IWD: Nigerian women deserve real action

Last week, the world paused to celebrate International Women’s Day, an annual event held on March 8 to honour the achievements of women across the globe. It is a day that recognises their socioeconomic, cultural, and political contributions while calling for accelerated efforts to close the gender gap. This year’s theme, “Give to Gain,” highlights […]

Last week, the world paused to celebrate International Women’s Day, an annual event held on March 8 to honour the achievements of women across the globe. It is a day that recognises their socioeconomic, cultural, and political contributions while calling for accelerated efforts to close the gender gap. This year’s theme, “Give to Gain,” highlights a simple but powerful truth: empowering women is an investment that yields immeasurable returns for society. Indeed, the saying that “when you educate a woman, you educate a society” remains as relevant today as ever.

In Nigeria, the day was marked with speeches from political leaders and celebrations of women who have broken barriers in business, politics, academia and other professional spheres. These events rightly acknowledged the resilience and progress of Nigerian women, who, despite structural challenges, continue to thrive in entrepreneurship, education, leadership, and other areas.

Yet, beyond the celebrations and lofty speeches, the reality for millions of Nigerian women, especially those in rural communities, remains grim. For them, International Women’s Day is an abstract concept, overshadowed by daily struggles for survival. Their concerns are not about global themes but about safety, access to healthcare, education, sanitary care, and economic opportunities. These necessities have remained elusive despite decades of promises.

Nigeria’s rural women and many in urban areas bear the brunt of insecurity, poverty, and systemic neglect. Many are left to fend for their families in environments where violence and displacement have become commonplace. Poverty levels continue to rise, maternal mortality remains alarmingly high, and reproductive healthcare services are either unavailable or inaccessible.

The statistics are sobering as the lack of adequate healthcare infrastructure, coupled with poverty, ensures that maternal and infant deaths remain a daily norm. For instance, Nigeria has the worst maternal mortality crisis in the world, with an estimated 75,000 to 90,000 deaths annually. This goes beyond numbers; it represents mothers, daughters, sisters and wives whose lives are cut short due to preventable complications.

Period poverty is another silent crisis. Millions of girls lack access to sanitary products, menstrual hygiene education, and safe toilets. The consequence is that girls miss school during their periods, leading to poor academic performance and, in some cases, eventually dropout. But other layers such as gender-based violence add to the suffering of Nigerian women. Whether in the form of domestic abuse or harmful cultural practices, women continue to face violations that rob them of dignity and opportunity.

While Nigerians cheer when government officials make speeches marking International women’s day and glamorous images of women breaking barriers circulate in the media space, we must emphasise that it is no longer sufficient to mark this day with pomp and pageantry without focusing on the need for the country to rescue the millions of woman held by the shackles of an unjust system.

What Nigerian women need is concrete action. Issues that affect women have gone on for years because women’s challenges are often treated as general social problems, subsumed under broader policy discussions rather than distinct issues requiring targeted interventions.

We at Daily Trust reiterate the need for proper implementation of well-crafted policies around women-related issues as well as increased investments that prioritise women’s health, education, and safety.

Maternal and reproductive healthcare must be expanded and strengthened, and rural healthcare facilities must be equipped and staffed to serve communities that have long been neglected. Laws against gender-based violence must not only exist on paper but be enforced with seriousness. Women and girls must have access to timely justice when their rights are violated.

Education, too, must be a priority. Girls should not have to choose between cultural expectations and their right to learn. The government, Civil Society organisations and the media must work to dismantle barriers that keep girls out of school, and equally understand that providing sanitary products and menstrual hygiene education is not a luxury but a necessity that directly impacts reproductive healthcare and educational outcomes.

Economic empowerment must go beyond periodic handouts to women but focus on providing them with training, access to credit and opportunities to participate fully in the economy.

No doubt the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, “Give to Gain,” captures the essence of what Nigeria must do. In simple terms, a country that gives women the opportunity to grow, thrive, and lead will surely reap the reward of national development.