UN urges world leaders to prioritize investment in women, girls

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Today is International Women’s Day, dedicated to celebrating the global achievements of women across social, economic, cultural, and political spheres.

The day is also used to raise awareness about the persistent struggle for gender equality and women’s rights.

This year’s theme, Count her in, “Invest in Women; Accelerate Progress,” underscores the importance of investing in women to drive societal advancement.

Over many decades, the United Nations has made significant progress in advancing gender equality, notably through landmark agreements such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Despite the progress, gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in the society. with women encountering barriers such as limited access to quality employment, occupational segregation, and disparities in wages based on gender. Additionally, women may be deprived of fundamental rights such as education and healthcare, while also experiencing violence and discrimination in various forms.

The UN says if these trends continuous over 342 million women and girls could be living in extreme poverty by 2030 which Nigeria is not an exception currently standing at 123rd out o a total f 146 countries according to the 2022 World Gender Gap Report.

UN Call to Action

In his 2024 message, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres emphasised that countries must invest in programmes to end violence against women, and to drive women’s inclusion and leadership in economies, digital technologies, peacebuilding and climate action.

This all depends on unlocking finance for sustainable development so that countries have funds available to invest in women and girls, stated.

He added “We also need to increase the number of women leaders in business, finance, central banks and finance ministries. This can help drive investments in policies and programmes that respond to women and girls’ needs”

Ms. Beatrice Eyong, the UN Women’s Country Representative in Nigeria, said that the organization would continue to sustain it support for inclusive policies and programmes in Nigeria but however, called on the government to ensure economic stability in stimulating growth, generating job opportunities and alleviating poverty.

Government’s Commitment

The Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye said the government would ensure sustainable empowerment of women and other less privileged Nigerians through transparent and verifiable platforms that can improve their standard of living.

She said an E-portals market has been inaugurated, to facilitate seamless business ventures for the women who will operate as Cooperatives.

“Many items such as industrial sewing machines, grinding machines, garri processing and frying machines, weaving and button hole machines, Others include tapping machines, steaming pressure machines, fish smoking machines and rice milling machines have been distributed to Anambra, Kano, Rivers, Imo, Lagos, Oyo, Katsina, Gombe, kebbi, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Niger, Bayelsa, Benue and Jigawa states.

Mrs Ohanenye, revealed that it would soon be integrated to other states soonest with the involvement of an integrity brigade and traditional leaders to act as watch dogs and ensure that there is transparency and accountability, this group will report all forms of anomalies and the government will follow up accordingly. The Brigade will also be on the lookout to ensure judicious utilization of donor funds meant for Nigerians”

By Hadiza Abdulrahman

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