UN urges men to commit to gender equality

From Grace Obike, Abuja

The United Nations (UN) has tasked Nigerian men to commit to transformational changes that will lead to gender equality in the country.

UN said this can be done by changing traditional practices that are gender sensitive.

It added that Nigerian men need to commit to ensuring that they commit fully to ending violence against women and girls.

Representative of UN Women Shaffiyu Umar stated these yesterday in Abuja at the men’s summit for ending sexual and gender based violence organised by YouthhubAfrica.

He said: “On behalf of the United Nations (UN) and UN Women, Nigerian men need to ensure they commit to ending violence against women and girls in the country.

“We need to ensure that we add our voice to see to the end of violence against women and girls, to ensure that women’s right is not just for women, but seen as a human right

“We need to commit to ensure that we join our voices and ensure that we are not just participators but to support women participation in ending violence against women and girls.

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“Our traditional rulers should ensure that set up traditions that are gender sensitive. Let’s join hands together to ensure that we end violence against women and bring about transformational changes that will lead to equality. The struggle requires a lot of synergy, the coming together of people from all works of life to ensure we achieve gender equality.”

Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Abuja Dr. Olanrewaju Aladeitan, who deliver the keynote speech, said that the country must develop a rights-based approach to women’s advancement and welfare.

He added: “We must understand that gender-based inequality is socially constructed and rests upon stereotyped assumptions about the role and position of Women, not upon sexual difference.

“This construction includes ‘the historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men’. Since inequality in gender relations is not natural, such relations can be reconstructed so as to achieve equality.”