UN decries gender-based violence, discrimination

The United Nations has said that billions of women and girls face injustice, discrimination and marginalisation.

The UN Secretary-General,  Antonio Guterres, said this in an OP-ED  on Thursday.

International Women’s Day is usually marked every March 8 and this year’s theme is ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress.’

Guterres noted that discrimination against women and girls remained perfectly legal in much of the world.

“Billions of women and girls face marginalisation, injustice, and discrimination, as millennia of male domination continue to shape societies. The persistent epidemic of gender-based violence disgraces humanity.

“Over four million girls are estimated to be at risk of female genital mutilation each year. Discrimination against women and girls remains perfectly legal in much of the world. In some places, that makes it difficult for women to own property, in others, it allows men to rape their wives with impunity,” he stated.

He also said that wherever there was conflict, climate disaster, poverty, or hunger, women and girls suffered the most.

Guterres noted, “Global crises are hitting women and girls hardest.  In every region of the world, more women than men go hungry. In both developed and developing countries, a backlash against women’s rights, including their sexual and reproductive rights, is stalling and even reversing progress.

“At our current speed, full legal equality for women is some 300 years away; so is the end of child marriage.  This rate of change is frankly insulting. Half of humanity can’t wait centuries for their rights. We need equality now. That means accelerating the pace of progress.”

 UN Secretary-General said there was a need for “public and private investment in programmes to end violence against women, ensure decent work, and drive women’s inclusion and leadership in digital technologies, peacebuilding, climate action, and across all sectors of the economy.”

Also, the Nigerian Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, raised concern over weak investment in the capacity of women in Nigeria, which, according to him, had hindered the possibility of achieving the fifth agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The fifth agenda of SDG is to “end all forms of discrimination against all females everywhere.”

Bamidele, in a statement issued by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs in commemoration of the 2024 International Women’s Day, said despite six years away from bridging the gap between men and women, Nigeria was still confronted with under-representation both in the corporate and public sectors.

He said it was lamentable that women were victims of armed attacks in different parts of the country.

Bamidele said the National Assembly recognised that women’s inclusion in governance was pivotal to achieving sustainable development in Nigeria, adding that gender inclusiveness was at the core of the Revised Legislative Agenda of the 10th Senate.

He said, “Currently, as shown in the UNICEF statistics, Nigeria has no fewer than 18.5 million out-of-school children. More than 60 per cent of them – approximately 10 million – are regrettably female. Also, at least 30.3 per cent of girls in Nigeria are married before the age of 18 while 12.3 per cent are before the age of 15. Most of them are victims of armed attacks in different parts of the federation.

“As shown in recent data, women are under-represented in Nigeria’s political space. Women hold only 3.4 per cent of federal legislative seats – four are 109 senators and 14 out of 360 members of the House of Representatives. Across all sectors, women’s inclusion is largely low in Nigeria whether in the corporate world or public sector.

“All these figures attest to weak investment in women and eclipse the possibility of achieving the fifth agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals, which mandates that world leaders invest in initiatives and programmes that bring about gender equality by 2030. 2030 is just six years away, and we are still confronted with ugly indices that remind us of the widening gap between men and women.”

Senator Bamidele added, “At the National Assembly, we are conscious of the criticality of gender equality to our collective prosperity as a federation of 227 million. We also recognise that women’s inclusion in governance and decision-making is crucial to achieving sustainable development in Nigeria.

“This is at the core of the Revised Legislative Agenda of the 10th Senate, which in the main emphasises the exigency of accelerating Nigeria’s socio-economic growth through women inclusion.

“This was also a critical factor in the design and enactment of the 2024 Appropriation Act. And the legislation was structured to address critical issues undermining strategic inclusion of women in the process of decision-making, especially in business or government.”