PDP WOmen Leader, Chikwe Slams Nigerian Senate Over Gender Bill

No Excuse For Dismissing The Gender And Equal Opportunities Bill

On behalf of the entire PDP women, I join members of the civil society
to express profound disappointment and displeasure over the dismissal of
the Nigerian Gender and Equal Opportunities bill by the Nigerian Senate,
on Tuesday March, 2016.

This regressive action ironically occurred at a critical time when the
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) conference is
currently holding in New York, USA.

The implication of throwing out the Gender and Equal Opportunities bill
is that the incidences of rape, domestic violence, maternal mortality,
poverty e.t.c, which have been ravaging our Country will continue
unchallenged. The dismissal of that bill essentially undermines the
contributions Nigerian women are making towards our national
development.

That bill is not just about women. It is centred around the survival of
the family system in Nigeria. If that bill were passed, the greatest
beneficiaries would have been the menfolk, who are undoubtedly the heads
of families. Nigerian women have partnered with them in building stable
homes and the society at large. Nigerian women have proved capacity to
lead and capacity to follow in national development.

Nigerian women are very conscious of positive Nigerian cultures and
tradition but however, they propose to eliminate those factors that
retard our socio economic development to comparable international
standards. I watched the debate and I pay tribute to some of the male
senators who made very positive contributions in support of the bill for
which the female senators fought hard but lost the battle.

Women constitute more than 50% of the population of the country;
unfortunately, they are only a minute minority in both the National
Assembly and State Houses of Assembly. It is therefore no surprise that
that bill was thrown out. That bill was about humanity and not about
women.

I therefore plead with the Senate to revisit this bill, especially in
the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially as
the Senate President has already promised to reconsider it.

Signed:

Amb. Dr. Kema Chikwe
PDP National Woman Leader