Give women chance for self-realisation —Group

STAKEHOLDERS in the advancement of women’s cause under the aegis of Protection of Women Dignity Initiative (PWDI) in Kwara State have called for support and creation of opportunity for Nigerian women to realise their potentials so that the society can also benefit from them.

Speaking at the third public lecture/interactive session of the organisation, themed “Islam and the Right of Women to Self-realisation”, the coordinator, Dr Nimah Abdulraheem and the Head of Mass Communication Department, University of Ilorin, Dr Saudat Abdulbaki, however, said the rights of women could only be fully realised through the support of men.

“Women have rights but if they don’t have the support of the other gender, such rights can never be realised. This has been a global problem. Let us allow women to shed more light on things. Those problems that are difficult to solve by men, I believe they can be solved by women.

“Just as men have right to be presidents of nations, women also have the same right even under the Islamic law. It could have been a different thing if you are talking of a nation where Shari’ah is the basic law, but we are talking of Nigeria where what we use is constitution.

“What will prevent a woman from becoming the president of a nation if the constitution says that there shall be no discrimination against any gender? Why are we discriminating against the womenfolk; that they cannot be this or that? We have the potentials. We can also make contributions if given the opportunity”, Dr Abdulraheem said.

Abdulbaki emphasised the need to encourage women to use their potential and pursue their goals. “We should go after our own passion. Know what you want and go after it”, she said.

The Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, Dr Ibrahim Adam, urged men to assist women to achieve self-realisation and not see them as competitors.