Women marginalisation bane of underdevelopment ― Mrs Akeredolu

WIFE of the Ondo State Governor, Mrs Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, on Wednesday, identified marginalisation of the womenfolk in the area of education, politics and economy as the bane of under- development in the country.

Akeredolu who stated this in Akure, Ondo state capital, during the first year anniversary of the Forum for Wives of Ondo State Officials (FOWOSO), said apart from marginalisation, underage marriage, incest and rape are some of the factors that contribute to the economic quagmire Nigeria is facing as a nation.

She noted that women who are supposed to contribute the nation’s development positively have been sidelined and confined to the kitchen.

According to her, women should not be discriminated against as a result of their sex and should not be excluded from some professions saying women can do better in some of these areas.

According to her, there is no benefit to suppress the abilities of women by denying them quality education, marrying them off against their will and confining them to the kitchen.

She said “the statistics are clear, nations that have risen to become world economic giants today, are nations that invested significantly in their human resources, females and males alike, without preference for a particular gender.

“How do we expect to develop if women, who make up more than half of the entire population are restricted to kitchen duties and child rearing only and then expected, like serfs, to totally depend on their husbands for every need?

 

ALSO READ: Home trading: Jigawa LGC empowers 460 women with N4,000 each

“It is simple economics, a high dependency ratio automatically results to stalled development. Knowing this, I have dedicated my life to driving gender equality, not because I love the female folk more, but because I seek the growth and achievement of humanity as a whole.”

Mrs Akeredolu, however, called on women to fully participate in engineering the development of the country, noting that women have lost many years to silence and passiveness towards national development, she said it is not too late for them to get involved.

She said that FOWOSO women are proving to the world that women can drive economic growth in any nation adding that the state women are unstoppable whether or not male folk want them to participate in the nation’s development.

In his remark, the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu called for increased investment in the education of the girl-child in the country and pledged that his government would invest in the girl-child education.

Akeredolu said the nation cannot develop without investment not only in education but in girl-child as women contribute to the economic development of the country.

He said the country cannot achieve its dreams of a prosperous and inclusive society without reinventing its approach on how the government is treating the majority of its girls and women.

He said if the nation invested properly in the education of women and girls, more women and girls have the potentials to change the stories.