Over 62 Millions Girls Are Out Of School – Johnson
By Gina Emmanuel
Former Minister of Communication and Technology, Dr (Mrs) Omobola Johnson disclosed at the weekend that over 62m girls are out of school in the society.
Speaking during the 10th anniversary of a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Women In Successful Career(WISCAR), Johnson said the 62 millions girls who are out of school in the society are out not because they are from a poor background, but due to their gender.
“Unconsciously we all have gender inequality in raising our children allowing gender based abuse for the girl-child. Gender based policy allocation is a way of developing our women, which I think should be continued”.
Johnson, who is the new Senior Partner at TLcom , a technology firm said “Women must be technologically inclined in the things they do because technology in this age, is helping to solve women related issues. Also Women should form partnership to strengthen and broaden themselves. The mindset that women should end up in the kitchen should be changed.
“The girl-child should be encouraged to study science. The girl-child should be raised with confidence. Ensure that women are well-equipped and advised. Health related issues like cancer can be a major constraints among women and there should also be strict enforcement of the law on domestic violence in families. We should also continue to participate with women based organization to support and empower them”.
On her part, former Ekiti state First Lady, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, now a gender specialist and co-founder of the African Women Development Fund harped on ways that gender gap could be closed.
She further stated that, our society does not give room for the women to express themselves on important issues. She mentioned that women should not be restricted to taking care of the family.
“Gender gap is about majority of the women in Nigeria whose voices are not heard. Gender gap is huge and only gets worse. For every successful woman, there is a price that we pay. We need to stop training our girls on being only domestic. The use of the platform we have; the social media, whether we are corporate or political leaders, let us use those platforms to leverage women.
“Use these platforms to say something nice and encouraging to women and not make things more difficult for them. We need to join hands together to fight patriotisms. Let us be our sister’s keeper. We all, male and female, young and old need to work together to bridge the gender gap”.
Speaking earlier, founder of WISCAR, Amina Oyagbola, said WISCAR is all about developing young women to enable them to be more confident and enable them to achieve their goals, bring out their own unique value and contribution wherever they are, in the private or public sector, including the society.
The former MTN Nigeria amazon further stated that the ultimate thing is for them to contribute to building a better nation.
“Without the contribution of men and women of goodwill, individuals and corporate organizations, we simply would not be able to do what we are doing.
“We have been able to keep going because people believe in WISCAR and our aim is to encourage and support women to stay at the top and see them crossover, while being able to meet their family commitment, nurture their children and also handle their career.”
