Sunday, 23 February 2014

Women coalition seeks gender balance at confab


NECA’s Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW), in collaboration with a coalition of women associations, has called on the Federal Government to address gender equality and increase the number of women to participate at the forthcoming national conference.
   Speaking with newsmen in Lagos yesterday, NNEW’s 1st Vice President and head of the advocacy committee, Fayo Williams, regretted that of the 492 delegates, only about 72 or 14.6 per cent would be women.
   According to her, “the list excludes some critical interest groups where women are significantly represented, especially the entrepreneurs and women in the rural areas, who do not belong to any formal group.
   “All effort must be made to ensure that the delegates structure is designed to foster adequate involvement as prescribed by the 1995 African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation.
   “Since the conference is geared towards charting a new future for Nigeria and women constitute more than half of its population, the women demand equal representation of men and women or at the very least, 35 per cent representation.”

By Adeniyi Idowu Adunola


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