CELEBRATING CENTENARY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
By Gloria Thomas
The eighth of March every year is observed as the International Women's day. It is a day set aside by the United Nations to recognize women's achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, cultural, religious, economic or political.
The day for women around the world, is an occasion to review how far they have come in their struggle for equality, peace and development. It is also an opportunity to unite, network and mobilize for meaningful change. This is achieved through numerous activities such as workshops, conferences, road shows, media events and other interactions to highlight the plight of women.
The theme for 2011 International Women's Day is: Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women .
This year's celebration is also the hundredth anniversary of the Day which first began with events in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland in 1911 and attended by over one million people.
One hundred years on, the International Women's Day has become a global mainstream phenomenon celebrated across many countries and is an official holiday in approximately twenty five countries.
In the one hundred years of the day's observance, women have risen from the back benches to the front row of socio-economic, cultural, religious and political development.
Women have won universal sufferage, heading multi national corporations, making in-roads in education and all spheres of human endeavour.
This year's theme: Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women is apt especially in Africa where there still exists wide gap between both genders in education and employement.
Academically, African women are catching up with the men, but some still have to give up education for other family obligations, though they chair a number of board meetings, women still have along way to go in the world of business.
The Beijing Platform of Action in 1995, stipulated thirty-five percent positions for women, though that is yet to be achieved, the in-roads women have made in this direction is highly commendable.
Today, women occupy various political offices with fifty-five percent women in Rwanda's parliament, including the first female Speaker and a woman President in Liberia, another first in Africa.
In as much as all eight Millennium Development Goals relate to various aspects of women's lives, making the empowerment of women a critical part of achieveing the targets set for 2015 shows the level of global commitmment to raising the status and profile of women.
United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon in his centenary message on the theme of the celebration, said the use of cell phones and the internet backed up by education and training can help women to break the cycle of poverty, combat injustice and exercise their rights. One cannot agree more with the UN scribe. The launch, this year of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, demonstrates the world body's commitment to empower women.
Nigeria, like most African countries has made efforts to promote gender equality and women empowerment by attesting to several regional and international committments including the MDGs. The home-grown national gender policy in 2006, emphasised inclusion of women and the recognition of their potentials and activities in all spheres of life.
The creation of the Ministry of Women Affairs gave women a platform to cordinate their activities within government's budget. The Mininstry helps to pursue the cause of women, in collaboration with an array of gender-based organisations, and at the same time, give them an avenue to cordinate their activities and encourage women participation in all events.
Although, maternal mortality is still high in Nigeria, especially in rural areas with little access to facilities and medical personel, government has risen to the occasion with the rural midwives initiative where thousands of trained nurses have been posted to rural communities to reverse the trend.
The girl child education drive has seen an increase in school enrolment for girls, especially in the northern part of the country where they are disadvantaged.
In addition, the all male national defence academy for military personnel will this year enrol its first set of female cadets, an indication of the growing educational numbers of women.
The role of women in the country's political journey cannot be over stressed as Nigerian women have been playing a critical role since independence. Their participation has seen a lot of them serving as Local Government Chairmen, Commissioners, Deputy Governors, Ministers, Ambassadors and Senators.
Though women are yet to take advantage of their numbers politically, a recent promise for thirty-five percent of posts by some political parties in Nigeria is no doubt a plus for women empowerment in Africa's most populous nation.
No doubt, women have surmounted countless hurdels to get to where they are today and many more are lined up for them to jump, but with adequate education and proper mobilization, they will be on the path to a decent life, gain respect for their rights and be qual contributors and participants in their personal, regional and global affairs.
