In a deliberate effort to increase the number of women in party structures and advocating for women leaders in legislative councils, Gender and Development Action (GADA) has brought together women leaders from various political parties in Cross River state to highlight the significance of women’s involvement in decision-making and leadership positions.
With support from ActionAid Nigeria and funding from Global Affairs Canada, Gender and Development Action (GADA) organized a meeting in collaboration with the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) to address the pressing issue of women’s under-representation in leadership and politics in Cross River State.
The organization firmly believes that the equitable participation of women in decision-making and leadership is essential for the sustainable development of any society.
The Programme Manager of GADA, Nnenna Ugbor explained that their “Women Voice and Leadership (WVL) Nigeria Project” is focused on engaging women across the state, regardless of their location, to promote increased political participation.
Ugbor maintained that efforts to promote women’s political participation by GADA have been ongoing in tertiary institutions and communities ranging from advocacy campaigns, capacity building programs support for women candidates, etc.
Her words: “This is a review meeting with IPAC and 19 political parties on the resolution set by the women themselves during a previous training session which took place last two months, particularly focusing on active political participation and preparations for the upcoming local government elections in Cross River State.
“We called them back again today to see how far they’ve gone with the resolutions, the successes, the challenges and lessons learnt so that we can build from there and keep engaging them to the success of achieving the goal, which is to increase women political participation.
“Remember, GADA is not setting any Action plan for them, they set it themselves and our duty is to continue to follow up on those action points and we’ll get an officer who will be responsible for the implementation of those action points being set up today, she said.
The meeting ended with a collaborative session, splitting participants into two groups to create specific action plans. Roles and responsibilities were then allocated to individuals for the implementation of these plans.
Furthermore, the chairman of the Inter-party Advisory Committee (IPAC) in Cross River state, Engr Effiom Edet Okon, educated participants on enhancing mechanisms for Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) within parties.
He also emphasized the importance of achieving 35% Affirmative Action, stating that this global best practice requires the government to consistently implement quota measures and purposefully recruit younger women with appropriate leadership qualities to address leadership gaps.
“It is time for Cross River State, which has had a history of women’s inclusion to return to its winning ways by taking up the inclusion of women in leadership roles as a matter of urgent state importance and build greater gender equality in decision-making, he stated.
Some of the proposed actions by participants include; women financially supporting each other, arranging conferences for women and girls to promote gender equality, advocating against the ‘pull-down the woman’ syndrome in politics, establishing a confidential platform for addressing women’s concerns e.g F.I.D.A, NAPTIP, Social Welfare etc and campaigning against ‘God Fatherism’, amongst others.
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