Safeguarding interest of the girl-child
Halima Musa is the sixth child among her 16 siblings, but as a girl the chances for her of going to school are quite slim, though it’s her greatest desire to join her friends in school, she sees no way out. Halima is 11 years old; her greatest fear is that she will soon follow […]
Halima Musa is the sixth child among her 16 siblings, but as a girl the chances for her of going to school are quite slim, though it’s her greatest desire to join her friends in school, she sees no way out.
Halima is 11 years old; her greatest fear is that she will soon follow in her elder sisters’ footsteps of becoming a housewife and bearing children before she has learnt to live at all.
“My father has three wives, my mother is the first wife and she has seven children, we are a poor family and though we do not starve, education is for the boys while we girls are meant to marry, once we come of age,” (translated from Hausa).
“The girls in the family hawk groundnuts and any other thing that is in season that our mothers give us to sell, so I use the opportunity to tag along my friends when they go to school and listen to their complains and experiences in school.
“I really envy them, but who will change my life,” she said.
Halima is not the only girl without the opportunity to go to school, Umma Aliyu (not real name) is in school but knows she will not be allowed to go to university like her mates.
Standing in a room full of dignitaries with her fellow colleagues from several secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at a programme organised by a non-governmental organisation on sexual violence against children in schools, she said, “Please I am begging you to do something to stop our parents from pulling us out of school and marrying us off.
“I want to be a doctor, but I know my parents will never allow me to go to the university to read medicine and fulfill my dream.” (Translated).
In spite of various interventions by the Federal Government to see that both boys and girls get equal opportunities in schools, the percentage of boys in school is quite higher than the girls’.
According to a UNESCO report in 2014 on girl enrollment in schools, over 5.5 million girls are out of school, while 40% women and 28% men have never attended school illustrated by the National Population Council (NPC).
The report went further to say that nearly two thirds of women in the north-west and north-east zones have no education compared to less than 15% in the south-south, while on a sad note, the Net Enrolment Rate at primary school level is 56% for girls and 61% for boys as reported by UNESCO in same year’s report.
Dropout rates are highest at the sixth grade of primary school and higher among girls than boys, the NPC, 2009 report showed, a fact that was acknowledged by the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, at the launch of the HE for SHE campaign recently in Abuja to mobilize one billion boys for girls, advocating for gender equality.
His words: “Over 40% of girls on the average are illiterates, and illiteracy means that they will not find decent well paying jobs. In many cases they will be married off early, many will be discriminated against in inheritance rights or punitive widowhood practices.
“They will work the hardest on the farm and no doubt in the market but they will earn far less than men, even the most educated or best educated women will sometimes, probably or severally in the work life be subjected to one form of gender based discrimination or other, many may add to the growing statistics of domestic violence.”
The acting president said giving women equal opportunities is not a privilege but a right.
“It is an entitlement, a debt paid to women, and it is not a gift, it is an entitlement. It is perhaps the greatest leap of development in contemporary history when boys and girls can today take gender equality for granted.
“Women and girls will be free to reach their full potentials; to get decent education and earn equal pay for equal work. The full potentials of the other half of the population of the world will finally be unleashed and the implication of this will vastly improve the quality of life for all,” he said.
A sentiment shared by the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan, who said during the same event, “We are simply asking for the opportunity to contribute our own quota to the development of our country.
“We cannot be equal to you, even religion sees men as natural leaders but women too if given the opportunity can also do quite well. We want the opportunities to go to school, move up in our careers and reach our potentials, that is all we are asking for.”
Professor Paul Pindar Izah, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and the International Institute for Security and Governance Studies advocating for the rights of women and girls said that the best gift you can give any girl is education.
Speaking on the need to address all the issues bedeviling women and girls, the professor who is an expert on advocating for the rights of girls said, “Though a lot has been done, we still need to do much more; we know as a fact that a lot of girls in the north don’t go to school, and when they do go, they end up dropping out to get married.
“It is in line with the traditions of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria for us to come up with initiatives that will help build this nation. Women make up 50% of our populace and if we neglect them then we are doomed,” the don stated.
According to him, the university, specifically the Faculty of Social Sciences, decided to host a conference and invite stakeholders to come and foster a road map that will ensure girls go to school and stay in school.
He said that a conference on women in security, defence, law enforcement and a honorary award will hold on July 18 and climax with an award night on July 20.
“The conference will provide a forum to further address the important issues of the girl child education, violence against women and provide a platform to build solid network and address other peculiar gender issues that will promote performance of women,” Professor Izah also said.
Dr David Okoror, the director of the conference said, “Even though we seem to have achieved some levels of development in our national life, the Nigerian woman is perhaps more imperilled today than ever before in our living memory.
“If you recall the case of the Chibok girls, the increasing reports of rape of minors and domestic violence targeted against women and the increasing incidences of homicides, you will agree that we have a serious situation at hand.
“Largely, several factors can be adduced for the unacceptable situation of our women and the girl-child today,” he stated.
Dr Okoror further noted that some of the problems could be traced to the poverty, desperation, lack of opportunities, defective or failed policies.
He opined that the poor or insincere implementation of policies, the negative role of some religious teachings, conflicts, bad governance and ignorance among others have not helped in the least.
“The unfortunate incidences of human trafficking have not abated in spite of the efforts in law enforcement and the obvious danger which even many willing ‘victims’ can see. This conference, therefore will seek new ideas from experienced female officers on how best to strengthen and develop a more robust law enforcement regime in dealing with, particularly the huge problem of increasing violence against women.
This is because law enforcement is a key pillar in the overall strategy mix to deal with issues of violence against the female gender.
“This event would be a unique opportunity to join other distinguished women, from across Nigeria for a memorable event to celebrate the contributions of women in these sectors to national security, safety and development, and to chart a way forward on how this unique group of the female folk can further support their country to achieve her overall goals and objectives in this trying times,” the director of the conference said.