Gender equality not about men’s domination – Ransome-Kuti

The struggle for gender equality is not about exerting control over the men folk, former chairman and founder of the Nigerian Network of Non-Governmental Organisations (NNNGO), Ms Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, has said.  She said the clamour was not about dominating or degrading men but, rather, to ensure greater partnership between both sexes and engender peace in […]

The struggle for gender equality is not about exerting control over the men folk, former chairman and founder of the Nigerian Network of Non-Governmental Organisations (NNNGO), Ms Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, has said.

 She said the clamour was not about dominating or degrading men but, rather, to ensure greater partnership between both sexes and engender peace in society.

 Ransome-Kuti, a cousin to Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, spoke during a debate competition for tertiary and secondary school students in Lagos, organised by the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), to commemorate the 2016 Day of the Girl-Child.

 Schools in attendance were University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Federal Polytechnic, Yaba, Lagos State Polytechnic and some selected secondary schools in the state.

 At the occasion, the WARDC representatives, led by the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Idiat Oluranti Adebule, founding director, WARDC, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, first female dean, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Prof. Chioma Agomo, and the team leader, Voices for Change, Mrs Caroline Enye, all lamented the plight of girls in the country, calling on the government to improve the status of women.

 Akiyode-Afolabi said: “The girl-child remains one of the most endangered species in the world as accepted social norms and discriminatory laws continue to allow harmful practices. Each year, 15 million girls are married before the age of 18, with devastating consequences.”

 Ransome-Kuti, who was one of the moderators at the competition, stressed the need for mutual partnership between men and women in the quest “for a fair, equitable and just world.”

 She said the concept of gender equality was not intended to make women to dominate their men counterparts.

 She expressed her support for the inheritance bill currently before the National Assembly which, among other provisions, gives equal opportunity for both man and woman to inherit their parents’ property.

 She stated that the world was “in a very precarious” situation requiring the collective efforts of both men and women to bring about lasting peace and development in all ramifications.

 She said: “Gender equity is about parity and partnership. It is not about superiority of one gender over another. And it is particularly important since women are the ones who bring children into the world.

 “Their capacity to understand issues, their capacity to socialise, and teach both boys and girls to be responsible and capable human beings is critical.

 “But if you start off with inequity from the beginning so that a female child that is supposed to bring the next generation of human beings into the world already has disadvantages in education, in quality of life, then, that impacts on the children she brings into the world. That’s why it is critically important. Every nation that wants to develop must equip all and sundry. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.”

 She encouraged female children not to feel inferior to their male counterparts, saying they should explore their talents not minding the sociological impediments.

 “I have particularly benefited from that,” she said. 

 “I am an only child. I am a girl. My father didn’t, because of that, go looking for other women to have children for him which would have complicated my life incredibly. I was given all those opportunities. I never had any inferior feeling when I was growing up and, when he died, I benefitted. He has made me the person I am today,” she added.