An NGO, Peace Heritage Foundation, has called for active participation of women in political and public decision making.
The Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Dr Christiana Omidiji, made the call at a town hall meeting jointly organised with Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), supported by the Ford Foundation on Thursday in Ibadan.
The IWD is observed all over the world every March 8, to celebrate social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
The 2023 IWD is themed “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”, to explore the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic, social and education inequalities.
According to Omidiji, the focus of the IWD 2023 celebration spotlights the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in the digital space, and addressing online and ICT facilitated gender based violence.
She said that achieving active participation of women in political and public decision making remained a condition for justice and sustainable democracy.
“Technology and innovations have changed the way we live and will continue to define our existence, including social and economic life.
“Without a deliberate gender approach to its design and application, more girls will be out of school, hunger and poverty will continue to increase and ultimately the existing inequality will continue to grow,” she said.
Omidiji said that available data showed that women were underrepresented at all levels of decision making which made achievement of the gender parity in political life far off.
“To achieve gender equality, we must ensure that our education policies are gender sensitive.
“Our laws must properly address child marriage and sexual harassment, give proper value to women’s work, and women should be encouraged into leadership and decision making processes,” she said.
The programme featured lectures and sensitisation campaign on women’s rights on gender based violence.
