girls in Nigeria.

The National Launch was organized by WomenAid Collective (WACOL), in partnership with Ford Foundation West Africa.

She added that throughout history, Nigerian women have been at the forefront of advocating for social change, fighting for their rights, and speaking up for those who have been silenced.

The Minister said the power of women-led advocacy and the vital role it plays in shaping society cannot be overemphasized. She added that throughout history, Nigerian women have been at the forefront of advocating for social change, fighting for their rights, and speaking up for those who have been silenced.

She therefore said, “on this journey, you cannot go it alone, it means working together, supporting and uplifting other women, and recognizing that we are all in this fight together. It means building coalitions, fostering solidarity, and creating a movement that cannot be ignored.

“I understand that the project is to enable more women to participate and benefit to transform their lives, their immediate local communities/constituencies towards a violence-free society where gender accountability matters.

“The task before the beneficiaries is not an easy one. It will entail being fearless in the face of adversity. It means speaking up when others remain silent. It means taking action, even when it feels impossible, as well as never giving up on the fight for justice for any woman irrespective of class, creed or political affiliation.

“No matter the disappointments we witnessed, we cannot stop now. We must continue to speak up, to stand together, and to fight for what is right. We must continue to build a society, where women are free to be who they want to be, to pursue their dreams, and to live without fear,” she said.

The Executive Director of WACOL, Professor Joy Ezeilo in her presentation, said one of the projects of WACOL which was funded by Ford Foundation West Africa seeks to contribute to the elimination of violence against women and girls in the South-East and South-South enabled by social norms and cultural practices

She said they invested in initiatives to address key drivers of violence against women and girls, and harnessed women’s leadership roles to champion the change they want to see by driving the process and engaging with policymakers, cultural and religious leaders, including institutions.

The WACOL ED said they also used the instrumentality of an integrated and gender-sensitive, and rights-based approach, to provide support to communities to effectively evaluate norms and customs which are propagating sex stereotypes and gender inequalities in a responsive manner with a view to reviewing them.

Ezeilo said since the birth of the project, WACOL carried out relevant activities that contributed significantly to the realization of its ultimate targeted goal, which is to eliminate social norms and practices that promote violence against women and girls in society.

On the core objective of the project which was to raise women leaders to take ownership, analyze issues of rights of women and drive advocacy for attitudinal change on issues of harmful practices against women, WACOL selected 50 women from each of the seven focal states and organized intensive training for them on leadership, advocacy, networking and collaboration towards synergizing actions to change gender-based harmful cultural practices.

“Following the intensive training, the women were constituted into groups and inaugurated; thereafter christened “Fifty-Fifty (50/50) Action Women Advocacy Group (AWG). Presently, they have over 350 memberships across seven (7) states in Nigeria.

“The AWG have the mandate to drive the process of catalyzing consciousness of stakeholders, advocating for policy, and cultural changes and practices against women and girls in the communities, in addition to the effective implementation of the state of emergency declared by the Nigerian governor’s forum on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).

“Following advocacy engagements, the AWG has been able to secure the commitments of notable traditional rulers, some of whom have transformed into gender champions and advocates”, she noted.

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