|
Gender mainstreaming a necessity for development in Nigeria |
|
|
|
|
Experts in Nigeria are campaigning for the inclusion of a gender perspective in all policy-making areas in Nigeria. Trade Network Initiative (TNI) organized the National Workshop on Gender, Trade and Poverty, which concluded that Nigerian development policies disregarded issues relating to gender equality.
The workshop focused on the European Union-African, Caribbean and Pacific countries' Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), in which Nigeria is a part of. The agreement is an economic development initiative, and according to TNI such actions are futile if a gender aspect is excluded from the policy-making framework.
Opeyemi Abebe, workshop analyst and director at the Nigerian Export Promotion Council stated that women play a major role in only one non-oil export commodity, displaying the disparity between men and women. This correlates to another statement, in which Nigerian women are more affected by poverty by a number of factors, such as the division of labor between men and women, lower pay and access to ownership.
The campaign’s main goal is to rethink the current Nigerian position in EPA negotiations with the European Union in light of incorporating gender issues. The need to address this is highlighted by a current Millennium Development Goals (MDG) assessment by UNICEF that states that Nigeria is falling behind.
The MDG assessment, though negative, can push the campaign forward.
|
