In commemoration of this year’s International Women’s Day, Vision Spring Initiatives in partnership with The Rose of Sharon Foundation, held a dialogue with CSOs and the media to deliberate on the challenges of climate change as it affects women and sexual and reproductive health. Gboyega Alaka reports.
70% of the 1.3billion people living in poverty are women; and women are involved in food production by at least 50 percent but own only 20 percent of land. Also, 87% of the world’s problems are related to climate change.
These were some of the facts thrown up recently, as Vision Spring Initiative, a non-governmental organisation with a mission to creating a world based on gender equality and social justice, held a dialogue with CSOs and the media to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day. The event, held at the ShoreGate Hotel, Joel Ogunnaike Street, Lagos, was in partnership with The Rose of Sharon Foundation.
Keying into this year’s theme of ‘Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow. #Breakthebias’; the dialogue centered around ‘Sexual and reproductive health and rights and Climate Action’.
Delivering an opening remark, Mrs Taiwo Anike Olugbade, representing the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, noted that it is important for every society to understand the rights of women and girls and do their best to guaranty their existence. Baliqees Salaudeen, a social/climate activist and co-founder of Green Republic Farm, called for greater women consciousness and participation in climate matters, since it directly affects their lives in many ways. She argued that there is now a growing community of women campaigning against climate change and working towards preserving the climate like herself.
On the current demand for affirmative action and campaign for gender equality bill, Salaudeen said women should not wait to be offered a certain percentage of participation in the government but go for it.
Executive Director, Rose of Sharon Foundation, Dr. Ndudi Bowei, speaking on ‘Climate change and its impact, peculiarities gender impact and what we expect’, said 87% of the world’s problems are related to climate change.
She listed factors responsible for climate change to include the trapping of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, disappearance of farm lands, destruction of soil quality and submitted that women are closest to the natural resources that climate change is threatening.
According to Dr. Bowei, 70 percent of the 1.3 billion people living below poverty across the globe are women. She also said women are involved in 50 percent of food production but own only 20 percent. Notably, she said this may lead to more child marriages.
She listed things to address as women across the world seek to #Breakthebias to include Land rights, Agricultural finances, Environmental justice and Gender equality.
She also urged women to speak up on the dangers of gaseous emissions, methane and co, which effects are translating to a lot of hardship for women and girls.
She also called for increased advocacy for the gender policy on education; partnership with stakeholders, and empowerment of women and girls in the area of climate change crisis.
Ngozi Nwosu Juba, Project Director,, Vision Spring Initiatives, speaking on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights and government biases that have to be broken, said young girls should be apprised of sex education from childhood, so that they know the dos and don’ts; the no-go areas and things they shouldn’t tolerate from the opposite sex.
On women and the challenges of climate change and agriculture, she advocated education for the girl-child, as a way of redeeming them. She cited her Igbo culture, where women are not expected to inherit land and posited that, “If you are not redeemed by education, you may not even know that you can buy and own land.”
Akpan GeorgeEno, a widow and a farmer, said climate change and its attending heat destroy their yields.
“We suffer so much in the dry season to get our crops to grow and not die. Where I farm, we have no water, so we go to fetch water, sometimes, up to 14 times a day, just to make sure our crops don’t die.”
She, therefore, appealed to well-meaning individuals to help alleviate their suffering by providing them with a borehole. Additionally, she called on the government, “to come and train us and give us financial support, so that we can become better farmers.”
Delivering the Health Commissioner’s speech, Mrs Olugbade said Lagos State will continually strive to ensure access to quality healthcare for women and girls. A testimony to this, she said, is the establishment of maternal and child centres across the state, and the renovation/upgrading of Primary Health Centres.
Bankole Michael, representing the Lagos Ministry of Environment, said Lagos State is already gender-sensitive, as more than half of its top officers as women.
He also said the state has already started training women on smart agriculture, with many now producing their own vegetable requirements.
Gboyega Alaka of The Nation, in his contribution, urged Akpan and her fellow women farmers to approach Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, whom she said is already assisting them, to help provide them with the borehole.