By oshua Olomu
Leadership experts, Women rights advocates and other stakeholders have called for gender-inclusive governance across Africa , emphasising the importance of equal representation and opportunities for all genders in leadership roles.
They made the call at a town hall meeting organised by Women Community in Africa (WCA), a coalition of civil society groups that advocates for egalitarian society and addresses social issues, on Thursday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event brought women together to brainstorm on advocacy and actions towards empowering women for leadership roles in all walks of life.
The event, with the theme, “Empowered to Lead: Changing Attitudes Towards Female Leadership”, is a build-up to the 2025 WCA summit scheduled to be held in Rwanda later in the year.
According to stakeholders, there is a need to address the leadership challenges women face through actionable solutions for the African continent to experience even development.
Mr Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, Mandate Secretary, FCT Women Affairs Secretariat, said some African countries have recorded significant milestones in electing female Presidents and Prime Ministers who are successful leaders in their countries.
The Mandate Secretary, who was represented by Dr Zainab Buba-Marwa, said that more needed to be done for gender-inclusive leadership to reflect at all levels.
“Decades of feminist’s uprising and advocacy gradually brought a near-balanced perception that women are true change agents, when it comes to leadership.
“Today, African women’s representation in leadership roles has significantly increased, but it remains a nightmare that the constitutional 35 per cent Affirmative Action for women is yet to be achieved.
“In essence, much more needs to be done to help women build leadership capacity, assume more leadership roles, and prove to the world that women are reliable leadership assets that our society needs now.
“African women need to redouble efforts to remove all stumbling blocks that prevent women from excelling in Leadership.
“This could come in the form of career choice, participating in politics, skills acquisition, gender equality advocacy, capacity building and influencing policy formulation in favour of women’s rights.
“At the end of this town hall meeting, it is believed that the Nigerian delegation to the upcoming WCA Summit in Rwanda, would be more equipped.
“They will be more prepared to join fellow women across Africa, to advance cross-cultural discourse on an inclusive approach to issues of Women and Leadership in the African continent,” she said.
Dr Bukola Olatunde, Deputy President, Defence and Police Officers Wives Association (DEPOWA), said the marginalisation of women in leadership roles across the continent was largely caused by age-long traditions and cultural practices.
She, therefore, urged that the trend could be curbed at the family level, adding that parents should treat children equally irrespective of their genders.
“I think it will be very good if we can take it to our homes and stop giving the boys the impression that they are not superior to the girls.
“Raise your children in such a way that every child will know that it is very important that everyone has a voice no matter your gender”, she said.
Chizoba Ogbeche, Vice President (North Central), Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) urged women to unite and form a common front to assume elective leadership roles.
“Let’s start preparing from the grassroots at the ward level, and be registered to vote.
“Also when you have many women vying for a position, we must ensure that the best woman for the position emerges”, she said.
Earlier, Dr Adetoun Dally, Global President of WCA, said the need to influence patriarchal attitudes towards leadership in society was urgent now more than ever before.
“A few African countries have come to realise that the unique perspective to issues that concern women and children can only be provided by women due to our inherent nurturing abilities.
“Namibia and Ghana have welcomed women in political leadership while Rwanda stands in a class of its own with about 63 per cent of women in Political leadership positions being examples to the rest of Africa.
“We are gathered here to lend our voices to on-going conversations, to amplify, magnify and engage stakeholders and policy makers to create an enabling environment, challenge gender biases.
“We want to foster a shift in attitudes for women to ascend leadership positions in its entirety” she said.
In her closing remark, Dr Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya, Founder of WCA, said the body was a movement for the voices of women that have decided to come together for a better society.
“We must challenge barriers that hold us back, as our mission has always been to facilitate a process to legislate appropriate laws to inspire and empower children and women in Africa”, she said.
NAN reports that members of the Diplomatic community from within and outside the continent presented their goodwill messages at the event, including representatives of Rwanda, Pakistan and Belgium embassies in Nigeria.
Highpoint of the event was a debate by Secondary School students on whether “Women Quota Should Be Made Compulsory in African Politics or Not.”(NAN)
Edited by Esenvosa Izah/Joseph Edeh
